5.4. The adjective 5.4.1.

Definition and characteristics1 An adjective is a word that can be the only or main word in an adjective phrase. Adjectives typically describe nouns and denote qualities, characteristics and properties of people, things and phenomena. Most adjectives can be compared for degree and have three forms, called positive, comparative and superlative, respectively. Because adjective phrases either modify nouns (or their equivalents) or express a quality/status of a NP (when they function as subject or object complements), the grammatical relationship between adjectives and nouns is significant. Thus, in Romanian, nouns are masculine, feminine or neutral (see. 5.1, 5.2, 5.3). Adjectives are gender neural (they do not have a gender of their own), but they have agreement in gender, number and case with their governing nouns. Unlike in Romanian, adjectives in Modern English have lost grammatical agreement with the noun they modify, and, consequently, the only paradigmatic forms of the adjective are those of degrees of comparison. There are however two English adjectives that still have gender-marked forms, both colour adjectives of French origin: blond and brunet. Like the other colour and nationality adjectives, they can also be used as nouns, and in that case they take plural suffixes and are accompanied by determinatives, as in a blonde, two brunettes, etc. meaning2 1. adjective: (of hair, skin, etc.) lightcolored. 2. (of a person) having light-colored hair and skin. 3. (of furniture wood) light in tone. 4. noun: a blond person. 5. silk lace, originally unbleached but now often dyed any of various colors, especially white or black. Usage note Although blond and blonde correspond to masculine and feminine forms in French, this distinction is not consistently made in English. The spelling blonde is still widely used for the noun that specifies a woman or girl with fair hair: The blonde with the baby in her arms is my anthropology professor. Some people object to this as an unnecessary distinction, preferring blond for all persons: My sister is thinking of becoming a blond for a while. As an adjective, the word is more usually spelled blond in reference to either sex (an energetic blond
1

masc blond

fem

meaning

blonde 1. adjective: (of a woman or girl) having fair hair and usually fair skin and light eyes. 2. noun: a woman or girl having this coloration. Related forms: blondeness, noun

As identified by Biber, Conrad and Leech in The Longman student grammar of spoken and written English . London: Longman, 2002. 2 The meanings described in this table are proposed in www.dictionaryreference.

girl; two blond sons), although the form blonde is occasionally still used of a female: the blonde model and her escort. In conclusion, blonde is the commoner form both as a noun and an adjective, and is more frequently used to refer to women than men. The less common variant blond occurs usually as an adjective, occasionally as a noun, and is the preferred form when referring to men with fair hair. 1. adjective: (especially of a male) brunet brunette. 2. noun: a person, usually a male, with dark hair and, often, dark eyes and darkish or olive skin. Idioms a blonde by any other name is just a brunette a parodical paraphrase of the Shakespearian line a rose by any other name would smell as sweet (Romeo and Juliet). to have a blonde moment an expression young people use to excuse themselves if they make a mistake or do something stupid. brunette 1. adjective: (of hair, eyes, skin, etc.) of a dark color or tone. 2. (of a person) having dark hair and, often, dark eyes and darkish or olive skin. 3. noun: a person, especially a female, with such coloration.

Adjectives have the following characteristics, although, as Biber, Conrad and Leech note (2002: 188-9), not all adjectives share all of these characteristics. Adjectives that have these features are called central adjectives, while adjectives with fewer of the features are peripheral adjectives. A. Morphological characteristics Central adjectives can be inflected with the inflectional suffixes -er (comparative) and est (superlative) to show comparative and superlative degree (big, bigger, biggest see 5.2.1.5). Ungradable adjectives do not take part in this morphological paradigm. Adjectives can be complex in morphology: - derived adjectives (with affixes in bold): acceptable, forgetful, influential, unacceptable, unimaginable, - compound adjectives: color-blind, home-made, ice-cold. B. Syntactic characteristics Central adjectives serve both attributive and predicative syntactic roles. In attributive position, an adjective is part of a noun phrase: it precedes and modifies the head noun. Adjectives are attributive (attributing a quality to what is denoted by a noun) when they are used as pre-modifiers. Most adjectives can be both attributive and predicative, but some categories can fill only one of the positions. One example of an attributive adjective is only: we can say an only child, but not the child was only. The class of attributive adjectives includes: adjectives ending in -en, formed from concrete nouns: wool woolen, wood wooden, etc. adjectives indicating cardinal points: eastern, northern, etc. adjectives derived from nouns: medical, environmental, etc.

adjectives that can form adverbs: former, late, utter, very, chief, etc.

