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Chapter 4
Modifiers and Complements
Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
Structure An adjective phrase consists of an adjective and all of its modifiers and complements. The smallest possible adjective phrase therefore consists of just an adjective. Notice that in the sentence like Olive wants a really big car, there is an adjective phrase really big, but not an adjective phrase big. The head of really big is big and its modifier is really. Since an adjective phrase is an adjective head and all its modifiers, and since really is a modifier of big, any adjective phrase that contains big must contain really. IMPORTANT NOTE: Noun- or pronoun-modifying adjective phrases do NOT include the nouns or pronouns they modify, so the noun phrase my older brother contains an adjective phrase older (NOT older brother ). A modifier never includes the thing that it modifies -- remember that modifying is a structural relationship between the modifier and something outside the modifier -- the word or phrase being modified. Function Adjectives are always the heads of adjective phrases (or conjuncts in the coordination of two or more adjectives -- this will be discussed later when we talk about conjunction). Adjective phrases function within a NP^1 to modify a head noun or pronoun or directly in a predicate^2 to predicate something about the subject or object. Noun/Pronoun Modifying Adjective Phrases Adjective phrases that appear within the NP can either precede or follow the head. If the head is an indefinite pronoun, then any adjective phrases that modify it must follow the head, as in
- Somebody clever could turn that thing into something quite useful. In (1) there are two NPs (in italics) with indefinite pronouns as heads and adjective phrases (underlined) modifying those indefinite pronouns. These adjective phrases are postmodifying or postpositive. A postpositive modifier or a postmodifier is a one which follows the head it modifies within the same phrase. In this case, a postpositive or postmodifying adjective phrase comes after the head and inside the NP. Usually when adjective phrases modify nouns, they are attributive; that is, they appear before the (^1) Remember that a noun phrase is a noun or pronoun head and all of its modifiers. (^2) A predicate is a verb phrase and all its modifiers, complements and objects. Typically a predicate is everything in the clause except the subject.
noun and after the predeterminer and determiner (if they appear in the NP). So, compare (1) where the heads of the italicized NPs are indefinite pronouns with (2) where the heads of the italicized NPs are nouns.
- Some clever person could turn that thing into a quite useful thing. Nouns can have postmodifying adjective phrases if the adjective phrase is heavy enough -- so *any person clever is no good, but any person really clever and talented is okay. Predicate Adjective Phrases Adjective phrases can also function directly in the predicate: predicate adjective phrases describe or qualify a NP in the clause. If a predicate adjective phrase is about the subject, then that adjective phrase is a subject complement , as in (3) - (5) where the subject complement adjective phrase is italicized and the subject is underlined.
- That person seems really talented.
- Sharon is clever.
- The medicine tasted nasty. If the adjective phrase qualifies or describes the direct object, then the adjective phrase is an object complement , as in (6)-(8) where the object complement adjective phrase is italicized and the direct object is underlined.
- They called me stupid.
- Charley considers Sharon clever.
- I found the medicine nasty. Structural Constraints on Adjectives Adjective phrases with certain heads (in certain meanings) are typically or always postpositive: For example, elect as in the president elect , or proper as in Pullman proper are never used attributively in these senses. Some adjectives only appear as heads of attributive adjective phrases: For example, late in the sense of "dead" or "former holder the role" can occur as the head of an attributive adjective phrase, as in (9),
- The late king of France liked toads. but not as the head of a postmodifying adjective phrase, as in * Someone late liked toads and not as the head of either kind of predicate adjective phrase, as in * The king of France is late or * I consider the king of France late. Some adjective can be the heads of postpositive or predicate adjective phrases, but not of attributive adjective phrases, for example, afraid and present, as in
- The children present watched the accident in horror.
Practice Identifying Adjective Phrases Identify the adjective phrases in the sentences below and to determine what the function of each adjective phrase each is. (1) The first time I saw the thing, I found its appearance quite surprising. (2) The strange, spotted top attached to the colorfully striped trunk made me dizzy. (3) It was incredibly badly designed. (4) Who could have considered purple, blue and red suitable colors for a lectern? (5) (5) Moreover, the ugly thing was unstable. (6) The designer blind to both form and function had created a hideous monstrosity.
