ADJECTIVE A
PART OF SPEECH or word class chiefly used to premodify
NOUNS (
romantic in
romantic story) and as a complement to copular verbs such as
be and
seem (
happy and
healthy in
Jeremy is happy,
Mervyn seems healthy).
Form
(1) Simple adjectives such as
good,
sad,
old,
yellow,
bitter. (2) Derived adjectives, formed through adding suffixes to nouns and verbs, such as
-able adorable,
-ful careful,
-ic heroic,
-ish foolish,
-ive attractive,
-ous (famous),
-y (tasty).
Function
Adjectives function attributively as pre-modifiers (
my forgetful parents) and predicatively as complements to the subject (
My parents are forgetful) and the object (
They found my parents forgetful). Many adjectives have only one of these functions, at least as used in a particular sense. In the following phrases,
utter,
certain, and
former are attributive only:
an utter lie,
a certain person,
our former friends. Some adjectives are predicative only, as with
afraid,
loath, and
aware in:
Your brother is afraid of them,
My friends seem loath to interfere,
The manager became aware of her attitude. Adjectives that occur predicatively can also post-modify certain pronouns, usually when the adjectives are part of a larger adjective phrase: (
those)
forgetful (
of their duties), (
somebody)
afraid (
of me). Adjectives ending in
-able or
-ible can function as post-modifiers in certain circumstances:
the best treatment available,
the only teacher suitable. There are also some fixed phrases (mostly legal terms derived from French) that have an adjective following the noun:
heir apparent,
court martial,
attorney general, with the formal plurals
heirs apparent,
courts martial,
attorneys general.
Adjectives that refer to people are sometimes introduced by the definite article
the or by a possessive pronoun. They can function in the same way as nouns, namely as subject, object, etc.:
The poor require our help,
We should look after our young,
The British are coming. The adjective phrases
the poor,
our young, and
the British are plural and refer to a group of people. A few adjectives are used in the same way as singular abstract nouns, mainly in set phrases:
for good,
in private,
in common. The semantic distinction between
restrictive and
non-restrictive modification applies to adjectives that modify nouns as well as to
relative clauses. The adjective
clever in
my clever daughter is restrictive if its function is to distinguish one daughter from the others; it is non-restrictive if there is only one daughter in question and the adjective is conveying a characteristic of that daughter rather than defining which daughter is being referred to.
Comparison
The comparative and superlative degrees in adjectives are shown in two ways: (1) For shorter, usually monosyllabic, words, through a comparative inflection
-er as in
older and a superlative inflection
-est as in
oldest. (2) For longer words, through the addition of premodifiers, the comparative
more in
more hostile and superlative
most in
most hostile. Some adjectives may take both constructions:
common with
commoner/more common and
commonest/most common,
friendly with
friendlier/more friendly and
friendliest/most friendly. Sometimes, for emphasis, shorter adjectives may take
more and
most:
Could you be more clear so that we all understand? There are also some irregular forms:
good,
well (that is, healthy) with
better/best,
bad with
worse/worst, and
far with
farther/farthest or
further/furthest. Comparison applies only to adjectives that are
gradable, that is, that can be viewed as on a scale of intensity, such as those illustrated above. Adjectives that are not gradable, such as
utter and
atomic, cannot be compared or modified by an
INTENSIFIER such as
very. There are differences in usage with a few adjectives, such as
perfect,
complete,
unique, since some people but not others will use
more perfect,
very complete,
really unique, etc. See
DEGREE.
Modification
Gradable adjectives are premodified by intensifying adverbs such as
very,
extremely, and
completely:
very young,
extremely cold,
completely unfriendly. Examples of phrases where the adjective is postmodified are:
trustworthy indeed,
clever enough to help,
fond of you,
glad that you could make it.
