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[초급문법] UNIT 3.2 - Adjectives (Position of adjectives)
최고관리자 | 14-09-05 19:09
18. Position of adjectives: attributive and predicative us
A. Adjectives in groups (a) - (e) come before their nouns:
(a) Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
(b) Distributive: each, every; either, neither
(c) Quantitative: some, any, no; little/few; many, much; one, twenty
(d) Interrogative: which, what, whose
(e) Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
this book, which boy, my dog
Adjectives in this position are called attributive adjectives.
B. Adjectives of quality, however, can come either before their nouns:
a rich man, a happy girl
or after a verb such as (a) be, become, seem:
Tom became rich. Ann seems happy.
or (b) appear, feel, get/grow (= become), keep, look (= appear), make, smelt, sound, taste, turn:
Tom felt cold. He got(grew) impatient.
He made her happy. The idea sounds interesting.
Adjectives in this position are called predicative adjectives.
Verbs used in this way are called link verbs or copulas.
C. Note on link verbs
A problem with verbs in B.(b) above is that when they are not used as link verbs they can be modified by adverbs in the usual way. This confuses the student, who often tries to use adverbs instead of adjectives after link verbs. Some examples with adjectives and adverbs may help to show the different uses:
He looked calm (adjective) = He had a calm expression.
He looked calmly (adverb) at the angry crowd, (looked here is a deliberate action.)
She turned pale (adjective) = She became pale.
He turned angrily (adverb) to the man behind him. (turned here is a deliberate action.)
The soup tasted horrible (adjective). (It had a horrible taste.)
He tasted the soup suspiciously (adverb), (tested here is a deliberate action.)
D. Some adjectives can be used only attributively or only predicatively, and
some change their meaning when moved from one position to the other.
* bad/good, big/small, heavy/light and old, used in such expressions as bad sailor, good swimmer, big eater, small farmer, heavy drinker, light sleeper, old boy/friend/soldier etc., cannot be used predicatively without changing the meaning: "a small farmer is a man who has a small farm", but "The farmer is small" means that
he is a small man physically. Used otherwise, the above adjectives can be in either position.
* chief, main, principal, sheer, utter come before their nouns.
* "frightened" may be in either position, but "afraid and upset" must follow the verb and
so must "adrift, afloat, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, asleep."
* The meaning of "early and late" may depend on their position:
"an early/a late train" means a train scheduled to run early or late in the day.
"The train is early/late" means that it is before/after its proper time.
"poor" meaning without enough money can precede the noun or follow the verb.
"poor" meaning 'unfortunate' must precede the noun.
"poor" meaning 'weak/inadequate' precedes nouns such as student, worker etc. but
when used with inanimate nouns can be in either position:
He has poor sight. His sight is poor.
E. Use of and
With attributive adjectives and is used chiefly when there are two or more adjectives of color.
It is then placed before the last of these:
a green and brown carpet a red, white and blue/lag
With predicative adjectives and is placed between the last two:
The day was cold, wet and windy.
A. Adjectives in groups (a) - (e) come before their nouns:
(a) Demonstrative: this, that, these, those
(b) Distributive: each, every; either, neither
(c) Quantitative: some, any, no; little/few; many, much; one, twenty
(d) Interrogative: which, what, whose
(e) Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their
this book, which boy, my dog
Adjectives in this position are called attributive adjectives.
B. Adjectives of quality, however, can come either before their nouns:
a rich man, a happy girl
or after a verb such as (a) be, become, seem:
Tom became rich. Ann seems happy.
or (b) appear, feel, get/grow (= become), keep, look (= appear), make, smelt, sound, taste, turn:
Tom felt cold. He got(grew) impatient.
He made her happy. The idea sounds interesting.
Adjectives in this position are called predicative adjectives.
Verbs used in this way are called link verbs or copulas.
C. Note on link verbs
A problem with verbs in B.(b) above is that when they are not used as link verbs they can be modified by adverbs in the usual way. This confuses the student, who often tries to use adverbs instead of adjectives after link verbs. Some examples with adjectives and adverbs may help to show the different uses:
He looked calm (adjective) = He had a calm expression.
He looked calmly (adverb) at the angry crowd, (looked here is a deliberate action.)
She turned pale (adjective) = She became pale.
He turned angrily (adverb) to the man behind him. (turned here is a deliberate action.)
The soup tasted horrible (adjective). (It had a horrible taste.)
He tasted the soup suspiciously (adverb), (tested here is a deliberate action.)
D. Some adjectives can be used only attributively or only predicatively, and
some change their meaning when moved from one position to the other.
* bad/good, big/small, heavy/light and old, used in such expressions as bad sailor, good swimmer, big eater, small farmer, heavy drinker, light sleeper, old boy/friend/soldier etc., cannot be used predicatively without changing the meaning: "a small farmer is a man who has a small farm", but "The farmer is small" means that
he is a small man physically. Used otherwise, the above adjectives can be in either position.
* chief, main, principal, sheer, utter come before their nouns.
* "frightened" may be in either position, but "afraid and upset" must follow the verb and
so must "adrift, afloat, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, asleep."
* The meaning of "early and late" may depend on their position:
"an early/a late train" means a train scheduled to run early or late in the day.
"The train is early/late" means that it is before/after its proper time.
"poor" meaning without enough money can precede the noun or follow the verb.
"poor" meaning 'unfortunate' must precede the noun.
"poor" meaning 'weak/inadequate' precedes nouns such as student, worker etc. but
when used with inanimate nouns can be in either position:
He has poor sight. His sight is poor.
E. Use of and
With attributive adjectives and is used chiefly when there are two or more adjectives of color.
It is then placed before the last of these:
a green and brown carpet a red, white and blue/lag
With predicative adjectives and is placed between the last two:
The day was cold, wet and windy.
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