GRAMMAR AWARENESS

ADJECTIVE PHRASES,
ADVERB PHRASES AND ADVERBIALS

Agneta M-L Svalberg

Read the following text:

(Sophie and Toni are children. They are twin sisters. Sophie is jealous of Toni.)

What Mrs Goodchild had said to Mr Goodchild was quite true. The twins,
Sophy and Toni Stanthope, were everything to each other and they hated it.
If they had been identical it might have been better but they were as
different as day and night ...Even when Matty saw them, within a week of
their tenth birthday, Sophy had a sharp idea of how different they were. She
knew that Toni had thinner arms and legs... Tonis ankles and knees and
elbows were a bit knobbly and her face was thinner like her arms and legs.
She had big, brown eyes and ridiculous hair. It was long and thin. It was not
much thicker than well if it had been any thinner it wouldnt have been at
all: and as if preparing for disappearance it had entirely got rid of its colour.
Sophy on the other hand knew that she herself lived at the top end of a
smoother and rounder and stronger body, inside a head with dark curls all
over it. She looked out through eyes that were a bit smaller than Tonis with
masses of long, dark eyelashes round them. Sophy was pink and white,
Tonis skin, like her hair, had no colour in it. You could see through it in a
way; and Sophy, without bothering to know how she knew, knew pretty well
the Toni-ness of being who lived more or less inside it. More-or-less was as
near as you could get because Toni did not live entirely inside the head at
the top, but loosely, in association with her thin body. She had a habit of
kneeling and looking up and saying nothing that had a curious effect on any
grown-up present. They would go all soppy. What made this so maddening
was that all these times, Sophy knew Toni wasnt doing it at all. She wasnt
thinking and she wasnt feeling and she wasnt being. She had simply

How do Adjectives behave?

Typically, adjectives are gradable, i.e. have comparative and
superlative forms (-er, -est; more/most); and can be modified
by intensifiers or downtoners (very, extremely, rather,
slightly, barely.).
Tonis ankles and knees and elbows were a bit knobbly and
her face was thinner like her arms and legs. (Golding 1979)
An infinity of sea and sky bluer and more brilliant than in
any dream. Our wake made a white streak across the blue so
struck with glittering points of light it smarted the eye. We
passed islands to our left and to our right; bottle green
bosomy mounds frilled about with white sand rising out of
that electric world of blue. (Irvin, Lucy. Castaway)

The usual rules of thumb for comparative and

superlative are:
add er/ -est to one syllable adjectives
put more/ most before adjectives with three or more syllables
do either of the above with two syllable adjectives

This is a good start, but we can refine these rules

further.
Some adjectives are not normally gradable because of their
meaning (e.g. dead, finished) but creative language users
sometimes challenge that.

-er/-est is not used on most adjectives ending in a

suffix
Because of this more/most has to be used with:
participles used as adjectives
boring, gifted
even if they are irregular participles
broken
adjectives with a typical adjective ending
sleepless, special, spacious, identical, different,
ridiculous, curious, magic, soppy, maddening
(exceptions are most adjectives ending in y, e.g. frosty; or
ly, e.g. friendly. Note that y and ly are not the same suffix.)

What do Adjectives do?

Adjectives can pre-modify nouns, and can serve as
complements.
temporary companions were a young female
photographer and the two silent Torres Strait
Islanders who were manning the boat. The sensation
of waiting and the vastness of the sea and sky made
the passage seem limitless.... (from Irvin, Castaway)

Our

Adjectives as pre-modifiers of nouns are attributive;

b) She had big, brown eyes and ridiculous hair.
she herself lived at the top end of a smoother and
rounder and stronger body

After a copular verb adjectives are predicative.

a) Tonis ankles and knees and elbows were a bit
knobbly and her face was thinner like her arms and
legs.
d) They would go all soppy
e)
That tastes rather good.
e) She looked out through eyes that were a bit
smaller than Tonis

Adjectives can also post-modify a noun/pronoun (they

are then said to have a postpositive function)
o Can you suggest anything useful?
o She had a habit of kneeling and looking up and
saying nothing that had a curious effect on any
grown-up present.

