English Grammar, Week 8

Adjectives, adverbs, adverbials

Meaning of adjectives: specification/description (big dog, sad face, gorgeous dress),
classification (civil engineer, alternative medicine)
Meaning of adverbs: (1) description (sadly, happily, beautifully);
(2) time, place, manner, reason, etc. (now, here, fast, therefore)

Adjective/adverb comparison
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
small smaller smallest
One syllable real more real most real
fast faster fastest
happy happier happiest
modern more modern most modern
Two syllables early earlier earliest
slowly more slowly most slowly
interesting more interesting most interesting
Three etc. syllables
beautifully more beautifully most beautifully

Irregular adjectives
good/well - better - best (little - smaller - smallest)
bad - worse - worst old - older/elder - oldest/eldest
many/much - more - most far - farther/further - farthest - furthest
little - less - least
Comparing two people/things: Here are Peter and Paul. Paul is the taller boy.
Comparing more than two: Here's a picture of my junior high school class. Paul is the
tallest boy.
Types of adjectives
qualitative descriptive big, round
evaluative ugly, fortunate
colour red, green
adjective emphasizing absolute, utter
limiters certain, same
origin, style, material English, modern
participles -ing participle rising, floating
past participle known, ruined

Gradability
A) COMPARISON: happy – happier – happiest; ? dead – deader – deadest; ? perfect – more
perfect ...; (?) American – more American ...
B) USE OF INTENSIFIERS: very happy – extremely happy; ? very dead – ? extremely dead;
quite perfect – ? extremely perfect; (?) very/quite/extremely American

Adjective phrases
A) ADVERB + ADJECTIVE / ADJECTIVE + ADVERB
This is too salty. She is a rather awe-inspiring person. Are you strong enough?
B) ADJECTIVE + PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE AS COMPLEMENT
She was fond of him.
Ted was particular about the colours he used.
You need to be a lot better than your opponent.
C) ADJECTIVE + SUBORDINATE CLAUSE AS COMPLEMENT
They were eager to play. They were busy doing other things.

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 English Grammar, Week 8

I’m sorry/aware/afraid (that) the course has been cancelled.

D) SPLIT MODIFIER (ADJECTIVE BETWEEN TWO PARTS OF THE MODIFIER)
Our march to this new future seemed less certain than it does today.
Why are reputable young men as scarce as millionaires in Sand City?

Syntactic functions of adjective phrases at phrase level and clause level

• PREMODIFIER IN NOUN PHRASE: her amazing performance, a completely unnecessary
question
• POSTMODIFIER IN NOUN PHRASE: the person responsible, things English, something very
mysterious
• SUBJECT PREDICATIVE (IN CLAUSE): They are/feel bored.
• OBJECT PREDICATIVE (IN CLAUSE): They found adjectives absolutely intriguing.
• FREE PREDICATIVE (IN CLAUSE): He was sitting there, satisfied and happy.

Drawing syntactic trees – see powerpoint presentation:

a rather flushed and breathless person The script seems very appealing and true to the novel.

Attributive vs. predicative position of adjectives

ATTRIBUTIVE (PREMODIFYING) PREDICATIVE (SP OR OP)
a difficult question; nice weather the question is difficult; the weather is nice
ATTRIBUTIVE-ONLY ADJECTIVES
She felt a certain relief. * Her relief was certain.
the main/chief problem * the problem is main/chief
mobile phone * the phone is mobile
PREDICATIVE-ONLY ADJECTIVES
* an awake/afraid child The child is awake/afraid.
* the ill/unwell child The child is ill/unwell.

