11/17/2016

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

NOV E MB E R 1 6 T H 2 0 1 6

Irena Metrovi tajduhar

imestrovic@ffri.hr
English Language 1

INTRODUCTION
adjectives and adverbs belong to lexical words
common in all registers (academic, fiction, conversational, media, scientific)
adjectives more common in prose than in conversation
adverbs more common in conversation and fiction

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ADJECTIVES
Definition:
Adjectives are words that modify nouns and pronouns, i.e. provide additional information
about the qualities of things, people and abstractions

ADJECTIVES: MEANINGS
Descriptors

Classifiers

describe color, size, weight, chronology,

age, emotion and other characteristics

limit a nouns referent, rather than

describing its characteristics
relational/restrictive/
classificational

additional, chief,
entire, final, various,
top, primary, similar...

annual, daily, late,

new, recent...

affiliative (national or
social group)

American, Chinese,
Christian, United...

judgement/emotions/
emphasis

bad, beautiful, fine,

lovely, poor...

topical

miscellaneous

cold, complex, hot,

practical, private...

chemical, industrial,
commercial, phonetic,
medical

color

black, white, grey...

size/quantity/extent

big, deep, heavy,

wide...

chronology/age/
frequency

*the distinction between descriptors and classifiers is not always clear;

some adjectives can serve as both, depending on the context

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ADJECTIVES: ROLES (FUNCTIONS)

1. attributive premodifiers, refer to the NP that follows
We had a lovely holiday. / This artefact comes from ancient Greece. / Oh, poor you! You have so
much to do.

2. predicative two roles: SC or OC

as SC, they follow a copular verb and refer to the S: Our holiday was lovely.
as OC, they occur with complex-transitive verbs, following the DO: I find this task time-comsuming.
Attributive
Claires got a new car.
It was a dark night.
This is good coffee.

Predicative
Claires car seems new.
The night was dark.
This coffee tastes good.

THE POSITION OF ADJECTIVES ATTRIBUTIVE

ONLY
Attributive only
- show the reference of the head noun
has already been determined
- show the importance or rank of the
head noun
- show the head noun is recognized
by law or custom
- identify the reference of the noun
itself, i.e. tell us (in part) what the noun
means

Examples
The very/particular/same/exact
man I was seeking
the main/prime/principal/chief
concern
the lawful/rightful/legal/true
heir
a medical doctor
an atomic physicist
a reserve officer

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THE POSITION OF ADJECTIVES ATTRIBUTIVE

ONLY (2)
Attributive only
Examples
- qualify the geographical reference a Southern gentleman
of the noun
the urban crisis
a rural area
- intensify the head noun
a total stranger
a mere child
utter nonsense
- show the uniqueness of the head
the sole survivor
noun
the only nominee
a single individual
- qualify the time reference of the the future king
noun
the present monarch
the former director
the previous winner

THE POSITION OF ADJECTIVES PREDICATIVE

ONLY
Predicative only
- those that begin with an a-prefix

- those that must be followed by

prepositional phrases or infinitives

Examples
The boy is asleep.
The float is adrift.
Mary feels faint.
She is not well.
Jane is fine.
Hes bound for China.
Debbie seems inclined to agree.

- some adjectives describing

feelings, including: content, glad,
pleased, sorry, upset

He seems upset.
I am so sorry.
Were very glad to have you here.

- health adjectives

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THE POSITION OF ADJECTIVES & THE CHANGE IN

MEANING
Example 1:

John is an old friend of mine. (=Ive known him for a long time)
My friend, John, is very old. (= belonging to a group of elderly citizens)
Example 2:

This elect body meets once a year. (=specially chosen)

The president elect takes over in May. (=who has been elected)

OTHER SYNTACTIC ROLES OF ADJECTIVES

1. postposed modifiers part of an
NP but follows the head word;
common with indefinite pronouns: Is
there anything interesting about this at
all?

appears in some fixed expressions: attorney

general, notary public, heir apparent

2. NP heads adjectives can be used

generically to refer to groups of
entities

the Dutch, the young, the unemployed

3. linking expressions serve to link

clauses to one another and often
express stance meanings:

More important, they told us were supposed

to pay.

