| Examples |
|
An adjective, in grammar, is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjective's head), giving more information about to what the noun or pronoun refers. Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the In Grammar, a modifier (or qualifier) is a word or Sentence element that limits or qualifies another word a phrase or a clause In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or In linguistics the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the Phrase of which it is a member or analogously the stem that determines the Some examples can be seen in the box to the right. Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional eight parts of speech, though linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that used to be considered adjectives but that are now recognized to be different. In Grammar, a lexical category (also word class, lexical class, or in traditional grammar part of speech) is a linguistic category of words (or Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields A determiner is a Noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase including quantity rather than its attributes as expressed It derives from the Latin words ad and iacere (Latin words that start with an I change to a J in English); literally, to throw to.
Not all languages have adjectives, but most, including English, do. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States (English adjectives include big, old, and tired, among many others. ) Those that do not typically use words of another part of speech, often verbs, to serve the same semantic function; for example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big", and would use a construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as "big house". Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from Even in languages that do have adjectives, one language's adjective might not be another's; for example, where English has "to be hungry" (hungry being an adjective), French has "avoir faim" (literally "to have hunger"), and where Hebrew has the adjective "זקוק" (zaqūq, roughly "in need of"), English uses the verb "to need".
In most languages with adjectives, they form an open class of words; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation. In Linguistics, an open class (or open word class) is a Word class that accepts the addition of new items through such processes as compounding In Linguistics, derivation is "Used to form new words as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from
Contents |
Adjectives and adverbs
Many languages, including English, distinguish between adjectives, which modify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs, which modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. Not all languages have exactly this distinction, however, and in many languages (including English) there are words that can function as both. For example, English fast is an adjective in "a fast car" (where it modifies the noun car), but an adverb in "he drove fast" (where it modifies the verb drove).
Classes of adjectives
There are 6 classes of adjectives in the English language:
Numeric: six, three hundred
Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough
Qualitative: Relates to colour, size, smell etc.
Possessive: my, his, their, your
Interrogative: which, whose, what
Demonstrative: this, that, those, these
Adjectives also have different levels of intensity (See, superlative, comparative, nominative)
Determiners
Linguists today distinguish determiners from adjectives, considering them to be two separate parts of speech (or lexical categories), but traditionally, determiners were considered adjectives in some of their uses. A determiner is a Noun modifier that expresses the reference of a noun or noun phrase including quantity rather than its attributes as expressed (In English dictionaries, which typically still do not treat determiners as their own part of speech, determiners are often recognizable by being listed both as adjectives and as pronouns. ) Determiners are words that express the reference of a noun in the context, generally indicating definiteness (as in a vs. In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of Noun phrases distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context (definite noun the), quantity (as in one vs. Quantity is a kind of property which exists as magnitude or multitude some vs. many), or another such property.
Attributive, predicative, absolute, and substantive adjectives
A given occurrence of an adjective can generally be classified into one of four kinds of uses:
- Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify; for example, happy is an attributive adjective in "happy kids". In grammatical theory, a noun phrase (abbreviated NP) is a Phrase whose head is a Noun or a Pronoun, optionally accompanied In some languages, attributive adjectives precede their nouns; in others, they follow their nouns; and in yet others, it depends on the adjective, or on the exact relationship of the adjective to the noun. In English, attributive adjectives usually precede their nouns in simple phrases, but often follow their nouns when the adjective is modified or qualified by a phrase acting as an adverb. For example: "I saw three happy kids", and "I saw three kids happy enough to jump up and down with glee".
- Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula or other linking mechanism to the noun or pronoun they modify; for example, happy is a predicate adjective in "they are happy" and in "that made me happy". (See also: predicative, subject complement. In Grammar, a predicative is an element of the predicate of a sentence which supplements the subject or object by means of the verb In Grammar, a subject complement is a Phrase or Clause that follows a Linking verb ( Copula) and complements or completes the )
- Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction (aside from a larger adjective phrase), and typically modify either the subject of a sentence or whatever noun or pronoun they are closest to; for example, happy is an absolute adjective in "The boy, happy with his lollipop, did not look where he was going. According to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle, every sentence can be divided in two main constituents, one being the subject of the sentence and the "
- Substantive adjectives act almost as nouns. One way this can happen is if a noun is elided and an attributive adjective is left behind. Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a Vowel, a Consonant, or a whole Syllable) in a word or phrase producing a result that is easier In the sentence, "I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy," happy is a substantive adjective, short for "happy one" or "happy book". Another way this can happen is in phrases like "out with the old, in with the new", where "the old" means, "that which is old" or "all that is old", and similarly with "the new". In such cases, the adjective functions either as a mass noun (as in the preceding example) or as a plural count noun, as in "The meek shall inherit the Earth", where "the meek" means "those who are meek" or "all who are meek". In Linguistics, a mass noun (also uncountable noun or non-count noun) is a common Noun that presents entities as an unbounded mass In Linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun which can be modified by a Numeral and occur in both singular and Plural
Adjectival phrases
An adjective acts as the head of an adjectival phrase. An adjectival phrase or adjective phrase (AP is a Phrase with an Adjective as its head. In the simplest case, an adjectival phrase consists solely of the adjective; more complex adjectival phrases may contain one or more adverbs modifying the adjective ("very strong"), or one or more complements ("worth several dollars", "full of toys", "eager to please). In Grammar the term complement is used with different meanings In English, attributive adjectival phrases that include complements typically follow their subject ("an evildoer devoid of redeeming qualities").