Adverb and Adverb Phrases
Structure An adverb phrase consists of an adverb head and all its modifiers; only adverb phrases can modify adverbs. A substantial number of adverbs are derived from adjectives by suffixing - ly to the adjective, so, for example, the adverbs frivolously, amazingly, enormously, largely, literally, and abundantly are derived from the adjectives frivolous, amazing, enormous, large, literal, and abundant. Not all adverbs are derived from adjectives however. Some are simply basic adverbs like then, yet, still, thus, ever, just, only, here, there, and again; others are more internally complex, but not derived from adjectives, like however, moreover, therefore, and hereafter. A number of adjectives and adverbs have the same form (i.e., are homonyms), like early, fast, and hard. In the (a) versions of the examples below the underlined words are adjectives and in the (b) version they are adverbs,
- a. The early bird catches the worm. b. The bird rose early to catch the worm.
- a. I want a fast car. b. My car should go fast.
- a. Mary finished the hard problem b. Mary worked hard on the problem. Notice that if you replace these forms with adjective/adverb pairs that aren't homonyms, only one will fit in each case so suppose you replace fast with rapid or rapidly. Only rapid will fit in (13a) and only rapidly will fit in (13b). Similarly if you replace hard with intensive or intensively, only the adjective will fit in (14a) and the adverb in (14b).
Function Adverbs are always the heads of adverb phrases (or conjuncts in the coordination of two or more adverbs -- this will be discussed later when we talk about conjunction). Adverb phrases have three possible functions -- two well-defined and one a kind of grab-bag. Adverb phrases can modify adjectives, they can modify other adverbs and they can be adverbial. This last function is the most complicated so it is typically easier to see if an adverb phrase is functioning as an adjective- or adverb- modifier first, before you consider whether it is an adverbial. Adjective Modifier An adjective-modifying adverb phrase is inside the adjective phrase with the adjective head and modifying a head adjective (inside the adjective phrase with the head).
- The very small children should stand in the front.
- Mary is remarkably bright. It is worthwhile noticing that while an adjective-modifying adverb phrase typically precedes the adjective it modifies as in (15) and (16), some adverb phrases regularly follow what they modify, so enough as in (17) and (18) typically follows the adjective head it modifies.
- Harry is a good enough parent.
- Those children aren't sleepy enough yet. IMPORTANT NOTE: Adjective-modifying adverb phrases do NOT include the adjectives they modify, so the adjective phrase amazingly tall contains an adverb phrase amazingly (NOT amazingly tall ). A modifier never includes the thing that it modifies -- remember that modifying is a structural relationship between the modifier and something outside the modifier -- the word or phrase being modified. Adverb Modifier Just as adverb phrases can modify adjectives, they can also modify adverbs (and therefore appear within another adverb phrase) as in (19) and (20).
- The children played very carefully.
- Those jockeys are quite amazingly tall. Notice this means that in a sentence like (20) there are two adverb phrases: quite amazingly and quite. The head of quite amazingly is amazingly and its modifier is quite. The adverb- modifying adverb phrase is quite and its head is quite. Notice that amazingly is NOT an adverb phrase here. Since an adverb phrase is an adverb head and all its modifiers, and since quite is a modifier of amazingly, any adverb phrase that contains amazingly must contain quite. The same is not true of quite -- since amazingly does not modify quite, there can (in fact, must) be an adverb phrase which contains quite, but not amazingly. Since, in fact, nothing modifies quite , there is an adverb phrase that consists of just quite. IMPORTANT NOTE: Adverb-modifying adverb phrases do NOT include the adverbs they
Identifying Adjectives and Adverbs Example: Oscar can work hard at the really efficient factory. (1) Oscar, can, work can all be demonstrated to be nouns or verbs. (2) hard is not a noun, pronoun, verb, demonstrative, or article. It can replaced by an unambiguous adverb: Oscar worked amazingly at the really efficient factory. Therefore, hard is an adverb. (3) at is not a noun, pronoun, verb, demonstrative, or article. It cannot be replaced by an unambiguous adverb: *Oscar worked hard merely/then/quite/clearly the factory. It cannot be modified by an unambiguous adverb (though the whole PP can be). Therefore, at is neither an adverb nor an adjective. (4) the is an article; therefore, it is neither an adjective nor an adverb. (5) really is not a noun, pronoun, verb, demonstrative, or article. It can be replaced by an unambiguous adverb: Oscar can work hard at the merely/quite/clearly efficient factory. really , therefore, is an adverb.