4. free modifiers modify an NP, but

are not a part of it:

Dark and dangerous-looking, the man entered

the room in silence.

5. exclamations in conversation:

Excellent! Oh dear!

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ADJECTIVES: CHARACTERISTICS
Certain characteristics are typical of adjectives, but not all adjectives have
them
central adjectives have all the characteristics listed below
peripheral adjectives have some, but not all of those characteristics

Defining characteristics:
morphological inflections for comparative (-er) and superlative (-est) degree
syntactic attributive (preceding a noun) and predicative (following a linking/copular
verb) syntactic roles
semantic central adjectives are descriptive (characterize the referent of the nominal
expression) and gradable (show different degrees of a quality)

ADJECTIVE FORMATION
1. derivational affixes

2. adjectival compounds

adding an adjective suffix to a

noun or verb:
careless, productive, venomous,
inventive, readable, functional,
artistic, helpful

combining more than one word to

create a compact form of
information and avoid wordiness
typical in written language
examples:
greenish-blue eyes, a part-time job,
lifelong friends, a well-prepared steak,
a good-looking couple, a widelyrespected author, goody-goody, studentcentred learning, a law-abiding citizen,
a five-second delay

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ADJECTIVE FORMATION (2)

3. participial adjectives

derived from verbs; end in ing or ed

typically play the attributive function, although they can occur in the predicative
role as well
a past participle modifies a noun that is the experiencer of the feeling or

emotion:
Interested people can sign up for the class. (= The people feel interest in the subject)
We were amused by Toms story.
a present participle modifies a noun that is the source (agent or cause) of the feeling or
emotion:
Interesting people will speak during the class. (= People cause others to feel interest)
Tom told us an amusing story.

THE ORDER OF ADJECTIVES

Determ.

Opinion

those

beautiful

Physical description
Size Age

Lees
several

Material Purpose Noun

Shape Color
houses
long

delicious

her

Religion

new

my
a

Origin

blue

silk

evening gown

oak

writing

French
big

old

meal

English

oldfashioned

Catholic
little

round

desk
teacher

marble

coffee

tables

in general, the modifier closest to the noun has the closest association with the noun:
two excellent public tennis courts the word tennis is closely associated with courts, whereas excellent
does not have such a clear connection with courts
the ordering rules are not absolute, and the order can sometimes be different

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THE ORDER OF ADJECTIVES (2)

when using one or more adjectives from the Opinion category, it does not
matter what order they go in:
Shes a depressed, anxious young woman. Shes an anxious, depressed young woman.

if two adjectives are used predicatively, they must be separated with and:
He is always bright and cheerful.

if there are more than two adjectives, the last two adjectives are separated with
and, and the preceding adjectives with a comma:
The new teacher is committed, enthusiastic and hard-working.

ADVERBS
Definition:
Adverbs are words that add meaning to verbs, adjectives and other adverbs
most common use of adverbs is verb modification - adding information about the
circumstances in which the action/state expressed by the verb takes place

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ADVERBS: MEANINGS
Category

Expresses:

Example:

place

where the action is happening (or not

happening)

He loves it there. (position)

He cant have gone far. (distance)
The ball hopped backwards. (direction)

time

when the action is happening (or not

happening)

Your mothers here now! (time position)

She never gets up late. (time frequency)
It will remain a happy memory always. (time
duration)
When they finally showed up, the cake was
already gone. (time relationship)

manner

how (in which way) the action is

performed

He quickly told us about what happened.

You can run fast, but not in here.
The carefully arranges flowers lit up the whole
room.

