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Adjective Phrases

An adjective phrase is a group of words with an adjective as the head or main word. It typically consists of premodifiers before the adjective, like adverbs or adverb phrases, and postmodifiers after the adjective, such as prepositional phrases, that-clauses, to-infinitive clauses, or wh-clauses. Adjective phrases function as premodifiers of nouns, subject complements, object complements, postmodifiers of pronouns and nouns, and complements of prepositions. They describe or modify nouns, pronouns, and other parts of speech.

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2K views5 pages

Adjective Phrases

An adjective phrase is a group of words with an adjective as the head or main word. It typically consists of premodifiers before the adjective, like adverbs or adverb phrases, and postmodifiers after the adjective, such as prepositional phrases, that-clauses, to-infinitive clauses, or wh-clauses. Adjective phrases function as premodifiers of nouns, subject complements, object complements, postmodifiers of pronouns and nouns, and complements of prepositions. They describe or modify nouns, pronouns, and other parts of speech.

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ADJECTIVE PHRASES

What is an adjective phrase?

 An adjective Phrase is a group of related words in which the main word is an adjective.
(Betty2010:62)
 An adjective phrase can also be defined as a word group with an adjective as its head
and modifiers, determiners, and/or qualifiers which distinguish it. For example;

 Mushi is extemely clever.

 The lecturer is very late.

 My son is fond of animals.

 The presenter is fairly interesting.

STRUCTURE OF AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE

 Adjective phrases usually consist of a pre-head string, Head (an adjective) and a post-
Head string.
 I.e Adjective phrases =premodifier(s) + Head(adjective) + Post-head string

PRE-HEAD/ PREMODIFIER

 Pre-modifiers occur before the headword and in Adjective phrase it can be;

 Adverb/ Adverb phrase

1. Adverb / Adverb phrase

 An adverb or adverb phrase can be used as a prehead string in an Adjective


phrase. For example;

 The book is very useful.

 Life in Tanzania is extremely difficult.

 This is a perfectly good conversation.

 The lady looks rather too old.

HEAD WORD
 Head word is a word which is the nucleus, or the head of a phrase and in an adjective
phrase it is an adjective for example;
 She was happy to meet you.
 The students are ready to go.
 Peter is afraid of the dark

POST MODIFIERS/POST-HEAD STRING

 Some adjective Heads must be followed by a post-Head string.


 The adjective Head fond is one of these. Compare the following sentences;

 Martin is fond of animals vs*Martin is fond

 We must add a complement (post-head string) to the adjective fond to complete its
meaning.

 Post modifiers include all the items that appear after the headword, ie after the
adjectives and in an Adjective phrase it can be;

 Prepositional Phrases

 Adverb

 That- clause

 Wh-clauses

 To-finitive clause

 Discontinuous modifier:

1. Prepositional Phrases

 Prepositional phrases can be used as post head strings in an adjective phrase.

 Adjective phrases composed of adjective + prepositional phrase are frequently


found in the position of subject complement.e.g

 He was fully aware of his surroundings (adverb + adjective + PP)

 Wachira is afraid of mice

 Etoo is good at football.

2. Adverb/Adverb phrases(Adjective + Adverb/Adverb phrases)


 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is an adverb or an
adverb phrase. Consider the following examples;

 The answer is good enough

 It certainly tasted strong enough

3. That-clause (Adjective + that-clause)

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is that-clauses. For example;

 Wambua was worried that he might fall.

 I am certain that he is married'

 It was too hot that I could not sleep.

4. To-infinitive clauses (Adjective + to-infinitive)

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is a to-infinitive


clause. For example;

 He is afraid to drive

 She was anxious to leave

 The student was eager to please

 I was very glad to help in this way.

5. Gerund clauses (Adjective +Gerund clause)

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is Gerund clause. For


example;

 Emma’s attitude is rather suprising.


 The police were busy handing out letters about the operation to
residents.

5. Wh-clause (Adjective +Wh- clause)


 Wh- clause is another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase. For
example;

 I wasn’t certain whose house we were in

 I am not quite sure what you mean

 It is now clear why she left

5. Discontinuous modifier:

 Another example of postmodifier in an adjective phrase is a discontinuous


modifier.
 Discontinuous modifier is a modifier that is partly in front and partly behind
the head.For example;

 It was so hot that I could not sleep.( so + adj + that-clause)

 She is as pretty as her sister

 His proposal is more/less attractive than the one he made last


week.( more/less + adj + than + comparative clause / NP)

Functions of Adjective Phrases

 The functions of adjective phrases are:

 Premodifier of a noun

 Subject complement

 Object complement

 Postmodifler of a pronoun

 Postmodifler of a noun

 Complement of a preposition

1. Premodifier of a noun

 This is a much less popular route


 He is an extraordinary tall man.
2. Subject complement

 Jane was extraordinarily ugly


 Maria is rather tall

3. Object complement

 His remarks annoyed me very much


 The crocodile opened its mouth very wide.

 The food made me very sick.

4. . Postmodifler of a noun

 A city bright with theatres cinemas & art galleries is posible.


 The students very easy to teach are Baed2

5. Complement of a preposition

 Kaye doesn't finish till very late

6. Nominal adjective

 The very poor are mostly the very lazy people.

 The extremely rich are always insecure.

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