ENG 320 Notes on Chapter 6 Adjectives and Adverbs

WHAT ARE ADJECTIVES?

Definition: Words that modify or describe the head of a noun phrase (if a noun phrase consists
of only a single noun, that noun is the head of the noun phrase itself).

Inflectional adjective suffixes for comparison:

Comparative: -er (funner, nicer, taller)
Superlative: -est (funnest, nicest, tallest)

Periphrastic words for comparison:

Comparative: more (more graceful, more generous, more careful)
Superlative: most (most graceful, most generous, most careful)

General Rules about Using Inflectional Suffixes and Periphrastic Words for Comparison
(my additions to this chapter):

1. In general, monosyllabic adjectives/adverbs take the inflectional endings –er and –est for
comparison:

Base form -er -est

tall adj. taller tallest
rich adj. richer richest
fast adj, adv. faster fastest
quick adj, adv. quicker quickest

--Usage Variation of monosyllabic adjectives and adverbs: Users do not always use the
inflectional ending when prominence is intended for emphasis. Compare the following pairs of
examples:

John’s grade was high for his first exam but is more high for this second exam.
John’s grade was high for his first exam but is higher for this second exam.

I saw Jane again today; her eyes were even more blue than I had remembered.
I saw Jane again today; her eyes were even bluer than I had remembered.

When my first friend left, I was very sad, and I was more sad when my second friend also
left.
When my first friend left, I was very sad, and I was sadder when my second friend also
left.

--Special Usages: A few monosyllabic adjectives defy Rule 1 above:

real more real / *realer most real /* realest
like (=similar to) more like / *liker most like / *likest
(The symbol “*” before a linguistic form means that form is ungrammatical.)
2. Adjectives and adverbs of three or more syllables take only the periphrastic more and most
for comparison:

Adj: beautiful more beautiful / *beautiflier most beautiful /*beautifuliest

excruciating more excruciating/*excruciatinger most excruciating/*excruciatingest

Adv: carefully more carefully/*carefullier most carefully/*carefulliest

outrageously more outrageously/*outrageouslier most outrageously/*outrageousliest

3. Disyllabic adjectives and adverbs ending in –ly, -ow, -le, -er, -ure, -d, -t, -some take either the
inflectional ending –er and –est or the periphrastic more and most:

friendly friendlier / more friendly friendliest / most friendly

narrow narrower / more narrow narrowest / most narrow
gentle gentler / more gentle gentlest / most gentle

The addition of prefixes does not change Rule 3:

unfriendly unfriendlier / more unfriendly unfriendliest / most unfriendly
unhappy unhappier / more unhappy unhappiest / most unhappy

Sometimes, it is more of a stylistic choice to use either the inflectional endings or the
periphrastic forms:
Formal Less formal
tender more tender / most tender tenderer / tenderest
mature more mature / most mature maturer / maturest
stupid more stupid / most stupid stupider / stupidest
handsome more handsome / most handsome handsomer / handsomest

4. Disyllabic adverbs ending in –ly take the periphrastic forms only:

slowly more slowly / *slowlier most slowly / *slowliest

sharply more sharply / *sharplier most sharply / *sharpliest

5. Disyllabic adjectives and adverbs not ending in those forms listed in Rules 3 and 4 strongly
tend to take the periphrastic forms (although Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland says
“curiouser and curiouser” for a special effect):
curious more curious most curious
het-up “very excited” more het-up most het-up

6. Finally, verbal adjectives (that is, past participles) generally take neither the inflectional
endings nor the periphrastic forms. For those that do take the periphrastic forms, they take only
the comparative form more but not the superlative form most:

hidden (from hide) *more hidden / *hiddener *most hidden / *hiddenest

??Is this rock more hidden than that one?
??This rock is the most hidden of all.
 spoken more spoken / *spokener *most spoken / *spokenest
Is this word more spoken than written?
??Is this the most spoken form or the most written form?

Could we claim that most verbal adjectives are not gradable except for those that have been
naturalized for a long time (e.g. excited, surprised)? I tend to think so.

Note that the periphrastic comparative and superlative markers more and most have negative
counterparts less and least, as in less difficult and least difficult.

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISE 6.1.4 before moving on.

