English adjectives

An adjective phrase (AdjP) is headed by an adjective and optionally takes dependents. AdjPs can take modifiers, which are usually pre-head adverb phrases (e.g., truly wonderful) or post-head preposition phrases (e.g., too big for you; afraid of the dark). The following tree diagram in the style of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language shows the AdjP very happy to try, with the adverb very as a modifier and the clause to try as a complement.

English adjectives can take clauses, prepositional phrases, and noun phrases as complements. Clause complements in adjective phrases can be either finite or nonfinite. Finite clause complements can be declarative (e.g., very pleased that I had bought his book) or interrogative (e.g., not sure whether I want to keep reading). Nonfinite clause complements can occur with a subject (e.g., happy for you to prove me wrong) or without a subject (e.g., eager to please). Adjectives that take prepositional phrase complements license prepositional phrases heads by fixed prepositions. For example, dependent takes prepositional phrase complements headed only by on or upon. In some cases, leaving out the prepositional phrase complement results in an ungrammatical statement (as in *that leaves Social Security permanently dependent). A small number of adjectives (due, like, near, unlike, and worth) can take noun phrases as complements.[6] For example, worth can function as the head of an adjective phrase with a noun phrase complement such as a second chance.

The prototypical pre-head modifiers of English adjectives are adverb phrases headed by degree adverbs, such as very and too.[7][8] For example, the adjective tall can be modified by the adverb phrase very. Less common pre-head modifiers in adjective phrases are noun phrases (e.g., six feet long), prepositional phrases (e.g., by no means realistic), and determiner phrases (e.g., that small).[8]

The prototypical post-head modifiers of English adjectives are prepositional phrases. In the adjective phrase very early in the morning, for example, the prepositional phrase in the morning modifies the head of the adjective phrase, early. Less commonly, certain adverbs (indeed and still) and one determiner (enough) can head phases that function as post-head modifiers of adjectives.[8] These words can be included in adjective phrases like very harmful indeed, sweeter still, and fair enough.

While adjectives themselves function only as heads in adjective phrases (an AdjP is often a head adjective with no dependents), adjective phrases function as modifiers, complements, adjuncts, and fused modifier-heads.[4]^{: 165–169}

Adjective phrases most typically function as pre-head (or attributive) modifiers in noun phrases, occurring after any determinative in the NP (e.g., some nice folks). In some cases they are post-head (or postpositive) modifiers, with particular heads like galore (e.g., stories galore) or with certain compound heads like somebody (e.g., somebody special).

Some adjectives can function as external modifiers in a noun phrase, occurring before the determiner. Usually, these are modified AdjPs, such as how big a deal, too fine a point, or as good a time. Similarly, such and what in its exclamative use (e.g., such a thing, what a surprise).

Although English adjectives do not inflect for number or gender, adjectives may have plural semantics, and these are typically infelicitous with singular nouns. For example, the adjective multiple could not typically be a modifier in an NP with a singular noun (*the multiple way she does that).

In cases such as the very poor and the French which denote a class, traditional grammars see the adjective as being "used as a noun".[9] Note that poor cannot actually be a noun here because very doesn't modify nouns, there is no possibility to pluralize poor (e.g., *three poors), and most determiners are impossible (e.g., *a poor could not or *some poor did).

Other grammars see this as a case of ellipsis, where the head noun is simply "left out" and the AdjP is a regular modifier.[10]

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language takes such instances to be fused modifier-heads. Under this analysis, adjective phrases may bear two functions at one time, fusing the functions of modifier and head in an NP where no head noun exists. In the noun phrase the very poor, the adjective poor is the fused modifier-head as shown in the tree diagram below.[11]^: 332

Adjective phrases also commonly appear as predicative complements in verb phrases headed by linking verbs such as be, become, seem, appear, etc. (e.g., She seems quite capable). A few prepositions also license predicative complement AdjPs (e.g., She's seen as quite capable. We got them for free).

Adjective phrases also function as predicative adjuncts in clause structure (e.g., Happy to see her, I wept). These are typically interpreted with the subject of the main clause being the predicand of the adjunct (i.e., "I was happy to see her"). When this is not the case, such supplements are often deprecated as dangling modifiers.

