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When you read a composition or a story, you sometimes utter “How good is it”. Apart from the content, there are some other factors greatly contributing to the effectiveness of writing. Very often we do not realize the importance of the things we see everyday. The Adjectives and Adjective phrases are one of such those things. Have you ever seen a text without adjective phrases ? or Have you ever paid much attention to the most common premodifying type of noun phrases?
THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ PART I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and the reason for the study : When you read a composition or a story, you sometimes utter “How good is it!”. Apart from the content, there are some other factors greatly contributing to the effectiveness of writing. Very often we do not realize the importance of the things we see everyday. The Adjectives and Adjective phrases are one of such those things. Have you ever seen a text without adjective phrases ? or Have you ever paid much attention to the most common pre-modifying type of noun phrases? Now, we have a look at the following story. “ It’s illegal to drive under the age of seventeen in Britain, but a 17-year-old boy managed to pass his driving on the day of his seventeenth birthday. Most people would consider this impossible because you need a lot of lessons to pass the test. David Livesery arranged to have an eight-hour lesson beginning at dawn on his birthday. At first he was very careful and hesitant, but he had a wonderful teacher and his driving improved amazingly during the day. By four in the afternoon,still feeling energetic, he was ready to take his test and he drive home very slowly in the reddish light of the setting sun. David’s driving attracted the attention of two policemen, but they broke into smiles and congratulated him warmly when he showed them his certificate and told them his story. With the appearance of the Adjectives and Adjective phrases , the above story either makes you interested or makes an impression on you, doesn’t it ? Obviously,to make good use of English as much as possible, people are required to master all aspects of English, both a complicated system of structures and that of vocabularies. In English, Adjectives and Adjective phrases is a neither small nor simple category. Due to its different functions by syntax and by semantic, the Adjective phrase is both of great occurrence in all kinds of writing and plays an important role in making good essays, especially descriptive compositions. Moreover, it is said that the Vietnamese language is plentiful and various.Therefore, the Adjectives and Adjective phrases themselves make a contribution to the variety and richness of the language. On the whole, using adjective phrases are quite common and advantageous. The most important reason why I vote for this study has derived from the mistakes my students have made while they are speaking and writing . Owing to the above reasons, I have made up my mind to choose “The uses of Adjectives and Adjective phrases in English” as my topic of the study. 1.2 Aims of the study : With the reasons above in my mind, the specific aims of the study accordingly are: + To present the uses of Adjectives and Adjective phrases and Vietnamese equivalents. +To point out some similarities and differences in the uses of Adjectives and Adjective phrases. + To suggest some techniques in teaching Adjectives and Adjective phrases. ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 1 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ + To give out some practical exercises for the further understanding of the English Adjective phrases. In the limitation of time, I intend to deal with something about the theory of the Adjectives and Adjective phrases in English and point out some similarities and differrnces in the uses of Adjectives and Adjective phrases to help English learners to make good use of them. I am not planning on studying a larger population, just the population at a high school . 1.3. Methods of the study : * A study on theoretical background from Methodological books and materials. * Survey questionnaire. * Personal observations by attending classes. 1.4. Design and rationale of the study : * This study consists of 3 parts and an appendix: 1. Part I is the introduction. 2. Part II is the theoretical background; the investigation and application . 3. Part III is the conclusion. The Reference and Appendix are the last parts of the study * Data collections for analysis in this study come from students of Tuy Phuoc I High school: 50 students from the eleventh form and 50 students from the twelveth form. PART II INVESTIGATION AND APPLICATION I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Definition of Adjectives : The book critic R. Z Sheppard once remarked that adjectives “are the potbelly of poetry”. Many English language teachers would not take such a disparaging view. Adjectives are often quite fun to teach and the rules surrounding them are, usually, quite straightforward. This month’s article is the first of two in which we throw the spotlight on adjectives. We start by looking at adjectives in relation to the wider phrasal