ADJECTIVE

In grammar, an

adjective is a word

whose main syntactic role

is to qualify a noun or

noun phrase, giving more

information about the

object signified.

Adjectives are one of the

traditional eightEnglish

parts of speech, though

linguists today distinguish

adjectives from words

such asdeterminers that

were formerly considered

to be adjectives. In this

paragraph, "traditional" is

an adjective, and in the

preceding paragraph,

"main" and "more" are.

Most but not all languages

have adjectives. Those

that do not typically use

words of another part of

speech, often verbs, to

serve the samesemantic

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". Even in languages

that do have adjectives,

one language's adjective

might not be another's;

for example, while English

uses "to be

hungry" (hungry being an

adjective), Dutch and

French use "honger

hebben" and "avoir faim"

respectively (literally "to

have hunger", hunger

being a noun), and where

Hebrew uses the adjective

"זקוק" (zaqūq, roughly

"in need of"), English uses

the verb "to need".

Adjectives form an open

class of words in most

languages that have them;

that is, it is relatively

common for new

adjectives to be formed

via such processes as

derivation. However,

Bantu languages are well

known for having only a

small closed class of

adjectives, and new

adjectives are not easily

derived.

In English, the word

"adjective" is frequently

used loosely for any part

of speech, including

nouns and prepositions,

when it is used

attributively.[1] See

adjectival phrase.

Adjectives and

adverbs

Many languages,

distinguish between

adjectives, which qualify

nouns and pronouns, and

adverbs, which modify

verbs, adjectives, and

other adverbs. Not all

languages have exactly

this distinction, however,

and many languages,

including English, have

words that can function

as both. For example, in

English fast is an adjective

in "a fast car" (where it

qualifies the noun car), but

an adverb in "he drove

fast" (where it modifies

the verb drove).

Determiners

Main article: Determiner

(linguistics)

Linguists today distinguish

determiners from

adjectives, considering

them to be two separate

parts of speech (orlexical

categories), but formerly

determiners were

considered to be

adjectives in some of their

uses. 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 are neither nouns nor

pronouns, yet reference a

thing already in context.

Determiners generally do

this by indicating

definiteness (as in a vs.

the), quantity (as in one

vs. some vs. many), or

another such property.

Form

A given occurrence of an

adjective can generally be

classified into one of four

kinds of uses:

1. Attributive adjectives are

part of thenoun phrase

headed by the noun they

modify; for example,

happy is an attributive

adjective in "happy

people". 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." See alsoPost-

positive adjective.

2. Predicative adjectives are

linked via acopula 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 (adjectival or

nominal), Subject

complement.)

3. Absolute adjectives do not

belong to a larger

construction (aside from a

larger adjective phrase),

and typically modify either

thesubject 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."

4. Nominal adjectives act

almost as nouns. One

way this can happen is if a

noun iselided and an

attributive adjective is left

behind. In the sentence, "I

read two books to them;

he preferred the sad book,

but she preferred the

happy", happy is a

nominal 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 amass

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".

Adjectival

phrases

Main article: Adjectival

phrase

An adjective is the head of

an adjectival phrase. In

the simplest case, an

adjectival phrase consists

solely of the adjective;

more complex adjectival

phrases may contain one

or moreadverbs

modifying the adjective

("very strong"), or one or

morecomplements (such

as "worth several dollars",

"full of toys", or "eager to

please"). 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 beautiful

park is beautiful, but a car

park is not "car". In plain

English, the modifier often

indicates origin ("Virginia

reel"), purpose ("work

clothes"), or semantic

patient ("man eater").

However, it can generally

indicate almost any

semantic relationship. It is

also common for

adjectives to bederived

from nouns, as in English

boyish, birdlike,

behavioral, famous,

manly, angelic, and so on.

Many languages have

special verbal forms called

participles can act as noun

modifiers. 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

includeprepositional

phrases (as in English "a

rebel without a cause"),

relative clauses (as in

English "the man who

wasn't there"), other

adjectiveclauses (as in

English "the bookstore

where he worked"), and

infinitive phrases (as in

English "cake to die for").

In relation, many nouns

take complements such

ascontent clauses (as in

English "the idea that I

would do that"); these are

not commonly

considered modifiers,

however.

Adjective order

In many languages,

attributive adjectives

usually occur in a specific

order. Generally, the

adjective order in English

is:

1. quantity or number

2. quality or opinion

3. size

4. age

5. shape

6. color

7. proper adjective (often

nationality, other place of

origin, or material)

8. purpose or qualifier

So, in English, adjectives

pertaining to size precede

adjectives pertaining to

age ("little old", not "old

little"), which in turn

generally precede

adjectives pertaining to

color ("old white", not

"white old"). So, we

would say "A nice

(opinion) little (size) old

(age) white (color) brick

(material) house".

This order may be more

rigid in some languages

than others; in some, like

Spanish, it may only be a

default (unmarked) word

order, with other orders

being permissible.

Due partially to

borrowings from French,

English has some

adjectives which follow

the noun as

postmodifiers, called post-

positive adjectives, such

as time immemorial.

Adjectives may even

change meaning

depending on whether

they precede or follow, as

in proper: They live in a

proper town (a real town,

not a village) vs. They live

in the town proper (in the

town itself, not in the

suburbs). All adjectives

can follow nouns in

certain constructions,

such as tell me something

new.

