Adjectives
 
 
Adverbs
 
 
Prepositions
 
 
 

 

 

 

Adjectives and Adverbs

In the last two chapters we saw that nouns can combine with other words to form noun phrases.  In a noun phrase, all the words that combine together around the noun serve to modify that noun, or to provide further information about that noun.  These additional words (or even phrases, since some of them are in groups of their own) are then called modifiers.  We have already looked fairly carefully at certain noun modifiers: the determiners and the quantifiers.  In this chapter we will turn to the remaining noun modifiers: adjectives and prepositional phrases.  We will also expand our discussion of modifiers to consider what words or structures can modify verbs, a topic we did not look at when we initially considered verbs.

Form, Meaning, Function, and Usage

It is time we took a few minutes to review the important features of the form of a grammatical structure, the meaning of a grammatical structure, the function of a grammatical structure, and the usage of a grammatical structure. 

The form of a grammatical structure refers to grammatical characteristics of the structure.  These include the morphology if talking about a word level structure and the syntax if talking about the phrase or clause level of a structure.   When we identify a word as a noun because it has an –ment suffix or because we can add the –s plural suffix, we are talking about the morphological form of the word.  When we identify a word as a noun because it is preceded by the, we are talking about the syntactic form of the word.

The meaning of a grammatical structure refers to the real world meaning as a characteristic of the structure.  When we identify a word as a noun because it refers to a person, we are talking about the meaning of the word.

The function of a grammatical structure refers to the relationship between the grammatical structure and the other constituents of the sentence (or even the longer discourse) it is in.  When we identify a word as a noun because it is the subject of the sentence, we are talking about the word’s relationship to the verb, and therefore, to its function in the sentence.  Likewise, when we talk about a quantifier’s role as modifying a noun, we are talking about its function in the sentence.

The usage of a grammatical structure refers to the scope a particular matching of form, meaning, and function has among native speakers.  If we talk about the acceptability of a word or the formality of a word, then we are talking about the usage of it.

We have already defined the role of an adjective as that of noun modifier, so we have already identified the function of an adjective.  We will next consider its forms and meanings, and we will consider the function of an adverb.

Activity 10.1: Adjectives and Adverbs

Exercise A: What is the difference between and adjective and an adverb?

Fill in the box with your answer, then click on the "solution" button to see the preferred answer.

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Exercise B: Adjective or adverb? How do you know?

Click and drag the adjective or adverb (in bold) to the correct box at the bottom. As you select each word, consider how you know whether it is and adjective or adverb.

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Defining Adjectives and Adverbs

An adjective is a type of noun modifier. Noun modifiers include: 1) Determiners, 2) Quantifiers, 3) Adjectives, 4) Prepositional phrases. There are other noun modifiers, too, as we will learn in this unit. Adjectives are the first noun modifiers that come to mind for most native speakers, mostly because in the US elementary grades, all individual words that are used as noun modifiers are simplistically referred to as adjectives.

Adverbs are usually thought of as verb modifiers, but they really have several functions. They can modify verbs, but they can also modify adjectives and other adverbs as well as entire sentences.

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