Adjectives are predicative when they occur in the position of subject complement (especially after the verb be, for example nice in She was nice) or of object complement (We found her nice). Some adjectives are restricted to predicative use: we can say The child was alone, but not the alone child. The class of predicative adjectives includes: ill, well, drunk adjectives containing the prefix a: ablaze, afraid, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, asleep, averse, awake, aware. Some of these adjectives have attributive correspondents that are either present or past participles (alive living, ablaze blazing, asleep sleeping, afraid - frightened) or synonymic adjectives (alike similar, ashamed shameful, alone lonely, etc.). o Notice: Some of these adjectives can also be used attributively when they are premodified by an adverb such as fully, very, totally, half, etc., as in a totally alone person. Some predicative adjectives require a post-modifier, typically a PpP; they are also known as adjectives with obligatory preposition: afraid of, aware of, loath to, subject to, etc. Note that predicative adjectives are not part of a noun phrase. They actually characterize a noun phrase with a separate syntactic function: subject when they are subject complements She was nice. (the AdjP nice characterizes the subject she.it follows the copular verb be) object when they are object complements. We found her nice. (the AdjP nice characterizes the object her) Other syntactic roles of adjectives Biber et al additionally identify several other roles of the adjectives besides their attributive and predicative uses, including postposed modifiers, noun phrase heads, clause linkers, free modifiers, and exclamations. Adjectives also have an important role in comparative clauses (2002: 202). 1. Adjectives as postposed modifiers A postposed adjective is part of a noun phrase as well, but it follows the head word. It commonly occurs with compound indefinite pronouns (no one, anything, somebody, etc.) as heads: Anyone ready? He did everything possible to help her. Postposed adjectives also appear in some titles (attorney general, governor general, heir apparent, notary public, poet laureate postmaster general, president elect, sergeant major) and a number of fixed phrases, such as asia minor, body politic, goodness gracious, hope eternal, penny dreadful, sum total, time immemorial, etc.. The adjective phrase often follows the head noun when a modifying adjective phrase is very long:

He has always wanted a much bigger car than the one he owns now. Alexander (1988, 6.1.1) notes that a limited number of adjectives, mostly ending in -able and ible, can come either before or after nouns, with no change of meaning (available eligible, imaginable, taxable, etc.) I doubt whether we can complete our contract in the time available/in the available time. A few adjectives (elect involved present, proper responsible, etc.) change in meaning according to their position, as shown in Alexanders examples below. The concerned doctor rang for an ambulance. The doctor concerned is on holiday. This elect body meets once a year. The president elect takes over in March. It was a very involved explanation. The boy involved has left. Present employees number 3.000. Employees present should vote on the issue. It was a proper question. The question proper has not been answered. Janet is a responsible girl. The girl responsible was expelled. - worried - responsible - specially chosen - who has been elected - complicated - connected with this - those currently employed - those here now - correct - itself - She has a sense of duty - who can be blamed