--Gradability of adjectives:

Gradable adjectives: They refer to adjectives (difficult, good, nice, etc.) that can be
compared using a comparative or superlative marker, including –er, -est, more,
most, less, least, or that can be modified by an intensifier (also known as a degree
adverb), such as very, quite, too, rather, somewhat, extremely, extraordinarily, and
more. Majority adjectives are gradable ones. (As a side note, some degree adverbs,
often called pre-verb adverbs, can also modify verbs: She hardly knows the result.)

Non-gradable adjectives: They refer to those adjectives that are absolute in their
meaning and have no degrees. These adjectives do not compare in terms of degree
and cannot be modified by an intensifier or a degree adverb. For example, perfect,
unique, married, pregnant, silent, indestructible, right, wrong, capable, incapable,
ruined are all non-gradable adjectives. Non-gradable adjectives are nevertheless
limited in number.

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISE 6.2.2 before moving on.

HOW DO ADJECTIVES MODIFY NOUNS?

Adjectives modify and describe nouns or the head of a noun phrase in one of two positions:

(1) as an attributive adjective immediately before the head noun within a noun phrase; (2) as a
predicate adjective after (not necessarily immediately after) a linking verb.

Attributive adjectives: They refer to those adjectives that are placed between a determiner and
the head of an NP:
the hot weather
that long summer
an expensive car
his clever friend
Predicate (or predicative) adjectives: They refer to those adjectives that are positioned after a
linking verb, that are parts of the predicate or VP, and that characterizes the head noun in the
subject NP. Predicate adjectives typically play two grammatical functions:
 (1) Subject complement:
Ellensburg is peaceful.
English grammar is interesting.

(2) Object complement:

Many consider Ellensburg peaceful.
We find English grammar interesting.

Restrictions on attributive and predicative adjectives: Most adjectives are both attributive and
predicative, but some are restricted to being either attributive or predicative. Below are some
common examples:

(1) Attributive adjectives only:

this mere child *This child is mere.
a sheer impossibility *An impossibility is sheer.
her sole confident *Her confident is sole.
that main idea *That idea is main.
this utter stranger *This stranger is utter.
A total stranger *A stranger is total.
the former president *The president was former.
a medical examination *An examination is medical.
our future plan *Our plan is future.
their principal faults *Their faults are principal.
The legal heir *The heir is legal.
An atomic physicist *A physicist is atomic.
central Washington *Washington is central.
the only applicant *The applicant is only.
...

(2) Predicative adjectives only:

*a faint actor An actor feels faint. (“Feel” is a linking verb.)
*a well look Jane doesn’t look well. (“Look” is also a linking
verb)
*the afraid girl The girl is afraid of snakes.
*a fond city We are fond of Ellesnburg.
*present committee members The committee members were all present.
*a near gas station A gas station is quite near here.
*the asleep baby The baby is asleep.
*the adrift boat The boat is adrift.
*the bound country They are bound for the country.
*an inclined agreement The voters may be inclined to agree.

Sometimes, whether the noun being modified is animate or not determines if an adjective can be
used attributively or predicatively:
*the pleased driver The driver is pleased.
her pleased look *Her look is pleased.

There is still an interesting category of adjectives often called post-nominal adjectives because
these adjectives must obligatorily follow the noun they modify:

a) Historical leftovers:

the Attorney General *the General Attorney

the Princess Royal *the Royal Princess
architecture proper *proper architecture

b) After a pronoun:

something beautiful *beautiful something

those present *present those
all responsible *responsible all

c) Together with a superlative, attributive adjective:

the fastest speed possible *the fastest possible speed

the worst situation imaginable *the worst imaginable situation
the best cell phone available *the best available cell phone

Attributive adjectives and semantic ambiguity:

When an attributive adjective is placed before two conjoined nouns, namely, Adj + N1
and N2, this adjective may be interpreted to modify just N1 or both N1 and N2, leading to
semantic ambiguity. This is a common feature of language which relies on context for
clarification.
e.g. a tall man and woman
Meaning 1: a tall man and a tall woman
Meaning 2: this man is tall and whether this woman is tall is not told.)

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISES 6.3.1, 6.3.4, 6.3.5, 6.3.6 before moving on.