While most adjectives function as either an attributive modifier (e.g., a new job) or a predicative complement (e.g., the job was new), certain adjectives are limited to one or the other of these two functions.[12] For example, the adjective drunken is attributive only (a drunken fool vs *the fool was drunken),[13] while the adjective awake has the opposite distribution (*an awake child vs the child is awake).

It is not only certain adjectives, but also certain constructions that are limited to one function or the other. For instance a nice hot bath is possible, as it the bath is hot and the bath is nice, but *the bath is nice hot is not.[14]

Most adjectives participate in the system of grade,[4] but some do not (e.g., ancillary, bovine, municipal, pubic, first, etc.), or at least some have particular senses that do not.[5]^: 531 For example a very Canadian embassy can imply that the embassy has the stereotypical characteristics of the institutions of Canada (politeness perhaps), but it cannot mean that the embassy represents Canada in the way that a Canadian embassy does.

Many words have been categorized by traditional grammars as types of adjectives are categorized as belonging to entirely different lexical categories by modern grammars, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. The types below are mostly of this kind. What these words have in common is, to put it in traditional terms, that they qualify nouns.[12] In modern terms, they appear as pre-head dependents in noun phrases. Note that a word may be of multiple types: for example whose is a possessive adjective, an interrogative adjectives, a pronominal adjective, and a relative adjective.

Words like many and few, along with numbers (e.g., many good people, two times) are traditionally categorized as adjectives, where modern grammars see them as determiners.[12] This type also includes ordinals like first, tenth, and hundredth, which are undisputed adjectives.

This type includes this, that, these, and those,[12] which are seen by other grammars as determiners. It also includes the undisputed adjective such.

This type includes my, your, our, their, etc. (e.g., my friend).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as pronouns.

This type includes what, which and whose (e.g., what time).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as pronouns or determiners. (What in exclamatives, e.g., what a lovely day! is an adjective, but is not interrogative.)[5]^: 435

How in questions like how are you is sometimes categorized as an interrogative adjective.[5]^: 907

This type includes words like any, each, and neither (e.g., any time).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as determiners.

This type includes words like all, another, any, both, and each (e.g., another day).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as determiners.

This type includes words that qualify a noun and must agree with it in number: all, these, some, no, etc.(e.g., these days).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as determiners or pronouns.

This type includes words that are derived from common nouns and are capitalized (e.g., An Italian vacation, a New York minute).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as adjectives (e.g., Italian, Christian, Dubliner, Chinese, Thatcherite, etc.) or nouns (e.g., the Regan administration, the Tokyo train system).

This type includes adjectives composed of two or more words operating "as a single adjective" (e.g., straightlaced, New York (see above), long-term, etc.).[12]

This type includes which and whose (e.g., the person whose book I bought).[12] These are categorized by other grammars as pronouns or determiners.

Many adjectives inflect for degree of comparison. For example, hot has the comparative form hotter and the superlative form hottest. Typically, short adjectives (including most single-syllable adjectives that are semantically gradable), adjectives originating in Old English, and short adjectives borrowed from French use the -er and -est suffix. Adjectives with two syllables vary in whether they mark degree of comparison through inflectional suffixes or periphrastically with more and most. Some take either form (e.g., commoner, more common) while others take only one or the other (e.g., happier but not more happy). Longer adjectives derived from Greek or Latin and most adjectives of three or more syllables typically mark degree of comparison with more and most (e.g., more expensive but not expensiver).[15]

It is possible to form adjectives from other adjectives through the addition of prefixes (e.g., happy → unhappy) and suffixes (e.g., young → youngish).

Adjectives may be formed by the addition of affixes to a base from another category of words. For example, the noun recreation combines with the suffix -al to form the adjective recreational.