Some adjectives are restricted in their functions.

The dog is asleep.
*An asleep dog.
Do you consider any of the following to be odd or
unacceptable? Why?
1a)

the tall woman 1b) The woman is tall.

2a)

my former friend

2b) My friend is former.

3a)

the principal fact

3b) The fact is principal.

4a)

the afraid men 4b) The men are afraid.

5a)

the alone children 5b) The children are alone.

6a)

an anthropological find6b) a very anthropological find

7a)

a British passport 7b) a very British passport

8a)

This is a minority view 8b)This is a very minority view

Some adjectives change their meaning depending

on the position that they occupy

This is an old friend of mine.

This friend of mine is old.

Consider also the use of certain, present, late in phrases
like:

at a certain time; the time is certain

any grown-ups present; the present grown ups

the late Prime Minister (Eastwood 1994:225);

the Prime Minister is late

Adjectives tend to occur in a particular order. Which of

the following are acceptable/likely?

a big old wooden rocking-horse

a lovely, soft, cuddly toy
the existing monetary system
the planned single currency
wear protective suitable clothing
wear rubber thick disposable gloves
not suitable for use on wooden unsealed
a round, red, cheerful face.

surfaces

Eastwood (1994: 256) provides a useful list of features to

look for in pre-modifying adjectives. They tend to
occur in the following order:

opinion, size, quality, age, shape, colour, participle

forms (-ed, -en, -ing), origin, material, type, purpose.
There is a tendency for the shorter of two similar types
to come first.
The adjective nearest to the head is usually the one
that has the closest semantic relationship to it.

An adjective is the head of an Adjective Phrase (AdjP)

The adjective can be pre-modified by adverbs, e.g. intensifiers and
downtoners.
more/less tired
extremely/somewhat tired
less smooth, pink
a bit knobbly
quite true
so maddening
all soppy

Some Adjs take a complement.The most common

forms of complementation are prepositional
phrases (PPs) and subordinate clauses.
1a)They are loyal.
b) They are loyal to the
government.
2a)He is jealous.
b) He is jealous of his friend.
3a)*She is fond.
b) She is fond of her sister.
4a) She was happy.
b) She was happy
that he had left/to leave.

Why is 3a) unacceptable?

Occasionally, there can be two complements.
5) They were angry at John for his carelessness

Complements are part of the grammatical

structure of lexical items that is of the word
grammar, for example of the adjectives we just
saw:
jealous

of
happy that
angry at for
fond of

Adjectives also enter into more complex structures for the

purpose of comparison:
(If) any thinner (then)

Conditional

not much thicker than

Neg+Adv (as downtoner)+Adj+[Prep+NP]

a bit smaller than Tonis

NP (as downtoner) +Adj+ [Prep+NP]

as different as day and night

Adv + Adj + [Prep +NP])

2. ADVERBS AND ADVERBIALS

This is what most people know about adverbs:
Adverbs modify verbs
Adverbs end in ly
Squashed tightly into a corner.
While this is true in the example, it is only a small part
of the story.
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs, clauses and
sentences (i.e. anything except nouns).
Adverbs dont necessarily end in ly, and ly does not
necessarily mean that it is an adverb (e.g. friendly)

How do adverbs behave?

Like adjectives, many adverbs are gradable, i.e. have
comparative and superlative forms (-er, -est; more,
most); can be modified by intensifiers or downtoners
(very, extremely, rather .)

Type faster/ more quickly/ extremely fast

But because of their varied functions as modifiers, adverbs

can occur almost anywhere in a clause or sentence.
I have rarely seen so many children playing quietly here.