In Romanian, when adjectives precede the head noun, they normally acquire extra intensity. This use is normally restricted to written and poetic language and is illustrated in the short excerpt below. A fost odat ca-n poveti, A fost ca niciodat, Din rude mari mprteti, O prea frumoas fat. [] Din umbra falnicelor boli Ea pasul i-l ndreapt Lnga fereastr, unde-n col Luceafrul ateapt. Privea n zare cum pe mri Rsare i strluce, Pe mictoarele crri Corbii negre duce. (M. Eminescu, Luceafrul) However, quite similarly to what happens in English, meaning variations may result from changes in the position of the Romanian adjective, as well. As Forscu notes3, the pre-nominal adjective position may indicate either an inherent quality (the NP adj + noun expressing a global
3

http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/filologie/NForascu-DGLR/adjectiv.htm

characteristic) or the speakers subjective attitude, while the post-nominal adjective position expresses either a quality with a distinctive value or the speakers objective attitude. Talentaii interprei au fost felicitai Interpreii talentai au fost felicitai sracul/srmanul om om srac/srman Au vizitat diferite muzee. Au vizitat muzee diferite. toi interpreii au talent doar cei talentai au fost felicitai o persoan pe care o comptimim (fr referire la situaia sa material) lipsit de mijloace financiare au vizitat diverse feluri de muzee cineva a vizitat un tip de muzee, iar altcineva, un alt tip

2. Adjectives as noun phrase heads Adjectives that function as the head of a noun phrase are typically accompanied by the definite article the. The adjective-headed noun phrase usually refers to a group of people with the characteristic described by the adjective. Everyone picks on the Welsh, don't they? They can be modified by adverbs, which is typical of adjectives but not nouns: I think the contrast between the very rich and the very poor in this country is disgusting. These adjectives can also take premodifiers, which is typical of nouns: These people may be the real working poor, the elderly, the very young, the unemployed, or the transient. 3. Adjectives as linking expressions Adjectives sometimes link clauses or sentences to one another. In this role, they can also have modifiers. Still more important, children who grew up in elite homes enjoyed advantages that helped them maintain elite status. 4. Adjectives as free modifiers Adjectives can also be syntactically free modifiers of a noun phrase, although they are not syntactically part of that noun phrase. In such structures most common in fiction - the adjective phrase has a peripheral role in the clause and typically occurs in sentence initial position. Green, bronze and golden, it flowed through weeds and rushes. Free modifiers can also occur in sentence-final position: Victor chucked, highly amused. 5. Adjectives as exclamations Adjectives have this function especially in conversation and fictional dialog: Great! I need some of those. Sorry! I have none left. C. Semantic characteristics Central adjectives are descriptive, as they typically characterize the referent of a nominal

expression (blue and white flag, unhappy childhood). They are also gradable (they can show different degrees of a quality). Many of the most common adjectives in English are central adjectives that share all of these characteristics. The class of central adjectives includes color adjectives (red, black), adjectives of size and dimension (big, wide), and adjectives of time (new, old). 5.4.2. Adjective classes 1. Central adjectives (that are typically descriptive) have all the main characteristics of the adjective class: they have the ability to occur both attributively and predicatively, are gradable and have comparative and superlative forms. 1.1. Attributive and predicative functions Most central adjectives can be used in both the attributive and the predicative functions: 1. She was a nice girl. 2. The girl was nice. 3. We found the girl nice. attributive (premodifier for girl) predicative (subject complement) predicative (object complement)

Several adjectives are restricted in this way only in particular meanings4. For example, old is exclusively attributive5 in: She is an old friend of mine. (a friend for many years) My elder brother is a doctor. (a person who is my brother and who is also older than me) a central adjective in: She is an old woman. premod. in NP She is old. sC in all 3 clauses old refers to age. I consider her old. oC Another example is the pair ill and sick. Both adjectives are used to mean unwell, but in American English ill is restricted to formal style. Ill is mostly predicative; thus, I took my sick cat to the vet is more common than my ill cat. When sick is used predicatively, after the verb be, it can have an additional meaning: The baby was sick twice last night. (~ The baby vomited) Participial adjectives are adjectives which have the same form as the -ed and -ing participles of the verbs, as in most cases they are derived from verbs. The fact that they are not participles proper, although they are identical in form with such verb forms is indicated by the fact that, unlike verbs, they can be modified by intensifying adverbs (a very badly organised company, a very exciting talk, etc.). In a simplified description, -ing adjectives normally have an active meaning, while -ed adjectives a passive meaning. However, several -ed adjectives (such as talented, gifted, diseased, etc.) which are not derived from verbs, do not have a passive sense.

