ADJECTIVE

A. The formation of compound adjectives

Compound adjectives are often written with hyphens. Some of the commonest
types are
1 Compound adjectives formed with participles, etc.
- compounds formed with past participles
e. g : a candle-lit table , a horse-drawn cart, a self-employed author, a tree-lined
avenue
- compounds formed with present participles
e .g: a long-playing record, a long-suffering parent, a time-consuming job
- -ed words that look like participles although they are formed from nouns
e. g: cross eyed , flat chested , hard-hearted , open-minded, quick-witted , slow
footed
2 Compound adjectives of measurement, etc.
 Cardinal numbers combine with nouns (usually singular) to form
compound adjectives relating to time measurement etc
Age : a three-year-old building a twenty-year-old man
Area/volume: a three-acre plot a two-litre car
Duration: a four-hour meeting a two-day conference
Length/depth: a twelve-inch ruler a six-foot hole
Price a $50 dress a £90,000 house
Time/distance a ten-minute walk a three-hour journey
Weight a ten-stone man a five-kilo bag of flour
 Ordinal numbers can be used in compounds
e. g: a first-rate film, a second-hand car, a third-floor flat , a nineteenth-century
novel
3 Compound adjectives formed with prefixes and suffixes
Compounds can be formed from a variety of prefixes and suffixes
e. g : class-conscious, tax-free, loose-fitting, waterproo, fire, resistant
car-sick , tight, lipped, vacuum, sealed , airtight

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Many compounds can be formed with well and badly –behaved, built -done
-paid etc poorly combine with some past participles –advised, -educated,
informed , paid etc
B. Types of adjectives and their uses

1. Gradable and non-gradable adjectives

Adjectives can be divided into two classes: a large class of words which can be
graded (gradable adjectives) and a small class that cannot be graded (non-
gradable adjectives).

 An adjective is gradable when:

- we can imagine degrees in the quality referred to and so can use it with
words like very, too, and enough-
very good , too good, less good , not good enough,
- we can form a comparative and superlative from it (big) bigger, biggest,
(good) better, best, etc.
 An adjective is non-gradable when:
- we cannot modify it (i.e. we cannot use it with very too, etc.)
- we cannot make a comparative or superlative from it:
e.g.: daily dead, medical, unique, etc.

2. Adjectives used predicatively

1 Predicative adjectives describing health

The following are used predicatively with health: faint, ill, poorly, unwell and
well:
What's the matter with him? - He's ill/unwell He feels faint
How are you? - I'm very well, thank you. I'm fine thanks
 FINE relating to health is predicative; used attributively it means
'excellent' (e.g. She's a fine woman).
The adjectives sick and healthy can be used in the attributive position where ill
and well normally cannot:
What's the matter with Mr Court? - He's a sick man
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 Biggies was very ill but he s now a healthy man

 WELL, to mean 'in good health', is an adjective and should not be confused
with well, the adverbial counterpart of good
 FAINT can be used attributively when not referring to health in
e.g. a faint chance, a faint hope a faint sound, as can ill in fixed phrases
such as: an ill omen, an ill wind

3 Predicative adjectives beginning with 'a-'

Adjectives like the following are used only predicatively: afloat, afraid.
Alight ,alike, alive ,alone, ashamed, asleep, awake
The children were asleep at 7 but now they're awake
We can express similar ideas with attributive adjectives:
The vessel is afloat The floating vessel
The children are afraid The frightened children
The buildings are alight The burning buildings
Everything that is alive All living things
That lobster is alive It s a live lobster
The children are asleep The sleeping children
When I am awake In my waking hour
 SHAMEFUL is not the attributive counterpart of ashamed;
It was a shameful act (describing the act)
He ought to be ashamed (describing the person)
Similarly, lonely is not the exact equivalent of alone-.
You can be alone without being lonely
 ALONE (predicative) means 'without others'; lonely (attributive: a lonelv
woman, or predicative: she is lonely) generally means 'feeling sad
because you are on your own'.

