Adjectives

1. Adjectives

2. Formation of adjectives • What an adjective is and what it does

3. An adjective describes the person, thing, etc which a noun refers to We use adjectives to say what a person, etc is like or seems like For example, adjectives can give us information about

6. An adjective can also describe the idea (s) contained in a whole group of words, as in • Professor Roberts lecture on magnetism was fascinating • To maintain that we can survive a nuclear war is absurd

7. Many adjectives can answer the question What like? and, depending on context, can give general or precise information

9. The suffixes and prefixes of one-word adjectives • Some words function only as adjectives (tall) Others function as adjectives or nouns (cold)

10. Many adjectives which are related to verbs or nouns have a characteristic ending (or suffix) For example, able added to a verb like en\oy gives us the adjective enjoyable

11. ful added to a noun like truth gives us the adjective truthful

12. Present participle ing forms often function as adjectives (running water

13. Many of these ing forms have ed adjectival past participle equivalents (interesting interested)

14. Some irregular past participles function as adjectives (broken)

15. Prefixes added to adjectives generally have a negative effect For example, dis- added to agreeable gives us disagreeable, un added to interesting gives us uninteresting

16. The formation of compound adjectives • Compound adjectives formed with participles, etc. • - compounds formed with past participles e g a candle-lit table a horse-drawn cart a self-employed author a tree-lined avenue

17. - compounds formed with present participles e g a long-playing record a long-suffering parent a time-consuming job

18. Gradable and non-gradable adjectives • Adjectives can be divided into two classes: a large class of words which can be graded (gradable adjectives) and a small class that cannot be graded (non-gradable adjectives).

19. An adjective is gradable when: • - we can imagine degrees in the quality referred to and so can use it with words like very, too, and enough- very good too good, less good not good enough, etc. • - we can form a comparative and superlative from it (big) bigger, biggest, (good) better, best, etc.

20. - we cannot modify it (i.e. we cannot use it with very too, etc.) • - we cannot make a comparative or superlative from it: e.g. daily dead, medical, unique, etc.

22. Attributive and predicative adjectives • The terms attributive and predicative refer to the position of an adjective in a phrase or sentence. We say that an adjective is attributive or is used attributively when it comes before a noun (and is therefore part of the noun phrase • an old ticket a young shop-assistant he is an old man

23. We say that an adjective is predicative or that it is used predicatively when it comes directly after be seem, etc. It can be used on its own as the complement • This ticket is old Your mother seems angry