4 5

As identified by Greenbaum and Nelson in An introduction to English grammar, 2nd ed. 2002. With this meaning, old is no longer a central adjective (see 2 below for a discussion of peripheral adjectives).

1.2. Gradability Leech defines a gradable word as a word that can easily be used in the comparative or superlative, or is capable of being modified by an adverb of degree such as very, much, greatly, considerably, rather and little. (Leech 2006: 48) For example, the adjectives short and diligent are gradable, because they have comparative and superlative forms (shorter ~the shortest, more diligent ~ the most diligent), and because they can be modified by degree adverbs: very short, very diligent. Adjectives are typically gradable - that is, as you can see above, they can be arranged on a scale of comparison. However, several adjectives are not gradable (especially those which express qualities that cannot vary in intensity belong to this class). The examples in the box below can be grouped in the following three types6: a. extremes (as in boiling/ scorching/ freezing temperatures, icy weather, etc.) b. absolutes (as in presumed dead, buried alive, etc.) c. classifying (as in nuclear physics, chemical reactions, philological research, etc.) alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole, etc. English club (English club n.d.) provides a selection of examples and observations that might prove useful for issues related to the use of gradable/non gradable adjectives. Thus, a nongradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:

It was rather freezing outside. The dog was very dead. He is investing in slightly nuclear energy. freezing, more freezing, the most freezing dead, deader, the deadest nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear

Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms:

For the Romanian speaker of English, the usage of non-gradable adjectives should not pose problems, since such adjectives behave similarly in Romanian (superb, mort, nuclear, etc.). However, a non-gradable adjective can be modified by non-grading adverbs (which usually give the adjective extra impact). non-grading adverbs absolutely non-gradable adjectives awful extreme

According to http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-non-gradable.htm

utterly completely totally nearly virtually essentially mainly almost

excellent terrified dead impossible unique chemical digital domestic classifying absolute

Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives:

Her exam results were absolutely awful. This must be virtually unique. It starts an essentially chemical reaction.

Adjectives that can be both gradable and non-gradable Some adjectives that have more than one meaning may be gradable with one sense and nongradable with another sense. For example: example He's got a very old car. I saw my old boyfriend yesterday. He has some dreadfully common habits. "The" is a very common word in English. The two countries' common border poses problems. adj. type gradable non-gradable gradable gradable non-gradable meaning not young former, exvulgar prevalent shared

Adverbs used with both gradable and non-gradable adjectives The adverbs really (meaning very much), and fairly and pretty (meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can be used both with gradable and with non-gradable adjectives: gradable adjectives He's a fairly rich man. He's pretty tall. non-gradable adjectives It's a fairly impossible job. It's a pretty ridiculous idea.

Please don't forget! It's really important. He was really terrified.

Quite with gradable and non-gradable adjectives The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with:

adjective It's quite warm today. Are you quite certain? gradable non-gradable

meaning of quite fairly, rather completely, absolutely

1.3. Comparison of adjectives The comparative is defined by Leech (2006: 20) as the form of a gradable word which ends (if regular in comparison) in -er, and which indicates a comparison of two things in terms of a higher or lower position on some scale of quality or quantity, for example wider, colder, happier. Two blows to the head. He took the more severe of the two here on the parietal region. (George 1992, 201) Regular one-syllable gradable adjectives and adverbs form their comparative by adding -(e)r, but for most adjectives and adverbs of more than one syllable it is necessary to add the preceding adverb more (or less for a comparison in the opposite direction), for example more careful, more slowly, less natural. The superlative is the form of a gradable word which ends in est/-st, for example oldest, longest, most, least. It refers to the highest or lowest position on some scale of quality or quantity, for example: That was my nicest party ever. One-syllable gradable adjectives and adverbs form their superlative by adding -est, but for most adjectives and adverbs of more than one syllable it is necessary to add the preceding adverb most (or least for the opposite end of the scale), for example: most useful, most quickly, least important (Leech 2006: 110). However, many two-syllable gradable words can usually take both forms for both the comparative and the superlative: warmer - warmest/more warm most warm, quieter - quietest/more quiet most quiet, etc. To sum up, the comparative form is used to compare two items (e.g. he is taller than me), while the superlative is used to comparing one item with every other member of its group (e.g. he is the tallest boy in the class). Greenbaum and Nelson (2002) identify three degrees of comparison: higher, same, and lower, the first and the third having a comparative and a superlative form each, but for Romanian students it is more convenient to stick to the traditional terms superiority, equality and inferiority they are familiar with from studying the Romanian grammar. 1. Superiority is expressed either through the inflections -er and -est or through the premodifiers more and most. (base/ absolute comparative superlative quiet) quieter, more quiet quietest, most quiet