4 Predicative adjectives describing feelings, reactions, etc.

Some adjectives describing feelings, etc., (content, glad, pleased, sorry,
upset) and a few others, e.g. far and near (except in e.g. the Far East/the Near
East) are normally used only predicatively:
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 / am very glad to meet you
We can express the same ideas with attributive adjectives:
She is a happy (or contented) woman (= She is glad/content.)
5 Predicative adjectives followed by prepositions
Many adjectives used predicatively may be followed by prepositions:
A capable person is one who manages well (attributive)
He is capable of managing well (adjective + preposition: predicative)
6. Nouns that behave like adjectives
Names of materials substances etc (leather nylon plastic) resemble adjectives. So
do some nouns indicating use or purpose e g kitchen chairs
It's a cotton dress (= it s cotton/made of cotton)
It's a summer dress (= a dress to be worn in summer)
7. Adjectives as complements after e.g. verbs of perception
We use adjectives, not adverbs, after verbs of perception, particularly
those relating to the senses, such as look, taste , appear strange, feel rough, look
good, look well, seem impossible, smell sweet ,sound nice, taste bad
That pie looks good but it tastes awful
A day in the country sounds nice but think of the traffic!

AFRAID , SCARED, FRIGHTENED

there are differences in use and i shall try to illustrate these. but all these
adjectives express roughly the same degree of worry or fear and can therefore be
used interchangeably to some extent.
frightened suggests more sudden fear:
 
all small children are afraid of / scared of / frightened of school bullies.

don’t be scared / afraid / frightened. i’m not going to hurt you.

 
all three can be followed by of + -ing clause.
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 frightened cannot always be followed by of + pronoun or noun:
 
he’s afraid of / scared of / frightened of flying in small planes.

he’s a strict teacher. everyone seems to be afraid of / scared of him.

 
all three can be followed by the to + infinitive pattern:
 
she seemed too scared to swim where there were such big waves.

after such an experience she’s afraid to go anywhere near the sea.

I was too frightened to jump in at the deep end of the pool.

 
we can be scared by or frightened by something.

we cannot use afraid in this way:

 
she was scared by the hooting of the owl.

they were frightened / terrified by the gunfire and the breaking of glass.

note that terrified expresses a stronger degree of fear.

she’s terrified of / by large dogs and won’t go near them.

 
 
afraid / scared / frightened - position in clause
 
note :
afraid is one of those adjectives that cannot normally be used before a noun,
but instead is used after a verb.
scared and frightened can be used in both positions:
 
he seemed afraid. he appeared frightened.

he was, without doubt, a frightened man.

I’m afraid I/ we / he / etc

 
I’m afraid… is also used in another way, meaning: I regret that I have to tell
you that…. it is used to introduce bad news in a gentle or polite way:
 
I’m afraid there’s been an accident at the crossroads. your son’s been
knocked over on his bike.
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 I’m afraid we shan’t be able to come on the skiing trip with you. john’s got
to work.

he’s done very little work, I’m afraid. he’ll have to repeat the course.
 
 
I’m afraid so. / I’m afraid not.
 
we can use these forms as short answers to confirm bad news:

will I really have to repeat the course next year? ~ I’m afraid so.

can’t you really come on the skiing trip with us? ~ I’m afraid not.
 
 
frightened / frightening
 
as a general rule, adjectives ending in -ed are used to describe how people
feel. adjectives ending in -ing describe the things or situations that give rise
to these feelings. so, remember, frightened describes how you feel.
frightening describes the things that make you feel frightened:
 
she looked very frightened when I told her she would lose her job.

it was one of the most frightening films I had ever seen.

it’s frightening to think that they are capable of producing nuclear

weapons.
 
 
terrified / terrifying
 
similarly, terrified describes you feel. terrifying describes the things that make
you feel terrified. terrified and terrifying express a higher degree of anxiety or
worry than frightened and frightening:
 
I was so much in debt. I was terrified I would lose my job when the
restructuring was announced.

it was a terrifying experience. I doubt he will ever recover from it.

 
 
scared / scary
 
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scary is the adjective relating to things or situations; scared the adjective
relating to how people feel. scary and frightening express similar levels of fear
or worry:
 
being alone in a cave with five thousand bats was scary.

I felt scared when night fell and I was nowhere near human habitation.