structures they occur in, examining issues of position, complementation, and ordering. When we want to give more information than can be provided by using a noun alone, we can add an adjective to identify a person or thing, or describe them in more detail, e.g.: her new dress a kind person the phonetic alphabet accuracy is important Note that sometimes nouns can be placed before other nouns as a way of identifying a particular type of person or thing, e.g.: ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 2 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ a chocolate cake the football player Nouns used in this way are usually referred to as noun modifiers. Though they are functioning in a similar way to some adjectives, we classify them as nouns. Examples like this are often referred to as compound nouns, with the first noun identifying a particular type in relation to the group of people or things described by the second noun.In the following article, we will focus on true adjectives, rather than noun modifiers. 2.1.1. Position of adjectives: Most adjectives can appear before a noun as part of a noun phrase, placed after determiners or numbers if there are any, and immediately before the noun, e.g.: She had a beautiful smile He bought two brown bread rolls. Adjectives placed before a noun in this way are generally referred to as occurring in the attributive position. Most adjectives can also occur as complements of the verb be and other link verbs such as become, feel or seem, e.g.: Her smile is beautiful. She didn’t seem happy. Adjectives placed after the verb in this way are generally referred to as occurring in the predicative position. When the information contained in an adjective is not the main focus of a statement, then the adjective is usually placed before the noun in the attributive position. However, when the main focus of a statement is to give the information contained in an adjective, the adjective is usually placed after the verb in the predicative position, compare: He handed me a bucket of hot water. (attributive position) I put my hand in the bucket, the water was very hot. (predicative position, emphasising hot.) Though most adjectives can be used in both the attributive and predicative positions, there are a number of adjectives that can occur in one particular position only, as described below: 2.1.2. Position: attributive only There are some adjectives which can only be used before a noun, in the attributive position. For instance, “We talk about the main problem” but cannot say “The problem was main”. Adjectives which occur only in the attributive position are generally those which identify something as being of a particular type. For instance, we can talk about a financial decision where financial distinguishes this from other types of decision, e.g.: medical, ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 3 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ political. This group of adjectives are often referred to as classifying adjectives, and rarely occur in the predicative position unless we specifically want to emphasise a contrast, e.g.: a chemical reaction not, e.g.: a reaction which was/is chemical the phonetic alphabet not, e.g.: the alphabet is phonetic It was an indoor pool. not, e.g.: The pool was indoor Other adjectives which generally appear in the attributive position are those which are used for emphasis, e.g.: The show was absolute/utter rubbish. You made me look a complete fool. The project was a total disaster. 2.1.3. Position: predicative only There are some adjectives which only usually occur in the predicative position, as complements of be or other link verbs. For instance, you can say He felt glad. but wouldn’t normally talk about a glad person. Adjectives which usually occur in the predicative position include those which describe feelings, such as afraid, content, glad, ready, sure, sorry and upset, e.g.: She felt afraid. but not, e.g.: an afraid girl My daughter is upset. but not, e.g.: my upset daughter They also include a group of adjectives with prefix a-, such as asleep, alive, alone, ashamed, awake, aware, e.g.: I like being alone. but not, e.g.: I like being an alone person. The baby’s asleep. but not, e.g.: the asleep baby. 2.1.4. Position: immediately after nouns Some adjectives that describe size or age can occur immediately after a noun that indicates a unit of measurement, e.g.: She was about five feet tall Her baby is ten months old. The walls were six inches thick. There is a small group of adjectives, sometimes referred to as post nominal adjectives, which can only occur immediately after a noun. Examples are: the president elect the devil incarnate Many other adjectives can be used immediately after a noun when they form part of a (reduced) relative clause, e.g.: Let’s use the time available. Is she someone capable of making difficult decisions? I’d like to speak to all the people involved. ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 4 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ 2.1.5. Position and meaning There are some adjectives which can occur either before or after a noun, but the position they occur in has an effect on their meaning, e.g.: • the concerned parents (= ‘the parents who are worried’) • the parents concerned (= ‘the parents who are involved/mentioned’) • the present situation (= ‘the situation which exists now’) • the people present (= ‘the people who are here/there’). • a responsible person (= ‘a person who is sensible/reliable’) • the person responsible (= ‘the person who is to blame or has responsibility for something’) 2.1. 6. Adjective complementation When adjectives occur in the predicative position, after be or other link verbs, they are sometimes followed by a prepositional phrase or verbal complement. Some typical examples are summarised in the table below: Patterns Typical adjectives Examples Adjective + of aware, proud, capable She was proud of her son. Adjective + to kind, sensitive, similar, equal Her house is similar to mine. Adjective + with angry, impatient, honest I felt angry with him. Adjective + on keen, gentle, dependent He’s totally dependent on his parents. Adjective + in interested, disappointed We’re not interested in selling our house. Adjective + about pleased, glad, anxious She was anxious about the results. Adjective + to-infinitive difficult, easy, ready The book was easy to read. Adjective + that-clause worried, confident, sure I’m confident that she’ll succeed. Adjective + wh-clause unsure, uncertain He was uncertain what to do next. Adjective + -ing busy, silly, awkward They’re busy painting the kitchen. 2.1.7. Order of adjectives ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 5 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ Adjectives describing the main characteristics of a person or thing are often grouped together before the noun they describe, e.g.: a beautiful young woman a large round table Two or three descriptive adjectives are often used together in this way, though note that placing more than three adjectives before a noun would start to sound unnatural, e.g.: a beautiful wooden table sounds fine, but a structure like: a beautiful large round carved wooden table though grammatical, would not normally occur in everyday speech or writing.Descriptive adjectives used in this way belong to seven main types. The table below summarises the types and the usual order in which they appear if more than one adjective is placed before a noun: • 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th • opinion size age shape colour origin material • lovely big old triangular white Italian wooden For example, if you wanted to use an adjective referring to size and an adjective referring to shape, you would put the size adjective first, e.g.: a large round table Similarly, an age adjective would normally be placed before an origin adjective, e.g.: a young Italian woman An opinion adjective would occur before a shape or colour adjective, and a shape or colour adjective would occur before a material adjective, e.g.: a beautiful green silk dress If two colour adjectives are used, then and is placed between them, e.g.: She was wearing a long black and gold scarf. If three colour adjectives occur, a comma is placed after the first and the last two are linked with and, e.g.: The table was covered by a large red, white and blue flag. As a general rule, the adjective which is closest to the noun is the most closely linked to the meaning of the noun, describing a feature which is the most permanent about it, compared to adjectives which express a variable characteristic, such as an opinion. For instance, if we consider: an expensive/cheap/beautiful black leather bag the ‘leather-ness’ of the bag is a more essential characteristic than ‘cost’ or ‘appearance’. If more than one adjective occurs which expresses an opinion or describes a general ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 6 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ quality, then the adjective with a more general meaning, e.g.: nice, bad usually precedes the one with a more specific meaning, e.g.: comfortable, clean, for example: a lovely soft blanket If two adjectives with similar meanings are used, the shorter one often comes first, e.g.: a soft comfortable pillow The conjunction but is sometimes placed between two adjectives which describe contrasting qualities, e.g.: a difficult but rewarding job The order of adjectives in predicative position, i.e.: after the verb be or link verbs such as seem or feel, is less fixed than the order before a noun. The conjunction and is generally used to link adjectives in this position, occurring before the last adjective used, e.g.: The room was small and dirty. He felt cold, wet and hungry. Adjectives expressing opinion are often placed last, e.g.: Annabel was young, tall and beautiful. If we want to imply a contrast between adjectives, the conjunction but is sometimes used, e.g.: The flat was small but comfortable. 