ADVERBS: MEANINGS (2)

Category

Expresses:

Example:

degree

the extent/intensity of the word it

modifies

amplifiers/intensifiers:
Our dentist is very good.
Shes helped me so generously when I needed it
the most.
Jen is a totally different person now.
downtoners/diminishers:
My glass is almost empty.
The movie was somewhat boring.
Im slightly disappointed with how it turned out.

focusing

that an emphasis is put on a certain

element of the clause; either indicating
that one part is additional to sth else or
emphasizing the importance of sth

additive:
Oh, hes a great guy, too.
It also illustrates the need for...
restrictive:
Only those who are here get a plus.

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ADVERBS: MEANINGS (3)

Category

Expresses:

Example:

stance

epistemic tells sth about certainty,

reality, sources, limitations and
precision
attitude tells sth about the speakers
emotional attitude
style tells sth about the speakers
manner of speaking

probably, reportedly, typically, definitely,...

a connection between sections of

discourse

thus, therefore, consequently...

linking

surprisingly, unfortunately...
sincerely, frankly, honestly, simply...

ADVERBS: ROLES (FUNCTIONS)

1. Modifier integrated into an element of the clause, usually modifies an
adjective or another adverb:

I am pretty sure she didnt mean that!

He responded to my email really quickly.

2. Adverbial an element of the clause itself, providing information about the

action/state expressed by the verb or indicating the level of certainty for
the clause

I think shell be married soon.

Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and
permanent, in the ideas of living.

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ADVERBS: ROLES (FUNCTIONS) (2)

The same adverbs can function as modifiers and adverbials:

To tell John what I really think about his parents was strangely pleasing.
Strangely, Martha didnt react to the news at all.

This complicated situation can be resolved in a surprisingly simple way.

Surprisingly, he decided to show up after all.

OTHER SYNTACTIC ROLES OF ADVERBS

modifying other elements

noun phrase: It came as quite a surprise.

pronoun: Almost nobody seemed happy with their dinner.
predeterminer: Ive done about half of the homework.
prepositional phrase: The guests at the reception were well into their seventies.
particle of phrasal verb: It really filled the room right up.
numeral: Approximately 250 people registered for the entrance exam.
measurement expressions: It is estimated that roughly one quarter of the surrounding area
is unpopulated.

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OTHER SYNTACTIC ROLES OF ADVERBS (2)

as complements of prepositions - usually denote time and place

Its importance has often been recognized since then. Im seeing all this from above.

as clause elements: adverbials

circumstance adverbials add information about the action/state expressed by the
verb: She spoke so quietly.
stance adverbials convey the speakers assessment/attitude of what is being said: His
book undoubtedly speaks to masses.
linking adverbials serve to connect longer stretches of text: therefore, thus, moreover,
consequently, unlike, similarly...

OTHER SYNTACTIC ROLES OF ADVERBS (3)

standing alone
adverbs can stand alone, unconnected to other elements in a clause
they can even serve as complete utterances: Yes, totally. Exactly. Really? Seriously?
Definitely!

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ADVERB FORMATION
1. simple not derived from other words: too, well, quite, soon

often the same form can be used as a different part of speech: fast (adv./adj.), down
(adv./prep.)

2. compound formed by combining two or more elements into a single

word: anyway, hereinafter, nowhere
3. derived adding suffixes to adjectives, nouns or prepositions:

happily, moneywise, onward

4. fixed phrases never vary in form: of course, at last

ADVERB FORMATION (2)

some adjectives and adverbs have the same form

in conversation, adjectives are often used as adverbs: Come here quick!

(descriptive use)
prescriptively: Come here quickly!
Youre wrong! (adj)
Youre doing it wrong. (adv)
That is a very fast train. (adj)
It goes very fast. (adv)
She is a pretty girl. (adj)
That is a pretty good picture. (adv)

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SOURCES
Biber, D. , Conrad, S. & Leech, G. (2002). Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written
English. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow, Essex, UK
Greenbaum, S. & Quirk, R. (2000). A Students Grammar of the English Language. Pearson
Education Limited: Harlow, Essex, UK
Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (2013). A communicative grammar of English. Routledge.
Walker, E. & Elsworth, S. (2000). Grammar Practice for Upper Intermediate Students. Pearson
Education Limited: Harlow, Essex, UK

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