A note to Ex. 6.3.6: Though the author states “a noun may take on the role of an adjective and
modify another noun,” such as brick in the brick house, she does not claim that a pre-noun
noun is an adjective, for it is not, though many of my former students analyzed it so. One
test is whether such an adjective-like noun is subject to comparative inflection: long, longer,
longest are grammatical; brick, *bricker, *brichest are not. Thus, it is correct to treat brick as
a noun, and brick house as a compound noun, a single word but a compound. Since its
inception, English has been rich and flexible in creating compounds: school bus, stone bridge,
discussion board, lockdown browser, to name just a few. Compound nouns share two
grammatical properties:
 (1) The word that determines the category of the entire compound is called the head. Thus,
school in school bus is the head of the compound noun, so is stone in stone bridge.
(2) Compound nouns can be combined with other words to create still larger compound
nouns, such as school bus driver, dog food, dog food box, dog food box color.

Care should be taken to distinguish compound nouns from compound noun phrases (refer
to p.38). Compound nouns are individual words, which may be written together or
separately, such as class + room = classroom (vs. *class room), office manager (vs.
*officemanager), whereas compound noun phrases have a coordinating conjunction in them,
such as sugar and salt, students or researchers (vs. student researchers as a compound noun).

WHAT ARE ADJECTIVE PHRASES (AP)?

As nouns are the heads of noun phrases, adjectives are the heads of adjective phrases (AP).
APs are typically formed in one of five ways:

1) Because a single adjective functions in exactly the same way as an AP does, we consider a
single adjective an AP and the head of that AP.
Thus: AP -----> A
That is, AP consists of a single adjective.
These are all adjective phrases:
smart
useful
long
clever
careful
scrupulous
understandable

2) The head of AP is most typically preceded with an intensifier (also commonly known as a
degree adverb):
unusually happy (happy: the head of the AP; unusually: the intensifier)
pretty good
too difficult
extremely interesting

Thus, AP -----> (Intensifier) + A

That is, AP consists of an optional intensifier and an adjective. (A pair of parentheses means
the item parenthesized is grammatically optional.)

3) Some adjectives require a following complement, often in the form of a prepositional phrase
or an infinitive phrase, to complete its meaning, and this complement is called an adjective
complement. Note that an adjective complement is just part of the containing AP. For
example,
 Bill is good at math, but Ban is afraid of it.

The adjectives good and afraid are both the heads of the two APs; at math and of it each
are both the complements of the heads; the whole APs are: “good at match” but not just
“good”; “afraid of it” but not just “afraid”)

The current economic situation is still full of uncertainties.

The adjective full is the head of the AP full of uncertainties; the PP of uncertainties is the
complement of the head adjective full. The whole AP is “full of uncertainties” but not just
“full”.)

Thus, AP -----> (intensifier) + A + complement

That is, AP consists of an optional intensifier, an adjective, and a complement. More
examples follow:

The airplane is about to take off.

The word about is the head adjective, and to take off is the adjective complement.

I’m very pleased to tell you the good news.

The word pleased is the head adjective, the adverb very is the intensifier, and to tell you
the good news is the adjective complement.

4) An adjective may be immediately followed by one or more adjectives to form a longer AP:

The persona in Shakespeare’s sonnets loves a tall dark young lady.

Thus, AP = A1 A2 . . . An
That is, AP consists of A1, A2 . . . An

A punctuation usage: If we do not use commas to separate the stacked up adjectives, the
results are that tall modifies dark young lady, dark modifiers young lady, and young
modifiers lady. If we do use commas to separate the three adjectives, as in a tall, dark, young
lady, then tall modifies lady only, so does dark, and so does young.

5) Like nouns/noun phrases and verbs/verb phrases, adjectives/adjective phrases can be freely
conjoined to form compound adjective phrases:

This poor yet happy farmer donated more than that rich yet sad CEO did.
(The italicized words in bold style are compound adjective phrases.)

This pretty poor yet very happy farmer donated more than that very rich yet rather sad CEO
did. (The italicized words in bold style are compound adjective phrases.)
 Thus, AP = AP1 cc AP2 (“cc” stands for a coordinating conjunction)

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISES 6.4.1 & 6.4.2 before moving on.

So much for adjectives and adjective phrases. Now, let’s turn to adverbs and adverb phrases.

**********

WHAT ARE ADVERBS? The following three subsets of words are all adverbs.

1) Verb-modifying adverb: A word that modifies a verb to indicate time, place, manner, reason,
frequency, location, and more. Along with the modified verb, together they form a verb phrase (VP).
Thus, this type of adverb is necessarily part of a verb phrase. For example,

We [VP turned in our homework yesterday VP]. (time)

We [VP turned in our homework through Canvas VP]. (manner)
We [VP turned in our homework quickly VP]. (manner)
We [VP frequently turned in our homework VP]. (frequency)
We [VP turned in our homework here VP]. (location)

Like adjectives, adverbs may also be “stacked up”:

We [VP turned in our homework quickly through Canvas yesterday VP].

