Participial Adjectives

Participial Adjectives

We saw in an earlier section that many adjectives can be identified by their endings. Another major subclass of adjectives can also be formally distinguished by endings, this time by -ed or -ing endings:        -edform computerized, determined, excited, misunderstood, renowned, self-centred, talented, unknown -ingform annoying, exasperating, frightening, gratifying, misleading, thrilling, time-consuming, worrying  Remember that some -ed forms, such as misunderstood and unknown, do not end in -ed at all. This is simply a cover term for this form. Adjectives with -ed or -ing endings are known as PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES, because they have the same endings as verb participles (he was training for the Olympics, he had trained for the Olympics). In some cases there is a verb which corresponds to these adjectives (to annoy, to computerize, to excite, etc), while in others there is no corresponding verb (*to renown, *to self-centre, *to talent). Like other adjectives, participial adjectives can usually be modified byvery, extremely, or less (very determined, extremely self-centred,less frightening, etc). They can also take more and most to form comparatives and superlatives (annoying, more annoying, most annoying). Finally, most participial adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively:        Attributive Predicative That's an irritating noise That noise is irritating This is an exciting film This film is exciting He's a talented footballer That footballer is talented  Many participial adjectives, which have no corresponding verb, are formed by combining a noun with a participle:     alcohol-based chemicals   battle-hardened soldiers   drug-induced coma   energy-saving devices   fact-finding mission   purpose-built accommodation  These, too, can be used predicatively (the chemicals are alcohol-based, the soldiers were battle-hardened, etc).   When participial adjectives are used predicatively, it may sometimes be difficult to distinguish between adjectival and verbal uses:      [1] the workers are striking  In the absence of any further context, the grammatical status of strikingis indeterminate here. The following expansions illustrate possible adjectival [1a] and verbal [1b] readings of [1]:      [1a] the workers are very striking in their new uniforms (=`impressive', `conspicuous')   [1b] the workers are striking outside the factory gates (=`on strike')  Consider the following pair:     [2] the noise is annoying   [3] the noise is annoying the neighbours  In [2], we can modify annoying using very:     [2a] the noise is (very) annoying  But we cannot modify it in the same way in [3]:     [3a] *the noise is (very) annoying the neighbours  The acceptability of [2a] indicates that annoying is an adjective in this construction. In [3], the verbal nature of annoying is indicated by the fact that we cannot add very , as in [3a]. It is further indicated by the presence of the neighbours (the direct object) after annoying. Notice also that we can turn [3] into a passive sentence (the neighbours were annoyed by the noise). In this case, annoying is the main verb of the sentence, and it is preceded by the progressive auxiliary verb is. In [2], there is only one verb, the main verb is.   We can distinguish between the following pairs using the same criteria:       Adjectival Verbal This film is terrifying This film is terrifying the children Your comments arealarming  Your comments are alarmingthe people The defendant's answers were misleading  The defendant's answers weremisleading the jury  We can also identify -ing forms as verbal if it is possible to change the-ing form into a non-progressive verb:       Progressive Non-progressive The children are dancing  The children dance My eyes are stinging My eyes sting The wood is drying  The wood dries   Compare these changes from progressive to non-progressive with the following:       the work is rewarding  ~*the work rewards the job was exacting ~*the job exacted your paper was interesting ~*your paper interested   In these instances, the inability to produce fully acceptable non-progressive sentences indicates adjectival use.    Similar indeterminacy occurs with -ed forms. Again, we can generally use very to determine whether the -ed word is adjectival or verbal:        The bomb was detonated ~*The bomb was verydetonated This document is hand-written ~*This document is very hand-written My house was built in only twelve weeks ~*My house was very built in only twelve weeks  Ten people were killed  ~*Ten people were very killed   The inability to supply very in these cases indicates a verbal rather than an adjectival construction. However, this test is less reliable with -ed forms than it is with -ing forms, since very can sometimes be supplied in both the adjectival and the verbal constructions:        Adjectival  Verbal I was embarrassed   I was veryembarrassed  I was embarrassed by your behaviour  I was very embarrassed by your behaviour She was surprised   She was very surprised  She was surprised by my reaction   She was very surprised by my reaction   The presence of a by-agent phrase (by your behaviour, by my reaction) indicates that the -ed form is verbal. Conversely, the presence of a complement, such as a that-clause, indicates that it is adjectival. Compare the following two constructions:        Adjectival: The jury was convinced that the defendant was innocent Verbal: The jury was convinced by the lawyer's argument  Here are some further examples of adjectival constructions (with complements) and verbal constructions (with by-agent phrases):        Adjectival  Verbal I was delighted to meet you again  I was delighted by his compliments John is terrified of losing his job John is terrified by his boss I was frightened that I'd be late I was frightened by your expression I was disappointed to hear your decision I was disappointed by your decision   If the -ed form is verbal, we can change the passive construction in which it occurs into an active one:        Passive: I was delighted by his compliments Active: His compliments delighted me   For more on active and passive constructions, see...      As we have seen, discriminating between adjectival and verbal constructions is sometimes facilitated by the presence of additional context, such as by-agent phrases or adjective complements. However, when none of these indicators is present, grammatical indeterminacy remains. Consider the following examples from conversational English:    And you know if you don't know the simple command how to get out of something you're sunk [S1A-005-172]  But that's convenient because it's edged with wood isn't it [S1A-007-97]  With -ed and -ing participial forms, there is no grammatical indeterminacy if there is no corresponding verb. For example, in the job was time-consuming, and the allegations were unfounded, the participial forms are adjectives.   Similarly, the problem does not arise if the main verb is not be. For example, the participial forms in this book seems boring, and he remained offended are all adjectives. Compare the following:      John was depressed    John felt depressed

