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:
-edformcomputerized, determined, excited, misunderstood, renowned, self-centred, talented, unknown
-ingformannoying, exasperating, frightening, gratifying, misleading, thrilling, time-consuming, worrying
Remember that some -ed forms, such as misunderstood...
Selasa, 19 Agustus 2014
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...
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 wealthythe blind the innocent
A major subclass of nominal adjectives refers to nationalities: the French the British the Japanese
However,...
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...
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.
Inherent and Non-inherent Adjectives
Most attributive adjectives denote some attribute of the noun which they modify. For instance, the...
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...
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...
Count and Non-count Nouns
Count and Non-count Nouns
Common nouns are either count or non-count. COUNT nouns can be "counted", as follows: one pen, two pens, three pens, four pens...
NON-COUNT nouns, on the other hand, cannot be counted in this way: one software, *two softwares, *three softwares, *four softwares...
From the point of view...
Common and Proper Nouns
Common and Proper Nouns
Nouns which name specific people or places are known as PROPER NOUNS.
John Mary London France
Many names consist of more than one word:
John Wesley Queen Mary South Africa Atlantic Ocean Buckingham Palace
Proper nouns may also refer to times or to dates in the calendar:
January,...
Characteristics of Nouns
Characteristics of Nouns
Many nouns can be recognised by their endings. Typical noun endings include:
-er/-oractor, painter, plumber, writer
-ismcriticism, egotism, magnetism, vandalism
-istartist, capitalist, journalist, scientist
-mentarrangement, development, establishment, government
-tionfoundation, organisation, recognition, supposition
Most nouns have distinctive SINGULAR and PLURAL forms. The...
The Ordering of Determiners
The Ordering of Determiners
Determiners occur before nouns, and they indicate the kind of reference which the nouns have. Depending on their relative position before a noun, we distinguish three classes of determiners.
Predeterminer
Central Determiner
Postdeterminer
Noun
I met
all
my
many
friends
A sentence like this is somewhat unusual, because it is rare for all three determiner slots...
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