Adverb?
They corrected the mistake immediately.
They corrected the mistake without delay.
Meet me here, at noon.
Meet me then, in the same place.
immediately, here, then are adverbs
without delay, at noon, in the same place express very
similar/the same meanings, but they are not adverbs.
How are they related?

immediately, here, then are adverbs (one-word

adverbials)
without delay, at noon, in the same place are adverbials
The relationship between adverbs and adverbials is
tricky. There are two ways of looking at it:
1. Grammatically
Adverb is a word class (like noun, verb, adjective).
Adverbial is a function in the sentence (like subject,
object, complement).

2. Semantically (in terms of meaning)

Adverbs are one-word Adverbials. (A useful rule of
thumb)
The same adverbial meanings can be expressed by one
word or a longer expression:
a. immediately, here, then
b. without delay, at noon, in the same place
Both a. and b. are adverbials, but only a. are adverbs.

What do adverbials as a class have in common?

Semantically (in terms of meaning):

most provide information about when, where, why, how

Space (where? where from/to?)
Time (when? how long? how often?)
Manner (how? how often?
Degree (how much?)
Cause (why?)
Certainty (how true?)

Others relate to how the speaker evaluates the

information content (how does it seem?):

just, only

just before Ramadhan; only one man; it is probably for the

best;

Or to the logical relations between sentences (how

do they relate?):

however, nevertheless

Because of the diversity of meanings, functions and

forms within what is called adverbials, it has been
suggested other terms should be used.
An alternative is to reserve the term adverbial for an
obligatory constituent of a sentence (alongside
subject, object, complement).
Other occurrences can then be divided into
Conjuncts: Sentence linkers such as nevertheless,
moreover, in contrast.
Disjuncts: Sentence adverbials which express the
speakers attitude, such as Honestly..., Luckily...
Adjuncts: All the other non-obligatory adverbials,
e.g. (We took a stroll) in the park after lunch.

We will, however, use the term adverbial for all.

Examples of meanings/types of adverbials ( see a list in G & N: 36-37)
Space (location, direction)
under the sun, in a town, from within, to Granada, here, there
Time (location, duration, frequency)
before nightfall, rarely, for two hours, then, now
Manner
with a hammer, slowly
Degree
slightly, very much, intensely, with vigour (includes intensifiers and downtoners)
Cause
(ill) with anxiety, for my sake, because of you
Certainty/ Doubt
probably, perhaps, without a doubt
Evaluation
fortunately, apparently
Sentence linkers
nevertheless, on the contrary, however, in other words

Adverbials can function on their own

We did it there and then.
but they frequently modify other constituents
verbs
drive carefully; come back; chop into small pieces
adjectives
extremely slow; rather hesitant;
adverbs
extremely slowly; right there
sentences
Finally, when Julie arrived, we sat down and had
dinner

What do adverbials as a class have in common?

Grammatically
they do not function as subject/object or verb.
they are typically optional (from a grammar point of
view)
My father rarely left the house before nightfall
My father left the house
But they can sometimes function as (obligatory)
complements
They were there (subject complement)
They were outside the White House (subject complement)

Adjective or Adverb or Verb?

It is often not possible to tell the word class of a lexical
item without considering the context.
I was late.
I arrived late.
She was boring.
She was boring the audience with her anecdotes.
This session should have provided you with some tools
for classifying the underlined words, and for justifying
your classifications.

WORKSHOP TASK

In the Sophie text (see handout):

Underline the Adj Ps

Double underline the head of each AdjP

Describe how the adjectives have been modified

Circle any adverbials. Looking at the list of adverbials in G

& N 36-37, try to match the adverbials you have found with
types.
Who is the narrator of this text? Would you say that the
use of adjectives is sophisticated or rather simple? What is
the effect?
How challenging and how important is the use of adjectives
to your learners?
What are the major challenges for your learners in the use
of adverbials?
Are there any useful rules of thumb to do with adjectives?
With adverbials?