2. The structure as + adj. + as is used to say people, things etc are equal (the equality degree). There is also a negative form for this degree. equality/ same negative as quiet as not as/so quiet as

3. To express inferiority the premodifiers less and least are required. comparative superlative less quiet the least quiet

Notice that applying both the suffix and the premodifiers when comparing adjectives is a frequent non-native mistake. Make sure you use either er or more/less, never both. She is taller than me. (not She is more taller than me.) The evening was quieter than I expected.(not The evening was more quieter than I expected.) Do the same for the superlative structures: use -est or most/ least, not both. She is the tallest in her class. (not She is the most tallest in her class.) A common mistake made by the Romanian speaker of English is related to the use of the superlative instead of the structure the + comparative which is the correct choice when only two units are compared. I have two apples, you can have the bigger. (not I have two apples, you can have the biggest.) The superlative is used when at least three units are compared. I have three apples, you can have the biggest. The source of this error lies in the difference between the ways in which the comparative and superlative forms operate in the two languages, shown in the definitions below7: Romanian comparative English

Form a adjectivului i a adverbului care The form of an adjective or adverb exprim superioritatea, inferioritatea sau used to compare two things. egalitatea ntre mai multe obiecte sau aciuni care au aceeai nsuire sau ntre nsuirile aceluiai obiect sau ale aceleiai aciuni n momente diferite. Grad de comparaie al adjectivelor i al adverbelor, care arat c nsuirea exprimat este la un grad foarte nalt sau la gradul cel mai nalt ori cel mai sczut n comparaie cu altele de aceeai natur. A superlative adjective is used to compare three or more objects, people, or places. Using the superlative form takes a comparison to the highest degree possible.

superlative

Adjectives with irregular comparison positive bad ill evil far

7

comparative worse farther

superlative worst farthest

The Romanian definitions are provided by www.dexonline and the English ones by www.usingenglish.com, www.oxforddictionaries.com,

fore good well hind late little many much near nigh old out up

further former better hinder later latter less more nearer nigher older elder outer utter upper

furthest foremost, or first best hindermost latest last least most nearest next nighest next oldest eldest outmost, outermost utmost, uttermost upmost, uppermost

Some problems for the learner in the use of adjectives8 Due to interference from their native language, learners may encounter difficulties in relation to the following characteristics of adjectives in English: - English adjectives do not vary in form to 'agree' with nouns: a tall man/woman/tree, tall men/women/trees - they generally precede nouns when used attributively: a cool drink, a long day, a pretty dress - when used attributively, they nearly always combine with a noun or with one/ones. So we must use a noun in expressions like You poor thing!', You lucky girl!', a young man, a one-eyed man, etc. - copular verbs like be, seem, etc. combine with adjectives like afraid, cold hot hungry lucky, right sleepy thirsty, unlucky, wrong, where in some European languages such words are used as nouns after have, or an idea can be expressed by a verb. So, in English, depending on context, she is cold may relate to temperature (i.e. not warm) or attitude (i.e. not friendly) - several adjectives and adverbs have the same form and consequently they are often confused (see the selection below) (Alexander 1988: 6.6)
all right best better early fair far farther
8

adjectival use I'm all right best clothes a better book an early train a fair decision a far country on the farther side

adverbial use you've done all right do your best speak better arrive early play fair go far walk farther

