Teaching the Adjective

    However, in British usage, these, apart from downtown, are more likely written with a hyphen: ear-splitting, eye-catching.

    Other solid compound adjectives are for example:

    Numbers that are spelled out and have the suffix -fold added: "fifteenfold", "sixfold”.

    Points of the compass: northwest, northwester, northwesterly, northwestwards, but not North-West Frontier. In British usage, the hyphenated and open versions are not uncommon: north-western, north-westerly, north westerly, north-westwards.

    Hyphenated compound adjectives

    A compound adjective is hyphenated if the hyphen helps the reader differentiate a compound adjective from two adjacent adjectives that each independently modify the noun⁴.

    Substantivization of Adjectives.

    Sometimes adjectives become substantivized. In this case they have the functions of nouns in the sentence and are always preceded by the definite article. Substantivized adjectives may have two meanings:

    1) They may indicate a class of persons in a general sense (e.g. the poor = poor people, the dead = dead people, etc.) Such adjectives are plural in meaning and take a plural verb.

    e.g. The old receive pensions.

    The young are always romantic, aren't they?

    The blind are taught trades in special schools.

    e.g. The old man receives a pension.

    If we wish to refer to a particular group of persons (not the whole class), it is also necessary to add a noun.

    e.g. The young are usually intolerant.

    The young men are fishing.

    Some adjectives denoting nationalities (e.g. English, French, Dutch) are used in the same way.

    e.g. The English are great lovers of tea.

    There were a few English people among the tourists.

    2) Substantivized adjectives may also indicate an abstract notion. Then they are singular in meaning and take a singular verb.

    e.g. The good in him overweighs the bad.

    My mother never lost her taste for extravagant.

    Syntactic Functions of Adjectives.

    Adjectives may serve in the sentence as:

    1) an attribute

    e.g. Do you see the small green boat, which has such an odd shape? The lights of the farm blazed out in the windy darkness.

    Adjectives used as attributes usually immediately precede the noun.

    Normally there is no pause between the adjective and the noun. Such attributes are called close attributes. However, an adjective placed in pre-position to the noun may be separated from it by a pause. Then it becomes a loose attribute.

    e.g. Clever and tactful, George listened to my story with deep concern.

    Yet loose attributes are more often found in post-position to the noun.

    e.g. My father, happy and tired, kissed me good-night.

    2) a predicative

    e.g. Her smile was almost professional.

    He looked mature, sober and calm.

    3) part of a compound verbal predicate

    e.g. He stood silent, with his back turned to the window.

    She lay motionless, as if she were asleep.

    4) an objective predicative

    e.g. I thought him very intelligent.

    She wore her hair short.

    5) a subjective predicative

    e.g. The door was closed tight.

    Her hair was dyed blonde.

    It should be noted that most adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively, but some, among them those beginning with a-, can be used only as predicatives (e.g. afraid, asleep, along, alive, awake, ashamed and also content, sorry, well, ill, due, etc.) A few adjectives can be used only as attributes (e.g. outer, major, minor, only, whole, former, latter and some others).

    Position of Adjectives.

    1 Most adjectives can be used in a noun group, after determiners and numbers if there are any, in front of the noun.

    e.g. He had a beautiful smile.

    She bought a loaf of white bread.

    There was no clear evidence.

    2 Most adjectives can also be used after a link verb such as `be', `become', or `feel'.

    e.g. I'm cold.

    I felt angry.

    Nobody seemed amused.

    3. Some adjectives are normally used only after a link verb.

    For example:

    I wanted to be alone.

    We were getting ready for bed.

    I'm not quite sure.

    He didn't know whether to feel glad or sorry.

    4. Some adjectives are normally used only in front of a noun: eastern, exciting, etc.

5. When we use an adjective to emphasize a strong feeling or opinion, it always comes in front of a noun.

e.g. absolute, outright, pure, true, complete, perfect, real, utter, entire, positive, total, etc.

          Some of it was absolute rubbish.

    He made me feel like a complete idiot.

6. Some adjectives that describe size or age can come after a noun group consisting of a number or determiner and a noun that indicates the unit of measurement.

e.g. Deep, long, tall, wide, high, old, thick, etc.

    He was about six feet tall.

    The water was several metres deep.

    The baby is nine months old.

7. A few adjectives are used alone after a noun.

e.g. designate, elect, galore, incarnate, etc.

    She was now the president elect.

    There are empty houses galore.

    8. A few adjectives have a different meaning depending on whether they come in front of or after a noun.

    e.g.  concerned, involved, present, proper, responsible.