• Prefixes of this type include a- + noun (blaze → ablaze), a- + adjective (typical → atypical), and un- + past participle (married → unmarried),
• Suffixes of this type include verb + -able (accept → acceptable), noun + -al (nation → national), noun + -esque (picture → picturesque), noun or verb + -less (home → homeless), noun + -ate (passion → passionate), noun + -en (gold → golden), verb + -ive (act → active), and many others.[16]^: 224

Through a process of derivational morphology, adjectives may form words of other categories. For example, the adjective happy combines with the suffix -ness to form the noun happiness.

• It is typical of English adjectives to combine with the -ly suffix to become adverbs (e.g., real → really).
• Noun-forming suffixes include -cy (private → privacy), -ness (happy → happiness), -dom (wise → wisdom), -hood (likely → likelihood), -ist (special → specialist), and -th (true → truth).[16]^: 222
• Verb-forming affixes include -ify and -ize (e.g., real → realize & just → justify).
• Adjectives also form words through conversion, without any change in form (e.g., red (adj) → red (noun)).

An adjective base can join with a base from another cateogry to form a new word as in blackboard, noteworthy, childproof, fail safe, uptight, etc.

Many adjectives derive from present participles (e.g., interesting, willing, & amazing) or past participles e.g., (e.g., tired, involved, & concerned). These can typically be distinguished from verbs by their ability to be modified by very (e.g., very tired but not *very based on it).

Most prepositions do not participate in the system of grade, so this can often distinguish them from adjectives, which typically do. As a result, adjectives can typically be modified by adverbs very, so, and too, while prepositions typically cannot. Conversely, prepositions can typically be modified by right (e.g., right up the tree), while adjectives cannot. Finally, preposition phrases readily function as non-predicative adjuncts in clause structure (e.g., after dinner, there was dancing) while AdjPs are typically ungrammatical without a predicand (e.g., *Enjoyable, there was dancing).

An adjective can express quantification over the events described by the verb. For example, the adjective occasional in She also has an occasional drink (i.e., “She drinks occasionally.”) quantifies over drinks.

Although English adjectives do not participate in the system of number the way determiners, nouns, and pronouns do, English adjectives may still express number semantically. For example, adjectives like several, various, and multiple are semantically plural, while those like single, lone, and unitary have singular semantics.[5]^: 353

In English, the definiteness of a noun phrase is usually marked on the determiner, not on adjectives. But certain adjectives, in particular superlatives, are mostly incompatible with an indefinite interpretation of the NP. Cases like *they were best students seem ungrammatical, though exceptions such as they were best friends exist. In cases such as a best-case scenario, best-case is a nominal, not a full NP, so this is not an .

Non-superlatives can also work in this way. The adjectives wrong and right are often incompatible with an indefinite NP (e.g., *they found a right person; here suitable would be better) but are possible in other cases (e.g., there isn't a right answer).

Unlike some languages, English does not mark the specificity of NPs grammatically. But NPs with adjective modifiers such as specific or certain are generally interpreted specifically, while those with adjective modifiers such as arbitrary are generally interpreted non-specifically.

A noun phrase with an adjective phrase functioning as a pre-head modifier may have a different interpretations from one with the same modifier appearing after the head noun. For example, the visible stars can mean either those stars that are currently visible or those that are generally visible, even if not currently visible. In contrast, the stars visible only has the "currently visible" interpretation.

The semantic contribution of adjectives as modifiers in a noun phrase is typically quite different from the semantic contribution of the same adjective as a stem in a compound word.[17] A green house, for instance, is a house that is green in colour, but a greenhouse is neither green in colour nor a house. Similarly, a bigmouth is not a big mouth, a highway is not a high way, and software is not *soft ware. The phonology of these pairs also differs. With the adjective as a modifier in a noun phrase, the adjective and the noun typically receive equal stress (a black bird), but in a compound, the adjective typically takes primary word stress (a blackbird).

Only a small set of English adjectives function in this way:[18]

• The colour words black, blue, brown, green, grey, red, and white
• Grand in words of family relationships
• A set of monosyllabic gradable adjectives such as: broad, dry, free, hard, hot, mad, small, sweet, etc.
• A small set of non-gradable monosyllabic adjectives: blind, dumb, first, quick (= 'alive'), square, whole
• A very small number of disyllabic adjectives: bitter, narrow and possibly silly