Postposition of adjectives/adjective phrases

George is the only man present/alive who understands this problem.
This is the best possible way / the best way possible.
This is something quite different.
Maybe she liked men old enough to be her father.
We saw the people concerned. We saw the concerned people.
Specifying vs. classifying modifiers
SPECIFYING CLASSIFYING
quality/attribute of the referent a class/type of referent
a German tourist a German shepherd (type of dog)
a deep hole a black hole
musical children musical instruments

Nominalized adjectives (= adjectives functioning as nouns)

I: Groups of people (generic reference)
He always stood by the weak and persecuted.
The church runs a shelter for the homeless. (... for de hjemløse)
II: Abstract uncountable nouns + colours (generic reference)
We are aiming at the impossible. / The impossible is a challenge to us.
She is wearing green. / Green is her favourite colour.

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Some contrastive observations

En hjemløs vil ha vansker med å finne arbeid. A homeless person will have trouble…
Han er den rette til å svare på det. He is the right person to answer that.
Det triste er at ... The sad thing is that ...
Det samme skjedde igjen. The same thing happened again.
Hun fant noen nye. /… en rød. She found some new ones. / … a red one.

Syntactic functions of adverb phrases at phrase and clause level

• MODIFIER IN ADJECTIVE PHRASE: He was tremendously sleepy.
• MODIFIER IN ADVERB PHRASE: They were driving much too fast / unbelievably fast.
• ADVERBIAL (“MODIFIES” THE VERB OR THE CLAUSE/SENTENCE): They have suffered
terribly. Usually she goes to bed very early. She is most probably right.
o FOCUS ADVERB: This is just the right size. She is here only for a week.
o NEGATIVE AND RESTRICTIVE ADVERBS: This has never been done before. Johnnie
can hardly walk.
Adjective or adverb?
A) JUDGING WORD CLASS MEMBERSHIP FROM SYNTACTIC FUNCTION
It was early/late afternoon. They arrived early/late.
Liz is pretty. Liz is pretty smart.
He was feeling well. He was doing well.
B) JUDGING SYNTACTIC FUNCTION FROM MAIN SYNTACTIC RULES:
WORD CLASS MEMBERSHIP Adjectives function as modifiers of nouns
The old man turned slowly. and as predicatives (sP & oP).
The old man turned slow. Adverbs function as adverbials, and as
We found it (very) easily. modifiers of adjectives and adverbs.
We found it (very) easy.

Adverbials
ADVERB VS. ADVERBIAL = WORD CLASS VS. SYNTACTIC FUNCTION
It was a sadly romantic story. (adverb, modifier in adjective phrase)
The story ended sadly. (“modifier” of action – adverbial)
Sadly, the story ended there. (“modifier” of whole clause – adverbial)

REALIZATION OF ADVERBIALS
• ADVERB: Joan often comes to our house.
• ADVERB PHRASE: Joan comes to our house very often.
• NOUN PHRASE: Joan comes to our house every day.
• PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE: Joan will come at Christmas.
• FINITE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE: Joan comes so often because she loves our kids.
• NON-FINITE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE: Being curious about our new house, Joan came to see
us at the weekend.

Adverbial types (see table on last page)

• Adjunct: where/when/how/why
• Disjunct: evaluative; speaker’s comment/opinion
• Conjunct: sentence connector / text organizer

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The placement of adverbials

End position:
• The position of the last obligatory clause element, or after all obligatory clause elements
• The most common position, particularly for adjuncts
John lives in Oslo. He finished the book a week ago.
These birds survive on the island because there are no predators.
Medial position (Mid-position):
• Between the Subject and the last obligatory clause element (i.e. between the Subject and
the Verbal, inside the verb phrase, or between the Verbal and the Object/Predicative).
• Typically used for frequency and manner adjuncts, and some others if realized by adverbs,
e.g. not, never, hardly, seldom, often. May be used for (short) disjuncts and conjuncts. Is
not used for longer adverbials.
But that is simply untrue. Peter would never/usually/always be on time.
There is, however, one exception to the rule. I honestly think she is in love with you.
Initial position:
• Before the Subject and the Verb (but after any conjunction)
• The second most common position. Often used for conjuncts, disjuncts, time and place
adjuncts, and adjuncts that are realized by subordinate clauses
At the moment, I’m doing Latin.
But since there was nothing to do, everyone went home.
Moreover, he was asked to prepare a speech.
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

Some contrastive observations

Jeg har aldri/ofte hørt om henne. I have never/often heard about her.
John sa at han aldri/ofte hadde hørt om henne. John said that he had never/often heard about
her.
Han har i en årrekke arbeidet som kokk. For a number of years, he has worked as a chef.

Find adverbials in this text and state whether they are adjuncts, disjuncts or conjuncts.

Why Aussies are happier than Norwegians

When the U.N. ranked Australia behind Norway, it made a serious mistake.
The much-hyped United Nations index is clearly wrong. It listed Australia as the second
“happiest” country in the world behind Norway. It's probably not such a bad thing to come
second, and Norway certainly has its charm. But, with all due respect, the U.N. has made a
mistake. Australia is obviously a happier place than Norway. There are a number of factors
that the U.N. failed to consider.
Firstly, Norway is chock-full of Norwegians. You can barely walk anywhere in Oslo without
running into one. Conversely, Australia is populated primarily by the immensely more fun
Greeks, who invented democracy, Western philosophy and homosexuality. As well as lively
Brits, who invented the laws of Motion, Natural Selection and Warm Beer. We also have our
own continent, which cannot be overrated. The apparently happy Norwegians have to share
with neighbors that used to invade countries in hard cow-hats. Surely that’s scary and would
infringe on happiness, any day.

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OVERVIEW OF ADVERBIALS
Semantic type Examples: Comments:
ADJUNCTS: Time Yesterday I worked for hours. Specify points or periods of time, duration, or
Tom occasionally joins me. frequency.
Adjuncts can be obligatory or optional, Place John works in Oslo. I’d like to go to New York. Specify location, direction, or distance.
i.e. they may be part of the basic clause Mary walked two miles.
pattern or come in addition to other clause Manner Mary attacked him furiously. The way in which an action is performed
elements. Peter looked at his work with satisfaction.
There may be several adjuncts in the same Instrument He built the cabin with his own hands. The instrument/tool used to perform an action
clause, but only one obligatory one. Means We went by train. Aid/vehicle
Participant The play was written by Pinter. I’m talking to you. Roles: agent, beneficiary/receiver
Degree Mary dislikes rats terribly. Add a degree specification of the verbal action
Reason I couldn’t come because I was ill. The reason for an action
Purpose They came (in order) to say good-bye. The purpose of an action
Condition If you’re interested you can read this book. The condition for something
Concession They get on well in spite of their differences. Indicate a contrast
Focus She hates brown rats in particular. Focus attention on some other constituent
Viewpoint According to some people, pigs might fly. Can usually be rephrased: ‘from a ... point of view’
Respect She thanked them for their hospitality. Other circumstances of the action – often abstract
DISJUNCTS: convey the speaker's Modal Maybe he can do something. Modify/specify the truth value of what is being
evaluation or judgement of something. They are obviously somewhere else. said
Disjuncts never form any grammatically Fact-evaluating She was, unfortunately, sentimental about Claude. Convey the speaker’s view of / opinion about a
obligatory part of the clause. To my great relief the performance was well received. fact
Mary won’t co-operate, which makes things difficult.
Style-evaluating It was terrible, to put it mildly. The speaker’s comment on his way of expressing
In other words, we’ll end up paying more. himself
Subject-evaluating Sensibly, she invested the money. Add a comment on the subject referent
CONJUNCTS: signal links between Typical meanings: However, that was not what she said. Connect the sentence to the preceding text, or
clauses, sentences or paragraphs and/or contrast, similarity, So you don’t want to join, then? function as text organizers
contribute to organizing the text. enumeration, To conclude I will give a brief summary.
Conjuncts are never obligatory in the addition, She was, moreover, a fatalist.
clause. exemplification, Similarly,/ For example, there was a lack of reaction
cause-effect to the declaration.
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