Lengua Inglesa II

2009-2010
Topic 3: Grammatical Units
Subtopic 4: The Adjectival Phrase

Tom Morton
IV-bis 205
tom.morton@uam.es
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Forms of adjectives:
Simple: tall
Derived: friendly
Participial: drunken

Functions:
Epithet: His brilliant acting
Cs: The acting was brilliant
Co: I consider that offensive
Adjunct: Im receiving you loud and clear.
Disjunct: Strange, I never suspected him



1. The Adjectival Phrase
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Adjectives can be premodified by either:
Grading (slightly, somewhat, very, extremely, overly):
A slightly bent wire, an extremely overweight dog
Comparison (more, most, less, least)
the least bent wire, the most overweight dog

Not all adjectives can be graded or compared:
Comparable: more beautiful, the most red
Noncomparable (ungradable):
NATIONALITIES: French, Spanish, etc.
MISC.: dead, alive, broken, etc.

Comparison can also be done morphologically:
the bigger/biggest
3. Adjective Premodification
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Say which of the adjectives as used in the following phrases
can be graded
(1) shallow water;
(2) the closing date;
(3) a daily newspaper;
(4) a small size;
(5) the probable outcome;
(6) the main reason;
(7) a fast driver;
(8) the political consequences.

(From Downing and Lock 2
nd
edition)
Exercise 2: Gradability
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Comparing with Adjective Phrases:


3. Adjective Premodification: Comparison
Morphological Premodifier
Absolute superiority
the easiest the most difficult
Comparative sup.
easier more difficult
Equality
as easy/difficult
Comparative inf.
less easy/difficult
Absolute inferiority
the least easy/difficult
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
3. Adjective Premodification: Comparison
Number of syllables Form Examples
1 syllable adj +er small smaller
big bigger
2 syllables:
- ending in y

- others

adj y +er

more adj

early earlier

social more social
3 or more syllables more adj difficult more difficult
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Say which of the following adjectives should be inected
(-er, -est) for grading and which take more/most):
risky
real
varied
blue
typical
mistaken
friendly
user-friendly
small
tight
generous
bitter

(From Downing and Lock 2
nd
edition)


Exercise 3: Morphology or Syntax?
Inflected or analytic?
Inflected

risky
blue
friendly
small
tight
bitter* (bitterest)
Analytic

real
varied
typical
mistaken
user-friendly
generous
bitter (more bitter)


3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Provide the comparative and superlative forms for the
following:
Exercise 4: Comparative/Superlative
Absolute Comparative Superlative
big
brave
free
early
good
bad
far / /
old / /
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Provide the comparative and superlative forms for the
following:
Exercise 4: Comparative/Superlative
Absolute Comparative Superlative
big bigger biggest
brave braver bravest
free freer freest
early earlier earliest
good better best
bad worse worst
far farther/further farthest/furthest
old older/elder oldest/eldest
My elder/older sister
The older car.
She is older.
She is elder
good
good at grammar
very good
very good indeed
very good indeed at grammar
Michael is
ADJECTIVAL GROUP
m h m c
h
good
hc
good at
grammar
mh
very good
mhm
very good indeed
mhmc
very good indeed at
grammar
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Adjectives that take complementation:
I was afraid that he was not coming
He was conscious that he was late (aware, certain)
She was fond of chocolate. (obligatory)

These represent mental states
The complentation represents the object of the mentation
Note the correspondence:
He was afraid that He feared that ...
She was conscious that He knew that ...
She was fond of She liked




4. Adjectival Post-modification
Complement the adjectives
1. Jasmine and Nick are keen to take up golf.
2. I am sorry ..
3. My girlfriend is insistent ..
4. You are right .
5. We are convinced ..
6. The manager is confident
7. You must be crazy
8. I am happy
9. Im glad ..
10. His new book is likely .

3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Comparative postmodification: Another form of
postmodification makes the attribute relative to
some other case:
She was quicker than Mary
This music is livelier than the other.
He is more eloquent than me.
I am less talented at this than you.

Sufficiency (enough):
It is hot enough now



4. Adjectival Post-modification (ii)
3.4 The Adjectival Phrase
Adjectives can be classified in terms of the
slots they can fill:
Epithet vs. Complement
Most adjectives can be both Epithet and
Complement
the beautiful girl / the girl is beautiful

Some can be Epithet only (with the intended sense):
an old friend, a complete fool

Some can be Complement only:
Health adjs.: ill, well, faint, unwell (vs. the sick man)



2. Classes of adjectives
Syntactic functions of AdjPs/AdjGs
(pre-) modifier in
a NG
heavy rain,
an old friend
(post-) modifier
in a NG
something
cheap, the
person
responsible
head of a NG the French, the
young, the most
expensive
complement of
a prepostion
at last, for good,
in short
modifier in an
AdjG
bright red, pale
blue, red hot
AdjGs in groups:
Subject
compliment
The acting
was brilliant
Object
compliment
I consider that
offensive
AdjGs in clauses
It was always a surprise to me that I was good at games. It was an even
greater surprise that I was exceptionally good at two of them: one called
fives, the other, squash-racquets. Fives, which many of you will know nothing
about, was taken seriously at Repton and we had a dozen massive glass-
roofed fives courts kept always in perfect condition. We played the game of
Eton-fives, which is always played by four people, two on each side, and
basically it consists of hitting a small, hard, white, leather-covered ball with
your gloved hands, The Americans have something like it which they call
handball, but Eton-fives is far more complicated because the court has all
manner of ledges and buttresses built into it which help to make it a subtle
and crafty game.

Fives is possibly the fastest ball-game on earth, far faster than squash, and
the little ball ricochets around the court at such a speed that sometimes you
can hardly see it. You need a swift eye, strong wrists and a very quick pair of
hands to play fives well, and it was a game I took to right from the beginning.
You may find it hard to believe, but I became so good at it that I won both the
junior and the senior school fives in the same year when I was fifteen.
AdjG as Cs in clause AdjG as m in NG AdjG as Co in clause