    It's one of those incredibly involved stories.

    The people involved are all doctors.

    I'm worried about the present situation.

    Of the 18 people present, I knew only one.

    Order of Adjectives.

    1. We often want to add more information to a noun than we can with one adjective, so we need to use two or more adjectives. In theory, we can use the adjectives in any order, depending on the quality we want to emphasize. In practice, however, there is a normal order. When we use two or more adjectives in front of a noun, we usually put an adjective that expresses our opinion in front of an adjective that just describes something.

    e.g. You live in a nice big house.

    He is a naughty little boy.

    She was wearing a beautiful pink suit.

    2. When we use more than one adjective to express our opinion, an adjective with a more general meaning such as `good', `bad', `nice', or `lovely' usually comes before an adjective with a more specific meaning such as `comfortable', `clean', or `dirty'.

    e.g. I sat in a lovely comfortable armchair in the corner.

     He put on a nice clean shirt.

    It was a horrible dirty room.

    3. We can use adjectives to describe various qualities of people or things.

    For example, we might want to indicate their size, their shape, or thecountry they come from. Descriptive adjectives belong to six main types, but we are unlikely ever to use all six types in the same noun group. If we did, we would normally put them in the following order:

    This means that if we want to use an `age' adjective and a `nationality' adjective, we put the `age' adjective first.

    e.g. We met some young Chinese girls.

    Similarly, a `shape' adjective normally comes before a `colour' adjective.

    e.g. He had round black eyes.

    Other combinations of adjectives follow the same order. Note that `material' means any substance, not only cloth.

    e.g. There was a large round wooden table in the room.

    The man was carrying a small black plastic bag.

    4. We usually put comparative and superlative adjectives in front of other adjectives.

    e.g. Some of the better English actors have gone to live in Hollywood.

    These are the highest monthly figures on record.

    5. When we use a noun in front of another noun, we never put adjectives between them. We put any adjectives in front of the first noun.

    e.g. He works in the French film industry.

    He receives a large weekly cash payment.

    6. When we use two adjectives as the complement of a link verb, we use a conjunction such as `and' to link them. With three or more adjectives, we link the last two with a conjunction, and put commas after the others.

    e.g. The day was hot and dusty.

    The room was large but square.

    The house was old, damp and smelly.

    Adjectives with prepositions.

    1. When we use an adjective after a link verb, we can often use the adjective on its own or followed by a prepositional phrase.

    e.g. He was afraid.

    He was afraid of his enemies.

    2. Some adjectives cannot be used alone after a link verb. If they are followed by a prepositional phrase, it must have a particular preposition:

    Aware of, unaware of, fond of, accustomed to, used to, etc.

    e.g. I've always been terribly fond of you.

    He is unaccustomed to the heat.

    3. Some adjectives can be used alone, or followed by a particular preposition.

• used alone, or with `of ' to specify the cause of a feeling.

    Afraid, critical, jealous, suspicious, ashamed, envious, proud, terrified, frightened, scared, tired, etc.

    They may feel jealous of your success.

    I was terrified of her.

• used alone, or with `of ' to specify the person who has a quality.

e.g. brave, good, polite, thoughtful, careless, intelligent, sensible, unkind, clever, kind, silly, nice, stupid, etc.

    That was clever of you!

    I turned the job down, which was stupid of me.

• used alone or with `to', usually referring to:

similarity: close, equal, identical,

marriage: married, engaged

loyalty: dedicated, devoted, loyal

    e.g. My problems are very similar to yours.

    He was dedicated to his job.

• used alone, or followed by 'with' to specify the cause of a feeling.

e.g. bored, displeased, impatient, content, impressed, satisfied, etc.

    e.g. I could never be bored with football.

    He was pleased with her.

• used alone or with `at', usually referring to:

strong reactions: amazed, astonished, shocked

ability: bad, excellent, good, hopeless, useless

    e.g. He was shocked at the hatred they had shown.

    She had always been good at languages.

4. Some adjectives can be used alone, or used with different prepositions.

    used alone, with an impersonal subject and `of ' and the subject of the action, or with a personal subject and `to' and the object of the action, such as cruel, good, nasty, rude, friendly, nice, mean, polite, unkind, etc.

    e.g. It was rude of him to leave so suddenly.

    She was rude to him for no reason.

• used alone, with `about' to specify a thing or `with' to specify a person.

e.g. angry, delighted, fed up, happy, annoyed, furious, upset, etc.

    e.g. She was still angry about the result.

    They're getting pretty fed up with him. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

     CHAPTER II