As identified by Alexander in Longman English Grammar (1988)

fast further hard high home hourly last late long monthly past worse

a fast driver further questions a hard worker a high note home cooking hourly bulletin the last guest a late train long hair a monthly bill the past week worse marks

drive fast walk further work hard aim high go home phone hourly come last arrive late dont stay long pay monthly walk past do worse than

For further usage notes, refer to L. G. Alexander, Longman English Grammar, Andrei Banta, Limba englez n liste i tabele, 1993; Georgiana Gleanu-Frnoag, Sinteze de gramatic englez, 1997; Hortensia Prlog, Pia Brnzeu, Sinteze i exerciii de limba i literatura englez, 1996; Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, 2005; Colectivul catedrei de englez, Universitatea din Bucureti, Limba englez: Exerciii pentru admiterea n nvmntul superior, 1978. 2. Peripheral adjectives Central adjectives have all the defining characteristics of the adjective class - the ability to occur both attributively and predicatively. gradability, comparative and superlative forms (see 1 above), while peripheral adjectives share only some of them. However, as Biber et al note, the concept of 'central v. peripheral' is not a clear dichotomy. Big is a central adjective and exhibits all the characteristics listed above. Some adjectives, such as beautiful, have all the characteristics of central adjectives except that they cannot be inflected to show comparative or superlative degree (*beautifuller). Other adjectives lack other characteristics. For example, absolute is not gradable (something cannot be more or less absolute). Afraid is gradable but it does not occur in attributive position, and it cannot be inflected (*afraider). (2002: 189) At syntactic level, central adjectives can be used both as modifier in a noun phrase and as subject/object complement. In the following three examples nice is a central adjective, functioning as modifier of the noun girl, subject complement and object complement: 1. She was a nice girl. 2. The girl was nice. 3. We found the girl nice. attributive (premodifier for girl) predicative (subject complement) predicative (object complement)

Peripheral adjectives are the (fewer) adjectives which cannot fulfil these two functions and, consequently, some peripheral adjectives can act exclusively as pre-modifiers (attributive function), others only as complements (predicative function). The same Biber et al point to the strong preference the adjectives with the prefix a-9 have for the predicative role (they occur over 98 per cent of the time as complements), while those ending in -a110 show a strong preference for attributive position (occurring 98 per cent of the time as pre-modifiers).
9

10

abed, ablaze, abreast, afraid, aghast, aglow, alike, alive, alone, askew, asleep, aware, etc. general, industrial, local, national, social, etc.

In Romanian, there are fewer restrictions regarding the position and function of the adjectives. In most cases, although the normal word order is noun + adjective, adjectives can also precede the head noun, with the effect of intensifying the quality expressed by the former. However, a few adjectives are restricted in terms of position only in particular meanings. For example, srac and srman occur, exactly like poor in English exclusively as pre-modifiers (in attributive position) when they mean miserable, unhappy, pitiable: Sracul/ srmanul copil, e att de trist! (= Poor child, hes so sad!) a central adjectives in: El este un copil srac/ srman. (He is a postposed in NP poor child) El este srac/srman. (He is poor) nume predicativ (sC) l consider srac/srman. (I consider oC him poor.) As we can see from the table above, the attributive use of srac/srman and poor is associated with an emotive meaning, while their predicative use refers to the financial situation. Another synonym for srac and srman as pre-modifiers is biet. Biet is similarly used in exclamative sentences but, unlike srac and srman, it is exclusively restricted to the premodifying position and consequently does not have a second meaning. Bietul copil, e att de trist! El este un copil biet. El este biet. l consider biet. A list of other pre-nominal adjectives in Romanian includes fiecare, primul, orice, un anumit, nici un, etc. (fiecare om, primul om, orice om, un anumit om, nici un om). Such adjectives are additionally restricted to the attributive position, as well. omul este fiecare, omul este prim, omul este orice, un om este anumit, omul este nici un A small number of adjectives which behave like their English counterparts 11 that express the sense of 'complete, exact, very' can be used only in the attributive position: apropiat (prieten apropiat, prietenul este apropiat), simplu (simplu prieten, prietenul este simplu), vechi (vechi prieten, prietenul este vechi), etc. However, most of these can occur in predicative function in their normal meanings: Termenul de predare este foarte apropiat. Mesajul lui este simplu i clar, ceea ce-l face foarte eficient. Vinul este vechi, iar atmosfera foarte plcut. Nouns also are often used attributively (as in a university student, job applications, a garden party, etc). They premodify the head noun exactly like adjectives and occur in the same position (compare a university student and a good student), but they are not adjectives, since they do not share the characteristics of the adjective class.
11

