In my previous articles I discussed the characteristics of nouns and verbs. Now it’s time for the characteristics of adjectives.
Here’s a video version of this article:
So, let’s have a look at the morphological, syntactic and semantic characteristics of adjectives.
Morphological Characteristics of Adjectives
You can inflect some adjectives for comparison. Here belong only short, usually one- or two-syllable adjectives: old, older, oldest
Adjectives differ in structure. Here the division is into:
– simple adjectives: good, nice, red
– derived adjectives: greenish, adorable, healthy
– compound adjectives: homemade, color-blind, easygoing
Many adjectives derive from participles: interesting, tired, boring
Syntactic Characteristics
Adjectives can occur as the head of an adjective phrase: very eager to solve the problem
Sometimes they are used as the head of a noun phrase as well: the rich that you saw in the city
Adjectives are usually used as:
– premodifiers in noun phrases: the beautiful flowers
– predicative: She was so smart!
Sometimes also as postmodifiers: someone stupid
Semantic Characteristics
Adjectives usually describe:
– qualities: black, big, nice
– states: serious, sick
Adjectives can be divided into:
– descriptive adjectives: blue, hot, passionate
– classifiers: criminal (criminal law), medical (medical school)
– identifiers: aforementioned, identical
– intensifiers: complete, utter, partial
Adjectives can be also classified as:
– gradable: good – better – best
– nongradable: German, utter, identical
Another distinction is related to whether an adjective can be a predicative in a clause. So adjectives may be:
– predicating: they were hungry
– nonpredicating: criminal (like in criminal law): *the law was criminal
Descriptive adjectives are normally gradable and predicating. Classifiers, identifiers and intensifiers are normally nongradable and nonpredicating.