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Adjectives and Nouns

Adjectives and Nouns

We have seen that attributive adjectives occur before a noun which they modify, for example, red in red car. We need to distinguish these clearly from nouns which occur in the same position, and fulfil the same syntactic function. Consider the following:    rally car   saloon car   family car  Here, the first word modifies the second, that is, it tells us something further about the car. For example, a rally car is a car which is driven in rallies. These modifiers occur in the same position as red in the example above, but they are not adjectives. We can show this by applying our criteria for the adjective class. Firstly, they do not take very:    *a very rally car   *a very saloon car   *a very family car  Secondly, they do not have comparative or superlative forms:    *rallier *ralliest / *more rally / *most rally   *salooner *saloonest / *more saloon / *most saloon   *familier *familiest / *more family / *most family    And finally, they cannot occur in predicative position:    *the car is rally   *the car is saloon   *the car is family  So although these words occupy the typical adjective position, they are not adjectives. They are nouns. However, certain adjectives are derived from nouns, and are known as DENOMINAL adjectives. Examples include:     a mathematical puzzle [`a puzzle based on mathematics']   a biological experiment [`an experiment in biology']   a wooden boat [`a boat made of wood']    Denominals include adjectives which refer to nationality:    a Russian lady [`a lady who comes from Russia']   German goods [`goods produced in Germany']    Denominal adjectives of this type should be carefully distinguished from nominal adjectives denoting nationalities. Compare:     Nominal Adjective: The French are noted for their wines   Denominal Adjective: The French people are noted for their wines

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Nominal Adjectives

Nominal Adjectives

Certain adjectives are used to denote a class by describing one of the attributes of the class. For example, the poor denotes a class of people who share a similar financial status. Other nominal adjectives are:   the old   the sick   the wealthy the blind   the innocent  A major subclass of nominal adjectives refers to nationalities:     the French   the British   the Japanese  However, not all nationalities have corresponding nominal adjectives. Many of them are denoted by plural, proper nouns:    the Germans   the Russians   the Americans   the Poles    Nominal adjectives do not refer exclusively to classes of people. Indeed some of them do not denote classes at all:     the opposite   the contrary   the good  Comparative and superlative forms can also be nominal adjectives:    the best is yet to come   the elder of the two   the greatest of these   the most important among them  We refer to all of these types as nominal adjectives because they share some of the characteristics of nouns (hence `nominal') and some of the characteristics of adjectives. They have the following nominal characteristics:  they are preceded by a determiner (usually the definite article the)  they can be modified by adjectives (the gallant French, the unfortunate poor)  They have the following adjectival features:    they are gradable (the very old, the extremely wealthy)  many can take comparative and superlative forms (the poorer, the poorest)

