Adjectives

Adjectives form an important open class in English (distinct from nouns and verbs), though less central to sentence structure. They are traditionally called ‘describing words’, but this definition is imprecise since other word classes can also describe.

Key ways to identify adjectives

#1. Position in sentences

Central adjectives can appear in two main positions:

Attributive: before the noun (e.g., that extraordinary boy, lucky Jim)

Predicative: after copular verbs like ‘be’, ‘appear’, ‘seem’ (e.g., the boy is extraordinary, Jim appears lucky)

Some adjectives are restricted:

Attributive only: the chief mourner (the mourner is chief is odd/unacceptable)

Predicative only: the child is afraid (the afraid child is unacceptable)

#2. Gradability

Most adjectives are gradable

They can be modified by intensifiers/degree adverbs such as very, fairly, extremely, quite, etc. (Don’t worry we’ll cover adverbs in the next post).

Examples 

very lucky 

extremely happy

This distinguishes them from nouns: very newspaper or fairly crime are impossible.

A few adjectives have absolute meanings (perfect, unique) and are logically ungradable, but in practice people often grade them for emphasis.

Example

A most perfect day

extremely unique.

Quick test to distinguish adjectives from nouns

If unsure whether a word is an adjective or noun in attributive position, try the predicative position (the placement of a noun or adjective after the verb be) or apply intensifier modification (intensifiers: very, extremely, really, incredibly. We will cover intensifiers in detail later). Nouns rarely work in the predicative position or accept the intensifier ‘very’.

In summary

Central adjectives are reliably identified by occurring in both ‘the attributive’ and ‘the predicative’ positions, and by being modifiable by intensifiers (very, really extremely).

A small number of adjectives fail one or both tests but still belong to the class.