Patterns of combinability. Adjectives are combined with several parts of speech

Adjectives are combined with several parts of speech.

1. They may combine with nouns, which they may premodify or postmodify: a black dress, a chivalrous gentleman, the delegates present.

If there are several premodifying adjectives to one headword they have definite positional assignments. Generally descriptive adjectives precede the limiting ones, as in a naughty little boy, a beautiful French girl, but if there are several of each type, adjectives of different meanings stand in the following order:

(E.g.a large black and white hunting dog, a small pale green oval seed.)

This order of words is of course not absolutely fixed, since many adjectives may be either descriptive or limiting depending on the context. The adjectives are not separated by commas, unless they belong to the same type: a nice little old man. However, if there is more than one adjective of the same type they are separated by commas: nasty, irritable, selfish man (all three belong to the type of “judgement or general characterization”).

Postmodification is usual for the adjectives elect, absent, present, concerned, involved, proper.

The president elect (E.g. who has been elected and is soon to take office).

In several noun-phrases of French origin (mostly legal or quasilegal) the adjective is also postpositional.

These noun-phrases are very similar to compounds and some of them are spelt as a compound, with a hyphen (knight-errant, postmaster-general). The plural ending is attached either to the first element, or to the second:

Postmodification may be due to the structural complexity of postmodifiers (the children easiest to teach, the climate peculiar to this country), or to the presence of only or all in preposition (E.g. the only actor suitable, the only person visible, all the money available).

2. Beside their usual function, that of modifying nouns, adjectives may be combined with other words in the sentence.

They may be modified by adverbials of degree, like very, quite, that, rather, most, a lot, a sort of, a bit, enough, totally, perfectly, so... as: very long, a bit lazy, sort of naive, far enough, a little bit tired, a most beautiful picture, not so foolish as that, she is not that crazy.

The adverb very can combine only with adjectives denoting the gradable properties. Thus it is possible to say very tired (tiredness may be of different degree), but it is impossible to say very unknown, very ceaseless, very unique, as these adjectives do not allow of gradation.

With the adverb too the indefinite article is placed between the adjective and the head-noun. With the adverb rather the article is placed after it (E.g. This is too difficult a problem to solve at once.

This is rather a complicated matter).

3. Predicative adjectives are combined with the link verbs to be, to seem, to appear, to look, to turn, or notional verbs in a double predicate (E.g. He looks tired. She does not seem so crazy as before. She is quite healthy. She felt faint. If sounded rather

fussy. The food tasted good. The flowers smell sweet).

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