2.2 Definition of Adjective phrases : First of all, let’s have a look at the definition of phrases and adjectival phrases . Phrases are considered as the second level of classification as they tend to be larger than individual words, but are smaller than sentences. We refer to the central element in a phrase as the head of the phrase. If the head is a noun then the phrase is called a noun phrase. Adjectival phrases are composed of the adjectives that modify a noun and any adverbs or other elements that modify those adjectives. Adjectival phrases always occur inside noun phrases or as predicate adjectives. Example: Dad bought [(a blue and green) sweater] The adjective phrase is a phrase that functions as an adjective: The brothers were always quarrelsome. [ 14;13] Or the adjective phrase is a phrase in which the adjective is the head: They were quite unware of any wrongdoing. In order to make adjective phrases more simple and convenient to research, I’d like to give out the definition of an adjective phrase as follows: An adjective phrase is a word or a group of words functioning in a sentence like an adjective. It contains an adjective as the head optionally accompanied by modifiers in the form of single words, phrases or clauses. 2.3 The uses of Adjectives and Adjective phrases: ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 7 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ Adjectives and adjective phrases are of common occurrence. To make good use of adjectives and adjective phrases, it is necessary to know well about the following: 2.3.1. The semantic roles of adjectives and adjective phrases : It is said that the adjective is the “soul” of an adjective phrases. Therefore, in order to research more convenient we consider that the semantic roles of adjective phrases are like those of adjectives. Semantically, R.Quirk and S.Greenbaun divided adjectives into subclasses: (1)stative verus dynamic adjectives, (2) gradable verus non-gradable adjectives. (3) inherent verus non- inherent adjectives. (1) Stative verus dynamic adjectives: A Stative adjective A Dynamic adjective He’s being tall He’s being careful Be tall Be careful Adjectives that can be used dynamic include: awkard, brave,calm,careless, cruel,extravagant, foolish,funny, good,impudent, irritable,jealous,naughty,noisy,and rude. Stative adjectives include: kind,lazy,stupid,generous, obstinate, tactful, interesting,busy. (2) Gradable verus non-gradable adjectives: Most adjectives are gradable, that is to say, can be modified by adverbs which convey the degree of intensity of the adjective. Gradability includes comparison: tall taller tallest beautiful more beautiful most beautiful And other forms of intensification: very young so plain extremely useful All dynamic adjectives are gradable. Most stative adjectives (tall,old) are gradable, some are non-gradable, principally “technical adjectives” like atomic (scientist) and hydrochloric (acid) and adjectives denoting provenance, e.g.: British. (3) Inherent verus non-inherent adjectives. Adjectives that characterize the referent of the noun directly are termed INHERENT; those that do not are termed NON-INHERENT. Most adjectives are inherent, and it is especially uncommon for dynamic adjectives to be other than inherent, an exception is “wooden” in the actor is being wooden.,whicj is dynamic and non-inherent. Whether or not an adjective is inherent or non-inherent, it may involve relation to an implicit or explicit standard. “ Big” is inherent in “ a big mouse”, the standard being the relative size of mice, contrast “a little mouse”. “Big” is non-inherent in “a big fool”, the standard being degree of foolishness, contrast “a big of a fool”. The relative standard is to be distinguished from gradability as well as from the inherent/non- inherent contrast. For example, “perfect” and “good” are non-inherent in “a perfect mother” and “ a good mother”, the standard being motherhood, but only good is gradable ( a very good mother, a very perfect mother). Similarly, though the inherent ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 8 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ “big” in “ a big elephant” is gradable (a very big elephant), the inherent adjective in an enormous noun is not gradable ( a very enormous noun) In another aspect, Randolph.Quirk distinguishes two broad semantic groups of adjectives: descriptors and classifiers. Descriptors are prototypal adjectives denoting such features as color, size, and weight, chronology and age, emotion and a wide range of other characteristics. They are typically gradable. In contrast, the primary function of classifiers is to delimit or restrict a noun’s referent, by placing it in a category in relation to other referents. They are typically non-gradable. Classifiers can be grouped into subclasses, including relational, afflictive and a miscellaneous topical class. Classifiers can be more or less descriptive content while many topical classifiers (such as chemical, medical,political) provide descriptive content while also limiting the reference of the head noun. Selected examples of adjectives belonging to these semantic domains are: (1) Descriptors: Descriptors can be divided into subclasses, including: + COLOR- denoting color,brightness: black,white,dark,bright,blue,brown,green,grey,red. Eg: The passenger turned quite green with sea-sick. Life seemed grey and pointless after she’d gone. + SIZE/QUANTITY/EXTENT-denoting size,weight,extent:big,deep,heavy,huge,long,large,little,short,small,thin,wide. Eg: Lead is a heavy metal You’ve cut my hair very short. + TIME- denoting chronology, age, frequency: annual,daily,early,late,new,old,recent,young. Eg: There is an early train every Saturday. Ours