Of course, the ordering of such adverbs is an interesting topic, but that goes beyond the scope of this
chapter.

2) Intensifier (or degree adverb): Such a word may modify an adjective or an adverb but not a
verb.

(a) A word that modifies an adjective to form an adjective phrase and is thus part of that
adjective phrase:

particularly interesting
pretty strange
rather difficult
(The bold italicized words are intensifiers or degree adverbs.)

(b) A word that modifies another adverb to form an adverbial phrase and is thus part of that
adverbial phrase:

particularly graciously
pretty happily
(John works) rather hard.
 (The italicized words that are not in bold style are adverbs; the italicized words that are in bold style
are degree adverbs or intensifiers.)

3) Sentence adverb: A word that modifies a whole sentence:

Hopefully, the temperature tomorrow will be higher.

(The adverb hopefully modifies the whole sentence after it, given the possible paraphrase: It
is hoped that the temperature tomorrow will be higher.)

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISES 6.5.1, 6.5.2, 6.5.3 before moving on.

Adverbs for Comparison: Most adverbs are not monosyllabic, so they form comparison by
using periphrastic more and most, as discussed early. Here are more examples:

Comparative degree: more effectively, more greedily

Superlative degree: most effectively, most greedily

However, there are a few monosyllabic adverbs that can also be used as adjectives: hard,
fast, loud, slow, and they take the inflectional endings –er and –est:

harder hardest
faster fastest
louder loudest
slower slowest

These adverbs are known as flat adverbs.

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISES 6.6.3 before moving on.

IS ALL WELL AND GOOD?

Have you ever fallen prey to the stigma associated with the use of these four words below?

good, well, bad, badly

First, keep in mind that good is only an adjective while well is both an adjective (meaning “in
good health condition”) and an adverb (meaning “satisfactorily with respect to conduct or
action”) and that bad is only an adjective while badly is only an adverb.

Also keep in mind these two typical VP patterns:

1. action verb + verb-modifying adverb (i.e., use well or badly)

2. linking verb + adjective (i.e., use good, bad, well but not badly)

Do DISCUSSION EXERCISES 6.7.1 & 6.7.2 before moving on.

WHAT ARE ADVERB PHRASES?

The following three major patterns form adverb phrases:

1. A single adverb (adv.) because it plays the same function as an adverb phrase (AdvP) does.
Thus, AdvP -----> Adv

2. An adverb is typically pre-modified by an intensifier or a degree adverb (e.g., very carefully)

Thus, AdvP -----> (Intensifier) + Adv
(where “intensifier” is grammatically optional, as the parentheses indicate.)

3. The meaning of an adverb sometimes needs to be completed by an adverb complement. This adverb
and its complement together form an AdvP:

Thus, AdvP -----> (Intensifier) + Adv + Adv Complement

What constitutes an adverb complement then?

a) A prepositional phrase after an adverb:

[AdvP surprisingly for us AdvP]

[AdvP fortunately for my students AdvP]

b) A “than + (elliptical) clause” structure, which is after a comparative adverb or adverb

phrase:

Ted runs [AdvP faster [than his old brother (does)] AdvP].

Note that than is a subordinate conjunction that combines two clauses: Clause1 ---> Ted runs
faster; Clause2: his old brother does = his old brother runs fast. Note also that Clause2 is
embedded into Clause1, as indicated by the square brackets. It is because of this reason that
we call the word than a subordinating conjunction, and it is also because of this reason that
we can claim Clause1 contains Clause2, as is further shown below:

Clause1 ---> [Ted runs faster than [his old brother does]]
Clause2 ---> [his old brother does]

c) The third form of adverb complement takes the “as + (elliptical) clause” structure in as . . .
as + (elliptical) clause:

Ted runs [AdvP1 as fast [AdvP2 as his older brother (does) AdvP2] AdvP1].

Here, the first as is an intensifier that modifiers the adverb fast while the second as is a
subordinate conjunction to introduce a subordinate adverbial clause, also notated as AdvP.
Do DISCUSSION EXERCISES 6.9.1 & 6.9.2.

Also do one of Reflections 6, 8, 12, 15.

Submit all your answers to Canvas for credits.

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