Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Adjectives
- An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
- An adjective may be
- Proper adjective
- It is an adjective formed from a proper noun.
It always begins with capital letter.
- Example
- Korean people
- Common adjective
- It gives a general trait to
the words they modify.
- Example
- Skinny jeans
- Characteristics of adjectives
- Morphological
- Some of them have inflection -er and -est in
comparison. Derivation with affixes: (a-, -y, -ful, less,
-able, -ic (al)). Invariable words (for gender, case and
number).
- Example
- prettier, tallest, unfaithful, useless, two
- Notional
- They qualify things, people and
states.
- Some can have different degrees:
- Gradable
- They provide a scalar degree and also, they can
take degree modifiers.
- Example
- a very expensive house
- Non-gradable
- Non-gradable adjectives do not take
modifiers of degree.
- Example
- Phonetic
- Stative
- They denote a state
- Example
- Old
- Dynamic
- Denote an action or getting to a state. They can appear in the predicative
position with the imperative and progressive forms of "to be".
- Example
- careful, be careful
- Inherent
- This adjective characterizes the referent of the noun directly.
- Example
- a red lipstick
- Non-inherent
- Do not characterize the referent of the noun directly.
- Example
- a new pet
- Functional
- They can have an attributive or predicative
function and position.
- Syntactic functions of adjectives
- Attributive
- They can pre-modify the head of a noun phrase
- Example
- a little boy
- Predicative
- They appear after a linking verb.
- Example
- The dog smells bad
- Postpositive
- They inmediately follow the noun or pronoun they modify.
Compound indefinite pronouns and adverbs can only be
modify postpositively.
- Example
- accounts payable
- Placement and order of adjectives
- When we use more than one adjective, it is important to
know the order in which the adjective must be.
- NOSASCOMP
- Number
- Example
- Two watches
- Opinion
- Example
- Two beautiful watches
- Size
- Example
- Two beautiful big watches
- Age
- Example
- Two beautiful big old watches
- Shape
- Example
- Two beautiful big old round watches
- Color
- Example
- Two beautiful big old round brown watches
- Origin
- Example
- Two beautiful big old round brown Salvadorean watches
- Material
- Example
- Two beautiful big old round brown Salvadorean leather watches
- Purpose
- Example
- Two beautiful big old round brown Salvadorean leather fashion watches