(6) efficient is not a noun, pronoun, verb, demonstrative, or article. It cannot be replaced by an adverb: *Oscar worked hard at the really merely/quite/clearly/then efficient factory. It can be and is, however, modified by an adverb (really) and is therefore an adjective. Practice Identifying Adverb Phrases Identify the adverb phrases in the sentences below and to determine what the function of each adverb phrase each is. (1) Ferociously the amazingly strong child threw his teacher through a window. (2) He was angry at his teacher again and he found the entire school increasingly unbearable. (3) The teacher's careful answer to his very difficult question left him quite furious. (4) A more sensible student would just have gone to the ombudsman with a complaint. (5) He would really not have thrown his hapless teacher out of the classroom. (6) Quite predictably, the slightly injured teacher was furious at the child's violent treatment of him. (7) He demanded that the insane child be more appropriately punished for his utterly outrageous conduct. (8) Suspension was a completely insufficient penalty for this violent offence. Prepositional Phrases Structure A prepositional phrase (PP) consists minimally of a preposition and its object. The object of a preposition is typically a noun phrase or a gerund subordinate clause (we'll discuss these when we talk about complex sentences). Usually the object of the preposition (OP) immediately follows the preposition as in
- I talked [aboutPREP [the answers]OP].
- [AfterPREP [dinner]OP] the people [inPREP [the dining room]OP] rose [fromPREP [the tables]OP] and went [intoPREP [the garden]OP]. Under certain circumstances the preposition and its object might not be adjacent to each other. If the object of the preposition is a wh- proform or a phrase containing a wh- proform, then the phrase with the wh- word can appear at the beginning of the sentence (or of the appropriate clause) with the preposition appearing where you might expect to find the entire PP.
- Who are you talking to? (I am talking to Bill.)
- I built the stage which you are standing on. (You are standing on the stage.)
One way to tell that the PPs modify the noun or pronoun head is to replace that NP with a personal or demonstrative pronoun which typically are not modified by PPs, so
- *He in the orange dress with red hair at that table looks perfectly awful.
- He looks perfectly awful.
- I want this book about Spain.
- I want this.
- *I want this about Spain. Passive Agent As we discussed when we considered passive clauses, the NP that is the same as the subject of the active paraphrase of the clause appears as the object of the preposition by in the passive.
- That child was bitten by a yippy little dog. (= Active: A yippy little dog bit that child. ) The subject of an active clause can only be conveyed in a passive clause in a prepositional phrase with the preposition by. Adverbial Just like adverb phrases, PPs can serve as adverbials. Time adverbials and place adverbials are very typically expressed as PPs, as in
- On Thursday I am going to Spain In fact however a substantial range of adverbial roles can be filled by Verb Complement Some verbs may be limited to certain prepositions to appear with. Sometimes the verb requires the presence of the PP, as in
- I will rely on your discretion Verbs like rely and depend and deprive require the presence of a PP -- a PP with a particular set of prepositions. You can only rely or depend on or upon something or someone,
- *I will rely.
- *I will rely on top of your discretion.
- *I will rely from your discretion. Similarly you can only deprive someone of something, as in
- Olive deprived us of our just reward.
- *Olive deprived us from our just reward.