is a recent accquaintance. + EVALUATIVE/EMOTIVE- denoting judment, affect,emphasis: bad,beautiful,best,fine,good,great,lovely,nice,poor. Eg: The car has very good brakes. + MISCELLANEOUS DESCRIPTIVE- appropriate, cold,complex,dead,empty,free,hard,hot,open,possitive,practical,pirate,serious,strange,strong ,sudden. Eg: That’s a good film. Especially if you can get the right price. (2) Classifiers Classifiers can be grouped into subclasses: + RELATIONAL/CLASSIFICATIONAL/RESTRICTIVE- delimiting the referent of a noun, particularly in relation to other referents: additional,overage,chief,complete,different,direct,entire,external,final,following,general, initial,internal,left,main,maximum,necessary,original,particular,previous,primary,public, similar,single,standard,top,various,same. + AFFILIATIVE- designing the national or religious group to which a referent belongs: American,Chinese,Christian,English,French, German,Irish,united. + TOPICAL/OTHER (e.g. giving the subject area or showing a relationaship with a noun): chemical,commercial,environmental,human,industrial,legal,medical,mental,official,oral, ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 9 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ phonetics,political,sexual,social,ventral,visual. In the following excerpt, descriptor adjectives are underlined with classifiers marked by [ ] It has never lost an artist from its record label, supposedly because it consists of many small and friendly [individual] companies(…) Fujisankei,itself privately owned and independent,seems the ideal partner. But the question must remain as to whether a [Japanese] giant with five times the turnover of the Virgin group will be content to stay a minority player in the long term. (news) Some adjectives can serve as either classifiers or descriptors. Below, the expressions in the left-hand column contain a classifying or restricting adjective, while those in the right- hand column a descriptor. It is noted that the desriptors are gradable and can be modified to show degree or extent. E.g.:by very. Classifier Descriptor modern algebra some modern authorities criminal law criminal activity a secondary school a useful secondary function Very common adjective typically designate a range of meanings. For example, in some expressions old is descriptive, denoting age (an old radio,old newspapers). In others, it denotes affect (poor old Rusty,good old genetics). Similarly “ poor” has two principal uses: emotive (the poor devil, You poor bunny!) and descriptive (a poor country, in poor health). Even the descriptive uses of poor carry: different denotations such as “ lacking adequate financial resources” and “ not good”. 2.3.2. The syntactic roles of adjectives and adjective phrases : Adjectives function syntactically only in adjective phrases, but since it is the adjective that generally determines the funtion of adjective phrases, we have found it convenient to use adjectives alone to illustrate the functions of adjective phrases and we have often referred to adjectives as a shorter way of referring to adjective phrases. The functions of adjectives and adjective phrases in phrases can be shown in the following table: (pre-modifier(s)) ADJECTIVES (post-modifier(s)) adverb (intensifier), e.g. very / perfectly / extremely good, nice, rich, happy, wide, bright, uncertain, possible, glad, busy, easier, worse, better prepositional phrase, e.g. at maths, about this adverb (viewpoint), e.g. technically / theoretically adverb, enough / indeed noun, e.g. sixteen feet / two kilometres that-clause, e.g. that you’re careful to-infinitive clause, e.g. to hear from you -ing-clause, e.g. handing out letters comparative clause, e.g. than ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 10 [...]... ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ By Nguyen Thi Hong Minh – From Tuy Phuoc I High School Page 32 THE USES OF ADJECTIVES AND ADJECTIVE PHRASES IN ENGLISH ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ (Tieng Anh 10 - BASE BOOK- Unit 16) UNIT 16: Part E: LANGUAGE FOCUS I Objectives: 1 Education Aims:- Students know how to pronounce the sound /ʒ / and / ʃ / correctly - Students revise: - Comparatives and superlatives... ♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠♠ comfortable 3 irregular adjectives good bad far more comfortable the most comfortable (irregular form) better worse further/farther (irregular form) the best the worst the furthest/farthest (Tieng Anh 12- Advanced BOOK- Unit 13) Unit 13 : (Language focus) A Aims : Helping students practise play, do or go + sports/ games Helping students how to use double comparison B Method : Communicative approach . that saves a great deal of labour. 8. An activity that consumes too much of your time. Suggested answers: 2 home-made 5. wind-swept 3. breath-taking 6. award-winning 4. airborne 7. labour-saving 8 choose the appropriate letter A-H for each question if the adjective phrases have the function of: A: Pre-modifier in noun phrases B: Post-modifier in noun phrases C: Post-modifier in prepositional. indeed noun, e.g. sixteen feet / two kilometres that-clause, e.g. that you’re careful to-infinitive clause, e.g. to hear from you -ing-clause, e.g. handing out letters comparative clause,