University in Pristina
Faculty of philosophy
Department of English language and literature
Seminar paper on Syntax
Topic:
Syntactic functions of adjectives
Professor:
Student:
prof. dr Dragana Spasic Djordje Jovanovic
July 2011
1. Characteristics of the adjective
Adjectives are words that describe or modify another person or thing
in the sentence. An adjective qualifies or describes a noun or pronoun.
Adjectives can also be identified by their inflections and position or function in
the sentence.
For example: - The
grey
dog barked. (The adjective
grey
describes the
noun "
dog
".) The form of an adjective does not change. It does not matter if the
noun being modified is male or female, singular or plural, subject or object.
Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size, color etc
(fact adjectives – can not be argued with). Some adjectives show what
somebody thinks about something or somebody -
nice, horrid, beautiful etc
(opinion adjectives - not everyone may agree). If you are asked questions with
which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be able to
answer.
There are different types of adjectives in the English language:
1. Adjectives of Quality:
They describe nouns. They show the quality, kind
or
state of a person or a thing:
a fast friend, a rich man, honest boys,; a noble
king etc.
Adjectives formed from proper nouns are called proper adjectives.
They are also classed as adjectives of quality eg:
the Indian batsman, the
Kenya tea, the French lady etc.
2.
Adjective of Quantity:
They show the quantity or degree of a thing:
much
money, sufficient labour, some bread, no patience, half holiday etc.
3. Adjectives of Number (Numeral Adjectives):
They show the number
(counting) of persons and things along with their order. They are of the
following three kinds:
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