- *Olive deprived us out of our just reward. Often, a good dictionary identifies the verbs that take verb complements by identifying the verb
- preposition set and its meaning since typically the fact that they are fixed and what the meaning is is not necessarily transparent. Other verbs take optional complements. So call can take a prepositional phrase complement, using the preposition on, to mean 'visit' as in
- Since Harry is at home now, we should call on him. or 'choose', as in
- If you raise your hand, I will call on you. Adjective Complement Like verbs, adjectives also limit the prepositions that appear in their prepositional phrase complements.
- I am fond of them. Notice that while you can be happy with your grade , you can't be * glad or * joyous with your grade. So happy selects a prepositional phrase with a preposition with , while glad and joyous (which mean approximately the same thing) do not. Some adjectives like happy appear commonly without any prepositional phrase complements, as in
- Are you happy? or with other prepositions, as in
- Are you happy for/with your family? Notice that while you can be glad for someone, you cannot be joyous for someone. Again different adjectives, even in the same semantic area, go with different prepositions. Prepositions vs. Particles As it happens, a subset of the prepositions in English are also particles. A particle differs from a preposition in that it does not (and cannot) take an object. Particles can, like prepositions, come right after the verb and before a noun phrase. Particles, however, are distributed differently from prepositions. How so? Well, while the up 's in (64a) and (b) look similar, consider that in (65b) you can move the up after the NP without changing the meaning, but in (65a) moving the up produces an ungrammatical string. Preposition Particle
- a. I climbed up the pole. b. I put up the pole.
- a. *I climbed the pole up b. I put the pole up.
aboard beyond in search of plus about but inside preparatory to above by inside of prior to according to by means of in spite of rather than across by way of instead of regarding across from circa in support of regardless of after close to in the light of relative to against concerning into round ahead of considering in touch with save along contrary to in view of save for alongside depending on irrespective of since along with despite like subject to amidst down minus than among during near thanks to amongst except next to through anti except for notwithstanding till apart from excepting of to around excluding off together with as following on toward as for for on account of towards aside from forward of on behalf of under as opposed to from on board underneath as to in on the part of unlike astride in addition to onto until as well as in accordance with on top of up at in between opposite up against away from in charge of opposite to upon bar in conjunction with other than up to barring in connection with out of up until because of in contrast to outside versus before including outside of via behind in favour of over vis-à-vis below in front of owing to with beneath in lieu of past with regard to beside in line with pending within besides in relation to per without between in response to plus
More Practice with Adjective, Adverb and Prepositional Phrases Identify all the adjective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases in the texts below. (1) Circle the entire phrase. (2) Underline the adjective head, adverb head, or preposition. (3) Label each phrase you have circled with its structure (adjective phrase, adverb phrase or prepositional phrase). (4) Label each phrase you have circled with its function (adjective phrase: attributive, postmodifying, subject complement, object complement; adverb phrase: adjective modifier, adverb modifier, adverbial; and prepositional phrase: noun modifier, adjective complement, verb complement, adverbial, passive agent.) Marianne was amused by the absolute presumption of the man in front of her. His sense of entitlement was breathtaking. He was almost preening. He practically glowed with his belief in his own attractiveness. From Marianne’s point of view, he was not merely overestimating the effects of his appearance; he was completely wrong about any effect he might have on her. Anyone so obviously full of himself was actively ugly in her eyes. “Hey baby, call me Bill. What’s your name? he asked with complete assurance and continued, “What are you drinking?” “Sorry,” she replied politely, “I’m waiting for someone.” After all, he had done nothing unacceptable in a bar like this one. His approach was utterly standard for this kind of establishment. Courtesy was called for in her refusal, but nothing in the relatively odd etiquette of these places required her to accept his invitation. “Ah, come on,” he said and grabbed her arm. “Please let go of me,” she said, still courteously, “I am waiting for someone else.” The polite lie should have been sufficient; he could walk away now without any loss of face. A man with any sense of appropriate behavior would have released her immediately. However, that kind of man would never have touched a stranger without invitation anyway. Her polite resistance made him even more overbearing. He simply refused to believe that any woman
