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.