Other noun modifiers
In many languages, including English, it is possible for nouns to modify other nouns. Unlike adjectives, nouns acting as modifiers (called attributive nouns or noun adjuncts) are not predicative; a red car is red, but a car park is not "car". In Grammar, a noun adjunct or attributive noun or noun premodifier is a Noun that modifies another noun and is optional — meaning In English, the modifier often indicates origin ("Virginia reel"), purpose ("work clothes"), or semantic patient ("man eater"). In Linguistics, a grammatical patient is the participant of a situation upon whom an action is carried out However, it can generally indicate almost any semantic relationship. It is also common for adjectives to be derived from nouns, as in English boyish, birdlike, behavioral, famous, manly, angelic, and so on. In Linguistics, derivation is "Used to form new words as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from
Many languages have special verbal forms called participles that can act as noun modifiers. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite In some languages, including English, there is a strong tendency for participles to evolve into adjectives. English examples of this include relieved (the past participle of the verb relieve, used as an adjective in sentences such as "I am so relieved to see you"), spoken (as in "the spoken word"), and going (the present participle of the verb go, used as an adjective in sentences such as "Ten dollars per hour is the going rate").
Other constructs that often modify nouns include prepositional phrases (as in English "a rebel without a cause"), relative clauses (as in English "the man who wasn't there"), other adjective clauses (as in English "the bookstore where he worked"), and infinitive phrases (as in English "pizza to die for"). In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. A relative clause is a Subordinate clause that modifies a Noun. In Grammar, a clause is a word or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in some Languages and some types of In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages
In relation, many nouns take complements such as content clauses (as in English "the idea that I would do that"); these are not commonly considered modifiers, however. In Grammar, a content clause is a Subordinate clause that provides content implied by or commented upon by its Main clause.
Adjective order
In many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific order; for example, in English, adjectives pertaining to size generally precede adjectives pertaining to age ("little old", not "old little"), which in turn generally precede adjectives pertaining to color ("old green", not "green old"). This order may be more rigid in some languages than others; in some, it may only be a default (unmarked) word order, with other orders being permissible to shift the emphasis. Markedness is a linguistic concept that developed out of the Prague School (also known as the Prague linguistic circle)
Comparison of adjectives
In many languages, adjectives can be compared. Adjective#Comparison of adjectives|Comparative Comparison, in Grammar, is a property of Adjectives and Adverbs in most Languages it describes In Grammar, the comparative is the form of an Adjective or Adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person thing or other entity has a property In English, for example, we can say that a car is big, that it is bigger than another is, or that it is the biggest car of all. Not all adjectives lend themselves to comparison, however; for example, the English adjective even, in the sense of "being a multiple of two", is not considered comparable, in that it does not make sense to describe one integer as "more even" than another.
Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared in this way, different approaches are used. Indeed, even within English, two different approaches are used: the suffixes -er and -est, and the words more and most. (In English, the general tendency is for shorter adjectives and adjectives from Anglo-Saxon to use -er and -est, and for longer adjectives and adjectives from French, Latin, Greek, and other languages to use more and most. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly ) By either approach, English adjectives therefore have positive forms (big), comparative forms (bigger), and superlative forms (biggest); many languages do not distinguish comparative from superlative forms, however.
Restrictiveness
Attributive adjectives, and other noun modifiers, may be used either restrictively (helping to identify the noun's referent, hence "restricting" its reference), or non-restrictively (helping to describe an already-identified noun). In some languages, such as Spanish, restrictiveness is consistently marked; for example, Spanish la tarea difícil means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task that is difficult" (restrictive), while la difícil tarea means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task, which is difficult" (non-restrictive). In English, restrictiveness is not marked on adjectives, but is marked on relative clauses (the difference between "the man who recognized me was there" and "the man, who recognized me, was there" being one of restrictiveness).
See also
- Proper adjective
- List of non-standard English adjectives
- List of eponymous adjectives in English
- Post-positive adjective
- Flat adverb
Bibliography
- Dixon, R. In English usage a proper adjective is an Adjective that takes an initial Capital letter. For the purposes of this article an "irregular Adjective " is an adjective of relation that is not derived from the same root as the corresponding Noun, or is based An eponymous adjective is an Adjective which has been derived from the name of a person real or fictional A post-positive adjective is an Adjective that appears after the Noun that it modifies A flat adverb is an Adverb that assumes the form of a related Adjective, most often when words ending in -ly are used without the -ly M. W. (1977). Where have all the adjectives gone? Studies in Language, 1, 19–80.
- Dixon, R. M. W. (1994). Adjectives. In R. E. Asher (Ed. ), The Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 29–35). Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-035943-4. (Republished as Dixon 1999).
- Dixon, R. M. W. (1999). Adjectives. In K. Brown & T. Miller (Eds. ), Concise encyclopedia of grammatical categories (pp. 1-8). Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-08-043164-X.
- Warren, Beatrice. (1984). Classifying adjectives. Gothenburg studies in English (No. 56). Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ISBN 91-7346-133-4.
- Wierzbicka, Anna. (1986). What's in a noun? (or: How do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?). Studies in Language, 10, 353–389.
External links
- Adjective order in English
- Adjectives and Adverbs
- Adjective article on HyperGrammar
- Pratheep Raveendrabathan - List of Adjectives
- Learn English - Categorized Adjective Listings
- Gallaudet Writer's Handbook - Adjective Order
Dictionary
adjective
-adjective
- Additional or adjunct.
- (law) Applying to methods of enforcement and rules of procedure.
-noun
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic