Lecture Eleven

1. Lecture Eleven Adjective Phrase

2. Syntactic features of adjectives • Structure of the adjective phrase: • (premodification) + head word + (postmodification) • He is an extremely intelligent person. • We are confident of success. • She was sure that he is old enough to look after himself. • He was afraid to fail again.

3. Attributive adjective and predicative adjective • an interesting story • all the people old and young • the woman anxious to keep up with the Jonese • the president elect • the minister designate • six feet tall/wide • twenty years old

4. Cf. the mother concerned • the concerned mother • Cf. the members present • the present members • Cf. the issues involved • the involved style • Cf. the man responsible • the responsible man

5. available information • information available • suggested improvement • improvement suggested • the affected population • the population affected

6. a lovely girl • The girl is lovely. • her pleasant voice • Her voice is pleasant.

7. Attributive adjective only • my elder brother • *Who is elder? • It’s sheer blackmail. • *The blackmail is sheer. • the chief product • *The product is chief. • the chemical weapons • *The weapons are chemical. • an indoor tennis course

8. Predicative adjective only • The ship is bound for Australia. • *the bound ship for Australia • The child was afraid. • *an afraid child • The girl feels unwell. • *the unwel girl

9. Semantic classification of adjectives • Stative vs. dynamic • Stative adjectives describe permanent inherent qualities. • E.g. tall, short, big • Dynamic adjectives denote subjective measurement or suggest a temporary state. • E.g. foolish, patient, witty

10. Gradable vs. non-gradable • Gradable adjectives can take comparative forms, inflectional or periphrastic, or can be modified by intensifiers. • E.g. big, bigger, biggest • Non-gradable adjectives include those exclusively acting as attributives (mere, latter, etc), those denoting provenance (British, French, etc), and those with an absolute meaning (average, excellent, etc)

11. Inherent vs. non-inherent • Cf. a big house • a big eater • Cf. a firm handshake • a firm believer

12. Restrictive vs. non-restrictive • Cf. a fat woman • foggy London

13. Marked vs. unmarked • Big vs. small • Old vs. young • Long vs. short • Difficult vs.easy • Far vs. near

14. Ordering of premodifying adjectives a handsome young man a huge red flag • a certain funny retired movie star • the two nice red carved French tables • an interesting little red French oil painting • all the expensive black carved stone figures • some big round black Indian beads • the major tourist attraction • an attractive Russian mahogany bedroom set

15. Comparative constructions • As … as… • My brother is as tall as Bob. • We are working as fast as them. • My brother is not as/so tall as Bob. • We are not working as/so fast as them. • Cf. Susan is as intelligent as her husband. • Susan is as intelligent as she is beautiful. • Susan is as beautiful as her husband is intelligent.

16. He is exactly as tall as his brother. • This house is twice as expensive as the one we saw yesterday. • He is by no means as intelligent as his wife. • He is as efficient a worker as Bob. • He is a worker as efficient as Bob. • I can’t move as heavy a box as this one. • I can’t move a box as heavy as this one.

17. I can give you as many copies of this book as you want. • I can do as much work as him (does). • You can have as much as you like. • He is as much of a fool as his predecessor. • He is not so much of a politician as his father.

18. More … than … • This box is heavier than that one. • She is more beautiful than Mary. • Bob ran faster than Tom. • This box is less heavy than that one. • This box is not so/as heavy than that one. • I have done more work than he. • You have made fewer mistakes than I have.

19. She is far more honest than her boss. • He came even/still earlier than I asked. • They have done twice as much work as us. • He is much more careful than we expected.

20. My uncle has a larger house than mine. • My uncle has a house larger than mine. • We can’t afford more expensive food than this. • We can’t afford food more expensive than this. • Keener boys than he is will be chosen. • Boys keener than he is will be chosen. • He is a professor much more learned than his students. • ? He is a much more learned professor than his students. • There are a lot of women more intelligent than John. • * There are a lot of more intelligent women than John.

21. He is more/less of a politician than his brother. • He is the brigher of the two boys. • Of the two boys he behaves (the) more politely.

22. He is more good than bad. • = He is good rather than bad. • He was less hurt than frightened. • = He was frightened rather than hurt. • It wasn’t so much his appearance I liked as his personality. • = I liked his personality rather than his appearance. • Bob is no wiser than Tom. • A whale is no more a fish than a horse is. • My trip to Beijing is more than sightseeing. • The older I get, the happier I am. • His health is getting better and better.

23. (the) most … • Shanghai is the biggest city in China. • This is the most interesting book I have ever read. • Of all my sisters Susan works the hardest. • This is the least interesting book I have ever read. • = This is the most boring book I have ever read.

24. I will do it with the greatest pleasure. • I’d like to express my deepest gratitude for all that you’ve done for me. • This is far/by far/ far and away the best school in the region. • He did more work than anyne else. • = He did the most work. • Nothing in my life shook me so deeply as my first visit to China. • = My first visit to China moved me the deepest.

25. Other expressions of comparison • His work is superior/inferior to mine. • John is senior/junior to Bob. • The car needs some major/minor repairs. • anterior/posterior to the war • two days prior to the conference

26. Ellipsis in comparative sentences • Tom likes pop music more than his daughter likes pop music. • Tom likes pop music more than his daughter likes it. • Tom likes pop music more than his daughter does. • Tom likes pop music more than his daughter. • She is more intelligent than her boss. • * She is more intelligent than her boss is intelligent. • He works harder than anyone else in the office. • * He works harder than anyone else works hard in the office.