Lengua Inglesa II 2009-2010 Topic 3: Grammatical Units Subtopic 4: The Adjectival Phrase

1. Lengua Inglesa II2009-2010Topic 3: Grammatical UnitsSubtopic 4: The Adjectival Phrase Tom Morton IV-bis 205 tom.morton@uam.es

2. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase 1. The Adjectival Phrase • Forms of adjectives: • Simple: tall • Derived: friendly • Participial: drunken • Functions: • Epithet: His brilliant acting • Cs: The acting was brilliant • Co: I consider that offensive • Adjunct: I’m receiving you loud and clear. • Disjunct: Strange, I never suspected him

3. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Adjectives can be premodified by either: Grading (slightly, somewhat, very, extremely, overly): A slightly bent wire, an extremely overweight dog Comparison (more, most, less, least) the least bent wire, the most overweight dog Not all adjectives can be graded or compared: Comparable: more beautiful, the most red Noncomparable (ungradable): NATIONALITIES: French, Spanish, etc. MISC.: dead, alive, broken, etc. Comparison can also be done morphologically:the bigger/biggest 3. Adjective Premodification

4. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Say which of the adjectives as used in the following phrases can be graded shallow water; the closing date; a daily newspaper; a small size; the probable outcome; the main reason; a fast driver; the political consequences. (From Downing and Lock 2nd edition) Exercise 2: Gradability

5. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Comparing with Adjective Phrases: 3. Adjective Premodification: Comparison

6. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase 3. Adjective Premodification: Comparison

7. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Say which of the following adjectives should be inflected(-er, -est) for grading and which take more/most): risky real varied blue typical mistaken friendly user-friendly small tight generous bitter (From Downing and Lock 2nd edition) Exercise 3: Morphology or Syntax?

8. Inflected or analytic? Inflected risky blue friendly small tight bitter* (bitterest) Analytic real varied typical mistaken user-friendly generous bitter (more bitter)

9. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Provide the comparative and superlative forms for the following: Exercise 4: Comparative/Superlative

10. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Provide the comparative and superlative forms for the following: Exercise 4: Comparative/Superlative My elder/oldersister Theolder car. Sheisolder. Sheiselder

11. good good at grammar very good Michael is very good indeed very good indeed at grammar

12. ADJECTIVAL GROUP

13. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Adjectives that take complementation: I was afraid that he was not coming He was conscious that he was late (aware, certain) She was fond of chocolate. (obligatory) These represent mental states The complentation represents the object of the mentation Note the correspondence¨: He was afraid that He feared that ... She was conscious that He knew that ... She was fond of She liked 4. Adjectival Post-modification

14. Complement the adjectives • Jasmine and Nick are keento take up golf. • I am sorry ………………………….. • My girlfriend is insistent ……………….. • You are right ……………………………. • We are convinced …………………….. • The manager is confident ……………… • You must be crazy ……………………… • I am happy …………………………… • I’m glad ……………………………….. • His new book is likely …………………………….

15. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase Comparative postmodification: Another form of postmodification makes the attribute relative to some other case: She was quicker than Mary This music is livelier than the other. He is more eloquent than me. I am less talented at this than you. Sufficiency (enough): It is hot enough now 4. Adjectival Post-modification (ii)

16. 3.4 The Adjectival Phrase 2. Classes of adjectives • Adjectives can be classified in terms of the slots they can fill: • Epithet vs. Complement • Most adjectives can be both Epithet and Complementthe beautiful girl / the girl is beautiful • Some can be Epithet only (with the intended sense): an old friend, a complete fool • Some can be Complement only: • Health adjs.: ill, well, faint, unwell (vs. the sick man)

17. Syntactic functions of AdjPs/AdjGs AdjGs in groups: AdjGs in clauses

18. AdjG as Cs in clause AdjG as m in NG AdjG as Co in clause It was always a surprise to me that I was good at games. It was an even greater surprise that I was exceptionally good at two of them: one called fives, the other, squash-racquets. Fives, which many of you will know nothing about, was taken seriously at Repton and we had a dozen massive glass-roofed fives courts kept always in perfect condition. We played the game of Eton-fives, which is always played by four people, two on each side, and basically it consists of hitting a small, hard, white, leather-covered ball with your gloved hands, The Americans have something like it which they call handball, but Eton-fives is far more complicated because the court has all manner of ledges and buttresses built into it which help to make it a subtle and crafty game. Fives is possibly the fastest ball-game on earth, far faster than squash, and the little ball ricochets around the court at such a speed that sometimes you can hardly see it. You need a swift eye, strong wrists and a very quick pair of hands to play fives well, and it was a game I took to right from the beginning. You may find it hard to believe, but I became so good at it that I won both the junior and the senior school fives in the same year when I was fifteen.