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Stative and Dynamic Adjectives

Stative and Dynamic Adjectives

As their name suggests, STATIVE adjectives denote a state or condition, which may generally be considered permanent, such as big,red, small. Stative adjectives cannot normally be used in imperative constructions:  
 

*Be big/red/small  

Further, they cannot normally be used in progressive constructions:  
 

*He is being big/red/small 

In contrast, DYNAMIC adjectives denote attributes which are, to some extent at least, under the control of the one who possesses them. For instance, brave denotes an attribute which may not always be in evidence (unlike red, for example), but which may be called upon as it is required. For this reason, it is appropriate to use it in an imperative:   
 

Be brave! 

Dynamic adjectives include: 
   

calm  careful  cruel  disruptive  foolish  friendly  good  impatient

mannerly  patient  rude  shy  suspicious  tidy  vacuous  vain

   
All dynamic adjectives can be used in imperatives (Be careful!, Don't be cruel!), and they can also be used predicatively in progressive constructions:   
 

Your son is being disruptive in class  
My parents are being foolish again  
We're being very patient with you 

The majority of adjectives are stative. The stative/dynamic contrast, as it relates to adjectives, is largely a semantic one, though as we have seen it also has syntactic implications.   
  

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Inherent and Non-inherent Adjectives

We have now looked at the main criteria for the adjective class - gradability, comparative and superlative forms, and the ability to occur attributively and predicatively. Most adjectives fulfil all these criteria, and are known as CENTRAL adjectives. Those which do not fulfil all the criteria are known as PERIPHERAL adjectives.  

We will now examine the adjective class in more detail.
 
 

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Inherent and Non-inherent Adjectives

Most attributive adjectives denote some attribute of the noun which they modify. For instance, the phrase a red car may be said to denotea car which is red. In fact most adjective-noun sequences such as this can be loosely reformulated in a similar way:  
   

an old man	~a man who is old
difficult questions	~questions which are difficult
round glasses	~glasses which are round

This applies equally to postpositive adjectives: 

something understood   ~something which is understood  
the people responsible   ~the people who are responsible    

In each case the adjective denotes an attribute or quality of the noun, as the reformulations show. Adjectives of this type are known as INHERENT adjectives. The attribute they denote is, as it were, inherent in the noun which they modify.  

However, not all adjectives are related to the noun in the same way. For example, the adjective small in a small businessman does not describe an attribute of the businessman. It cannot be reformulated asa businessman who is small. Instead, it refers to a businessman whose business is small. We refer to adjectives of this type as NON-INHERENT adjectives. They refer less directly to an attribute of the noun than inherent adjectives do. Here are some more examples, showing the contrast betwen inherent and non-inherent:  

   

Inherent	Non-inherent
distant hills	distant relatives
a complete chapter	a complete idiot
a heavy burden	a heavy smoker
a social survey	a social animal
an old man	an old friend

  
  
 

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Stative and Dynamic Adjectives

As their name suggests, STATIVE adjectives denote a state or condition, which may generally be considered permanent, such as big,red, small. Stative adjectives cannot normally be used in imperative constructions:  
 

*Be big/red/small  

Further, they cannot normally be used in progressive constructions:  
 

*He is being big/red/small 

In contrast, DYNAMIC adjectives denote attributes which are, to some extent at least, under the control of the one who possesses them. For instance, brave denotes an attribute which may not always be in evidence (unlike red, for example), but which may be called upon as it is required. For this reason, it is appropriate to use it in an imperative:   
 

Be brave! 