Comparison of

adjectives

Main articles: Comparison

(grammar) and

Comparative

In many languages,

adjectives can be

compared. 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 extinct is not

considered comparable, in

that it does not make

sense to describe one

species as "more extinct"

than another. However,

even most non-

comparable English

adjectives are still

sometimes compared; for

example, one might say

that a language about

which nothing is known is

"more extinct" than a well-

documented language

with surviving literature

but no speakers. This is

not a comparison of the

degree of intensity of the

adjective, but rather the

degree to which the

object fits the adjective's

definition.

Comparable adjectives are

also known as "gradable"

adjectives, because they

tend to allow grading

adverbs such as very,

rather, and so on.

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.) By either

approach, English

adjectives therefore have

positive forms (big),

comparative forms

(bigger), and superlative

forms (biggest). However,

many other languages do

not distinguish

comparative from

superlative forms.

Restrictiveness

Main article:

Restrictiveness

Attributive adjectives, and

other nounmodifiers,

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

asSpanish, restrictiveness

is consistently marked; for

example, in 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

onrelative clauses (the

difference between "the

man who recognized me

was there" and "the man,

who recognized me, was

there" being one of

restrictiveness).

Agreement

In some languages

adjectives alter their form

to reflect the gender, case

and number of the noun

which they describe. This

is calledagreement or

concord. Usually it takes

the form of inflections at

the end of the word, as in

Latin:

puella bona (good girl, feminine)

puellam

bonam (good girl, feminine

accusative/object case)

puer bonus (good boy, masculine)

pueri boni (good boys, masculine

plural)

In the Celtic languages,

however, initial consonant

lenition marks the

adjective with a feminine

noun, as inIrish:

buachaill maith (good boy, masculine)

cailín mhaith (good girl, feminine)

Often a distinction is made

here between attributive

and predicative usage.

Where English is an

example of a language

where adjectives never

agree and French of a

language where they

always agree, in German

they agree only when

used attributively, and in

Hungarian only when

used predicatively.

The good (Ø)

boys. The boys are good

(Ø).

Les bons

garçons. Les garçons sont

bons.

Die braven

Jungen. Die Jungen sind brav

(Ø).

A jó (Ø) fiúk. A fiúk jók.

See also

Attributive verb

Flat adverb

List of eponymous

adjectives in English

List of irregular English

adjectives

Noun adjunct

Post-positive adjective

Proper adjective

References

1. ^ Pullum, Geoffrey K. (21

June 2008). "Twenty

selected Coalface errors".

Language Log. Retrieved

25 March 2011.

Bibliography

Dixon, R. M. W. (1977).

"Where have all the

adjectives gone?". Studies

in Language1: 19–80.

Dixon, R. M. W.; R. E.

Asher (Editor) (1993). The

Encyclopedia of Language

and Linguistics (1st ed.).

Pergamon Press Inc.

pp. 29–35.

ISBN 0080359434.

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

Language10: 353–389.

External links

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjective article on

HyperGrammar

Pratheep

Raveendrabathan - List of

Adjectives

Gallaudet Writer's

Handbook - Adjective

Order

Adjectives - The Qualifiers

that Add Emphasis to

Your Words

Lexical categories and

their features

Noun

Abstract/Concrete ·

Adjectival · Agent ·

Animate/Inanimate ·

Attributive · Collective ·

Common/Proper ·

Countable · Deverbal ·

Initial-stress-derived ·

Mass · Relational · Strong ·

Verbal · Weak

Verb

Verb

forms

Finite · Non-finite —

Attributive · Converb ·

Gerund · Gerundive ·

Infinitive · Participle

(adjectival · adverbial) ·

Supine · Verbal noun

Verb

types

Accusative ·

Ambitransitive ·

Andative/Venitive ·

Anticausative ·

Autocausative ·

Auxiliary · Captative ·

Catenative · Compound ·

Copular · Defective ·

Denominal · Deponent ·

Ditransitive · Dynamic ·

ECM · Ergative ·

Frequentative ·

Impersonal · Inchoative ·

Intransitive · Irregular ·

Lexical · Light · Modal ·

Monotransitive ·

Negative · Performative ·

Phrasal · Predicative ·

Preterite-present ·

Reflexive · Regular ·

Separable · Stative ·

Stretched · Strong ·

Transitive ·

Unaccusative ·

Unergative · Weak

Adjective Collateral · Demonstrative ·

Possessive · Post-positive

Adverb

Genitive · Conjunctive ·

Flat · Prepositional ·

Pronomial

Pronoun

Demonstrative ·

Disjunctive · Distributive ·

Donkey · Dummy ·

Formal/Informal · Gender-

neutral · Gender-specific ·

Inclusive/Exclusive ·

Indefinite · Intensive ·

Interrogative · Objective ·

Personal · Possessive ·

Prepositional · Reciprocal ·

Reflexive · Relative ·

Resumptive · Subjective ·

Weak

Preposition Inflected · Casally

modulated

Conjunction

Determiner

Article · Demonstrative ·

Interrogative · Possessive ·

Quantifier

Classifier

Particle Discourse · Modal · Noun

Complementizer

Other

Copula · Coverb ·

Expletive · Interjection

(verbal) · Measure word ·

Preverb · Pro-form · Pro-

sentence · Pro-verb ·

Procedure word