4.2.2 Adjectives (Adj.)

Recap of last lesson:

In the previous lecture, we learned that nouns are words that we use to name entities in the physical and psychological worlds.

At this point, you should know that there are different types of nouns. Specifically, nouns can be

• concrete (people, places, objects, etc.) or abstract (ideas, concepts, emotions, etc.),

• common (all the members in a category, e.g., singers) or proper (the one and only in its category, e.g., Mrs. Maisel, Shy Baldwin),

• countable (e.g., books, apples, houses) or uncountable (e.g., air, fire, love), or

• collective (e.g., team, family, committee, faculty, staff).

• There are also unit nouns (e.g., a loaf of bread, a flock of birds, a herd of sheep, a school of fish).

Nouns usually do not appear alone. They are often modified by other words, typically adjectives.

Without adjectives, nouns can be too general, vague, and boring. As Henry James put it:

"Adjectives are the sugar of literature, adverbs the salt".

We'll focus on adjectives in this lesson.

1. Watch this music video on adjectives and try to jot down as many adjectives as you can from what you hear.

2. The adjectives in the underlined sentence were taken out on purpose. Can you add them back make the travel ad more interesting to read? Submit your revised sentence in the G.form below.

Hawaii is universally rated as one of the top vacation destinations in the world. The beaches, water, reefs, weather, new things to do and see make the 50th state a destination. Almost 10 million visitors a year grace our shores and are embraced by the aloha spirit of the islands.

Now, we let's take a deeper look at adjectives. We're going to

1. define them from the three dimensions of form, meaning, and function,

2. identify the locations of adjectives in a phrase, and

3. scrutinize their rhetorical effects in writing and speaking.

Adjectives can describe, modify, and give information about nouns and pronouns. We have seen examples of adjectives modifying nouns. Here are examples of adjectives modifying pronouns:

• - Lucky me!

• - Poor you!

• - Poor old pitiful me.

• somebody wonderful,

• nobody important,

• anyone interested

A. By Form

1. simple adjectives (one free morpheme)

   1. • e.g., good, cheap, fun, dark, warm, late, white, tall

2. compound adjectives (often two free morphemes connected by a hyphen)

   1. • full-time,

      • greyish-blue,

      • life-long,

      • so-called,

      • highly-sensitive,

      • wishy-washy,

      • horse-drawn,

      • nerve-wracking,

      • half-assed

      • two-year-old

3. complex adjectives (one free morpheme + one derivational morpheme/suffix)

   1. • -ous (continuous, luminous, luxurious, lustrous)

      • -ive (inductive, elusive, effective, defective, active)

      • -ent/-ant (persistent, consistent, resistant, reluctant)

      • -y (dusty, flashy, gloomy, dreary, tasty, tidy)

      • -ful (sorrowful, joyful, fruitful, doleful, regretful)

      • -less (cordless, helpless, cheerless, shameless)

4. adjectives converted from verb participle forms

1) Present participial form (v-ing):

• • an amazing person,

  • an increasing living cost,

  • the underlying assumption,

  • a promising endeavor,

  • a leading expert,

  • an existing theory,

  • a missing child

2) Past participial form (v-ed):

• advanced mathematics,

• an armed robbery,

• a bored dog,

• a confused child,

• an educated woman,

• an exhausted child

B. By Meaning

1. descriptors: typically characterize the referent of a noun or noun phrase.

• red roses, violet blue, black jacket (color)

• a long road, high tide, large ears (size/quantity/amount)

  • • a sweet pie, a sour dough, a bitter beer (taste)

    • smooth skin, silky ice cream, rough patches (texture)

    • cold stone, hot water, warm sweater (temperature)

• old times, new movie, young lady, annual gathering (time)

• a good day, bad weather, a nice person (evaluative)

*Most descriptors are gradable (e.g., ✔️larger, ✔️largest; ✔️more interesting, ✔️most interesting)

2. classifiers: limit or restrict a noun’s referent rather than describing characters of it.

• French toast, Chinese food, German shepherd (affiliative)

• environmental science, industrial revolution, human rights (topical)

• additional fee, top dog, general interest, chief executive officer (relational)

*Most classifiers are non-gradable. (e.g., ✖️more social, ✖️most social)

C. By Function

1. attributive adjectives (function: pre-modifiers)

• foreseeable future, dark hair, wild goose

• She has a shy manner.

*Attributive adjectives precede nouns.

2. predicative adjectives (function: SP or OP)

1) Subject predicate (SP): modifies the subject

• Her manner/ is/ shy.

• The movie/ is/ amazing.

Sentence pattern: {Subject + Link Verb + Subject Predicate}

2) Object predicate (OP): modifies the object

• Our renters/ have kept [the apartment] clean.

• I consider [her performance] excellent.

Sentence pattern: {Subject + Transitive Verb + Object + Object Predicative}

* Predicative adjectives do not occur immediately after the noun.They follow a verb.

4.3.3 Position/location of Adjectives:

1) attributive adjectives

Most adjectives occur before a noun. Those that occur before a noun is called attributive adjectives.

• E.g., the blue sea the old man happy children

2) Postpositive adjectives

A. Some adjectives come after nouns. These are referred to as postpositive adjectives.

• E.g., the Governor General; the Princess Royal; times past [relatively flexible]

B. Postposition is obligatory when the adjective modifies a pronoun.

• E.g., something useful; everyone present; those responsible

C. Postpositive adjectives are commonly found together with superlative attributive adjectives:

• E.g., the shortest route possible; the worst conditions imaginable; the best hotel available

*Most adjectives can freely occur in both the attributive and the predicative positions.

A small number of adjectives are restricted to one position only. For example,

1. 1. • I love the clear sky. ✔️The sky is clear.

      • the main reason ✖️ the reason is main

      • The child was afraid. ✖️an afraid child

4.4.4. Writing connection: The rhetoric of adjectives

HW: Exercise 4.8 (p. 83-84) (optional)