Dynamic adjectives include: 
   

calm  careful  cruel  disruptive  foolish  friendly  good  impatient

mannerly  patient  rude  shy  suspicious  tidy  vacuous  vain

   
All dynamic adjectives can be used in imperatives (Be careful!, Don't be cruel!), and they can also be used predicatively in progressive constructions:   
 

Your son is being disruptive in class  
My parents are being foolish again  
We're being very patient with you 

The majority of adjectives are stative. The stative/dynamic contrast, as it relates to adjectives, is largely a semantic one, though as we have seen it also has syntactic implications.   
  
  

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Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

Most adjectives can occur both before and after a noun:        the blue sea ~ the sea is blue the old man ~ the man is old happy children ~ the children are happy  Adjectives in the first position - before the noun - are called ATTRIBUTIVE adjectives. Those in the second position - after the noun - are called PREDICATIVE adjectives. Notice that predicative adjectives do not occur immediately after the noun. Instead, they follow a verb.   Sometimes an adjective does occur immediately after a noun, especially in certain institutionalised expressions:  the Governor General   the Princess Royal   times past  We refer to these as POSTPOSITIVE adjectives. Postposition is obligatory when the adjective modifies a pronoun:  something useful   everyone present   those responsible  Postpositive adjectives are commonly found together with superlative, attributive adjectives:  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. However, a small number of adjectives are restricted to one position only. For example, the adjective main (themain reason) can only occur in the attributive position (predicative: *the reason is main). Conversely, the adjective afraid (the child wasafraid) can only occur predicatively (attributive: *an afraid child).

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Characteristics of Adjectives

Characteristics of Adjectives

Adjectives can take a modifying word, such as very, extremely, orless, before them:   
  

very cold weather   
extremely large windows   
less violent storms 

   
Here, the modifying word locates the adjective on a scale of comparison, at a position higher or lower than the one indicated by the adjective alone.  

This characteristic is known as GRADABILITY. Most adjectives are gradable, though if the adjective already denotes the highest position on a scale, then it is non-gradable:  

   

my main reason for coming	~*my very main reason for coming
the principal role in the play	~*the very principal role in the play

   
   
As well as taking modifying words like very and extremely,adjectives also take different forms to indicate their position on a scale of comparison:   
  
big     bigger     biggest

   
The lowest point on the scale is known as the ABSOLUTE form, the middle point is known as the COMPARATIVE form, and the highest point is known as the SUPERLATIVE form. Here are some more examples:  

   

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
dark	darker	darkest
new	newer	newest
old	older	oldest
young	younger	youngest

  

In most cases, the comparative is formed by adding -er , and the superlative is formed by adding -est, to the absolute form. However, a number of very common adjectives are irregular in this respect:   

 

Characteristics of Adjectives

Adjectives can take a modifying word, such as very, extremely, orless, before them:   
  

very cold weather   
extremely large windows   
less violent storms 

   
Here, the modifying word locates the adjective on a scale of comparison, at a position higher or lower than the one indicated by the adjective alone.  

This characteristic is known as GRADABILITY. Most adjectives are gradable, though if the adjective already denotes the highest position on a scale, then it is non-gradable:  

   

my main reason for coming	~*my very main reason for coming
the principal role in the play	~*the very principal role in the play

   
   
As well as taking modifying words like very and extremely,adjectives also take different forms to indicate their position on a scale of comparison:   
   big     bigger     biggest

   
The lowest point on the scale is known as the ABSOLUTE form, the middle point is known as the COMPARATIVE form, and the highest point is known as the SUPERLATIVE form. Here are some more examples:  

   

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
dark	darker	darkest
new	newer	newest
old	older	oldest
young	younger	youngest

  

In most cases, the comparative is formed by adding -er , and the superlative is formed by adding -est, to the absolute form. However, a number of very common adjectives are irregular in this respect:   

   

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
far	farther	farthest

  

Some adjectives form the comparative and superlative using moreand most respectively:  

   

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
important	more important	most important
miserable	more miserable	most miserable
recent	more recent	most recent

 

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
far	farther	farthest

  

Some adjectives form the comparative and superlative using moreand most respectively:  

   

Absolute	Comparative	Superlative
important	more important	most important
miserable	more miserable	most miserable
recent	more recent	most recent

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