in all 3 clauses (in both languages) srac/srman and poor refer to possessions/ resources.

e.g. close, complete perfect/total, mere, pure, sheer, utter, very, etc.

Thus, they cannot be modified by very: a very university student, very job applications, a very garden party. They do not have comparative or superlative forms: more university/ universitier, more job/ jobbier, most garden/gardenest. They cannot occur in predicative position: a university student job applications a garden party the student is university the applications are job the party is garden

In conclusion, although these words occur in the typical adjective position, they are nouns, not adjectives. 3. Adjectival compounds12 Adjectival compounds consist of a combination of two or more words, resulting in a compact expression of information. The most common possible combinations include: adjective + adjective adjective + noun noun +adjective adverb + -ed participle adverb + -ing participle adverb + adjective reduplicative noun + ed-participle noun + ing-participle greyish-blue, infinite-dimensional full-time, cutting-edge, large-scale butterfly-blue, age-old, life-long ill-suited, newly-restored, so-called free-spending, slow-moving, tightly-fitting highly-sensitive, already-tight, grimly-familiar wishy-washy, roly-poly, goody-goody church-owned, classroom-based, horse-drawn eye-catching, law-abiding, nerve-wracking

Adjectival compounds are common in the written registers, especially news. They most often occur as attributive adjectives which present a compact form of information. They be expanded into full clauses, usually relative clauses. 1. He said he was in favour of 'socially-oriented' market policies. 2. He said he was in favour of market policies which are socially oriented. C. Semantic characteristics Adjectives can be semantically grouped in two major classes: descriptors and classifiers. Descriptors are typically gradable adjectives that describe colour (black, white, dark, bright, blue, brown, green, grey, red) size/quantity/extent (big, deep, heavy, huge, long, large, little, short, small, thin, wide) time descriptors that describe chronology, age, and frequency (annual, daily, early, late, new, old, recent, young) evaluative/ernotive descriptors that denote judgments, emotions, and emphasis (bad, beautiful, best, fine, good, great, lovely, nice, poor) miscellaneous descriptors that cover many other kinds of characteristics (appropriate,
12

According to Biber, Conrad & Leech, Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English 2002, 192.

cold, complex, dead, empty, free, hard, hot, open, positive, practical, private, serious, strange, strong, sudden). Unlike descriptors, classifiers (typically non-gradable) limit or restrict a noun's referent, rather than describing a characteristic. relational/classificational/restrictive classifiers limit the referent of a noun in relation to other referents (additional, average, chief, complete, different, direct, entire, external, final, following, general, initial, internal, left, main, maximum, necessary, original, particular, previous, primary, public, similar, single, standard, top, various) affiliative classifiers identify the national or social group of a referent (American, Chinese, Christian, English, French, German, Irish, Romanian) topical/other classifiers give the subject area or specific type of a noun (chemical, commercial, environmental, human, industrial, legal, medical, mental, official, oral, phonetic, political, sexual, social, visual.) Nevertheless, the distinction between descriptors and classifiers is not always clear, since, for instance, many topical classifiers provide descriptive content while they also limit the reference of the head noun. Moreover, some adjectives can serve as both classifiers and descriptors, depending on their context of use. descriptor a popular girl in high school high roof criminal activity a primary issue classifier popular vote, popular opinion high school criminal law primary school