ADJECTIVE PHRASES

What is an adjective phrase?

 An adjective Phrase is a group of related words in which the main word is an adjective.
(Betty2010:62)
 An adjective phrase can also be defined as a word group with an adjective as its head
and modifiers, determiners, and/or qualifiers which distinguish it. For example;

 Mushi is extemely clever.

 The lecturer is very late.

 My son is fond of animals.

 The presenter is fairly interesting.

STRUCTURE OF AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE

 Adjective phrases usually consist of a pre-head string, Head (an adjective) and a post-
Head string.
 I.e Adjective phrases =premodifier(s) + Head(adjective) + Post-head string

PRE-HEAD/ PREMODIFIER

 Pre-modifiers occur before the headword and in Adjective phrase it can be;

 Adverb/ Adverb phrase

1. Adverb / Adverb phrase

 An adverb or adverb phrase can be used as a prehead string in an Adjective

phrase. For example;

 The book is very useful.

 Life in Tanzania is extremely difficult.

 This is a perfectly good conversation.

 The lady looks rather too old.

HEAD WORD
  Head word is a word which is the nucleus, or the head of a phrase and in an adjective
phrase it is an adjective for example;
 She was happy to meet you.
 The students are ready to go.
 Peter is afraid of the dark

POST MODIFIERS/POST-HEAD STRING

 Some adjective Heads must be followed by a post-Head string.

 The adjective Head fond is one of these. Compare the following sentences;

 Martin is fond of animals vs*Martin is fond

 We must add a complement (post-head string) to the adjective fond to complete its
meaning.

 Post modifiers include all the items that appear after the headword, ie after the
adjectives and in an Adjective phrase it can be;

 Prepositional Phrases

 Adverb

 That- clause

 Wh-clauses

 To-finitive clause

 Discontinuous modifier:

1. Prepositional Phrases

 Prepositional phrases can be used as post head strings in an adjective phrase.

 Adjective phrases composed of adjective + prepositional phrase are frequently

found in the position of subject complement.e.g

 He was fully aware of his surroundings (adverb + adjective + PP)

 Wachira is afraid of mice

 Etoo is good at football.

2. Adverb/Adverb phrases(Adjective + Adverb/Adverb phrases)

  Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is an adverb or an
adverb phrase. Consider the following examples;

 The answer is good enough

 It certainly tasted strong enough

3. That-clause (Adjective + that-clause)

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is that-clauses. For example;

 Wambua was worried that he might fall.

 I am certain that he is married'

 It was too hot that I could not sleep.

4. To-infinitive clauses (Adjective + to-infinitive)

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is a to-infinitive

clause. For example;

 He is afraid to drive

 She was anxious to leave

 The student was eager to please

 I was very glad to help in this way.

5. Gerund clauses (Adjective +Gerund clause)

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is Gerund clause. For

example;

 Emma’s attitude is rather suprising.

 The police were busy handing out letters about the operation to
residents.

5. Wh-clause (Adjective +Wh- clause)

  Wh- clause is another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase. For
example;

 I wasn’t certain whose house we were in

 I am not quite sure what you mean

 It is now clear why she left

5. Discontinuous modifier:

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is a discontinuous

modifier.
 Discontinuous modifier is a modifier that is partly in front and partly behind
the head.For example;

 It was so hot that I could not sleep.( so + adj + that-clause)

 She is as pretty as her sister

 His proposal is more/less attractive than the one he made last

week.( more/less + adj + than + comparative clause / NP)

Functions of Adjective Phrases

 The functions of adjective phrases are:

 Premodifier of a noun

 Subject complement

 Object complement

 Postmodifler of a pronoun

 Postmodifler of a noun

 Complement of a preposition

1. Premodifier of a noun

 This is a much less popular route

 He is an extraordinary tall man.
2. Subject complement

 Jane was extraordinarily ugly

 Maria is rather tall

3. Object complement

 His remarks annoyed me very much

 The crocodile opened its mouth very wide.

 The food made me very sick.

4. . Postmodifler of a noun

 A city bright with theatres cinemas & art galleries is posible.

 The students very easy to teach are Baed2

5. Complement of a preposition

 Kaye doesn't finish till very late

6. Nominal adjective

 The very poor are mostly the very lazy people.

 The extremely rich are always insecure.