a study on synantic functions of adjectives english as the topic for our team research with the hope that learners could know more about the use

- In “Complete English Grammar Rules”: adjectives are used almost exclusively to modify nouns, as well as any phrase or parts of speech functioning as a noun.. Restrictive adjectives he

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 Adjective 2.1 Definition 2.2 Form of adjective 2.3 Classification of adjective 2.4 Syntactic function of adjective 2.4.1 Pre- modifier and post- modifier 2.4.2 Complement both Cs and Co

2.4.3 Adjective function as a head of a noun phrase

2.4.4 Supplementive adjective clause 2.4.5 Exclamatory adjective sentences

III Conclusion

I Introduction

Nowadays, English is the most widely used in the world and plays an important role together with the development of society and technologies English is not only the effective means of communication but also show its progressive effects in many aspects of life It is widely used in all fields of life such as:

economics, politics, tourism and international conferences that is why teaching and learning English have become a great demand of many people

Realizing the importance of English, Vietnamese learners have been studying English both young and old To be knowlegde about English is significant in the integration process into WTO

There are many reasons why English can be hard to learn For one, English is a very concise language, which can make it difficult to understand the meaning

of what is being said Additionally, English has a lot of irregular verbs, which can trip up learners Lastly, the pronunciation of English can be difficult to master, as there are many different ways to say the same thing

The English language is regarded as one of the most difficult languages to learn It is determined by the language in which you speak Here are some of the common reasons why people find it difficult to learn English The English language is littered with inconsistent and illogical statements It can be difficult

to adjust to complex rules and exceptions that may arise in the English language when learning English for the first time Because the words sound right to them, native speakers know how to order them

In order to learn English well and understand it deeply It is very difficult We can not only learn its basic rules of grammar but also study all of its aspects

Grammar is often hard because it is a complex system of rules that govern how language should be used English grammar has many different parts in which

adjectives play a very impotant role However, many people do not focus on synantic functions of adjectives, which makes people difficult to understand

Thus, I decided to choose “a study on synantic functions of adjectives English

As the topic for our team research with the hope that learners could know more about the use of function of adjectives in the learning process

II Development

1 Parts of speech +) The parts of speech are the primary categories of words according to their function in a sentence

+) English has ten main parts of speech +) However, according to “Lecture on Grammar” parts of speech has 2 items:

1.1 Open class items: N, Adv, Adj, V +) It conveys content words (lexical meaning) +) There are too many of them, so we can never count them, it means the member of this class is unlimited

+) Two members can go together, it means the member of this class do not exclude each other

+) We can create new members Ex:

Act (v) school-girl-> N Action (n) well-educated->adj

1.2 Closed system items: preposition, demonstrative, article, interjection, conjunction, pronoun

+) It conveys function words

+) We can count them, it means the members of this class is limited +) Two members can not go together, it means the members of this class exclude the other

+) We never create new members

Ex: A table: a (indefinite, specific, generic, one)=> definite meaning the

table a/this/my book.

+) It is clearly defined in contrast with one another (grammatical meaning)

2 Adjective

2.1 Definition

Adjective is very common word-formation process English There are many different definitions for adjective:

- L.G Alexander Longman English Grammar: an adjective describes the person,

thing, etc which a noun refers to we use adjectives to say what a person, etc is like or seems like for example, adjectives can give us information about: quality, size, age, temperature, shape, colour, origin

- In “Complete English Grammar Rules”: adjectives are used almost exclusively to

modify nouns, as well as any phrase or parts of speech functioning as a noun

- Eastwood, J Oxford Guide to English Grammar: adjectives are words like short,

old, cheap, happy, nice, electric Most adjectives express quality; they tell us what something is like

An adjective always has the same form, except for comparison

- Lectures on Grammar collected and edited by Nguyen Thanh Minh: an adjective

is a word belonging to an open class which generally denotes quality: good, hot, little, young, fat, etc; colour: black, white, etc Or shape: square, round,…

Though studying the concept of adjectives as above, we found that the concept of lecture on grammar is the most comprehensive and easy to understand It not only reflects the function of adjectives to indicate the quality and characteristics of things and events, but also helps us to know that adjectives are from the open class item From there, we can easily learn and apply adjectives in learning, researching and communicating accurately and naturally

2.2 Forms: no agreement with nouns

2.4.6 Simple adjectives (root): good, big, long, rich, nice,…

2.4.7 Derived adjectives: prefix or suffix + root

Beauty(n)=> beautiful (a) 2.4.8 Compound adjectives: root+root : good-looking, kind-hearted, well-done,

… 2.4.9 Adjective phrases: a six year old boy

2.4.10 Ns as adjective: a silver cup

2.4.11 Participle as adjectives;

-Ing part: characteristics, features, functions, quality of the noun -ed part: affected or attitude to something

Ex: this film is very interesting

We are interested in this film

2.4.12 Adverbs as adjectives: the up train, the above statement

2.5 Classification

2.5.1 According to syntactic function: central, attributive, predicative

- Central adjectives can function both attributively and predicatively Ex: a hungry

man-the man is hungry

- Attributive adjectives can be attributive only Ex: an utter fool

- Predicative adjectives can be predicative only

Ex: he is afraid to do it

2.5.2 Semantic sub-classification:

- Stative/dynamic adjectives :

+) Stative : good, old, beautiful,etc

+) Dynamic: ambitious, careful, careless, etc

- Gradable/non-gradable adjectives:

+) Gradable: very young, extremely useful, etc

+) Non-gradable: atomic, hydrochloric

2.6 Syntactic functions of adjectives

There are 5 functions of adjectives:

2.6.1 Pre-modifier and post-modifier:

*Pre-modifier:

+) Attributive adjectives are adjectives that describe a characteristic (or attribute) of the noun or pronoun that they modify They form part of a noun phrase, appearing immediately before (or sometimes after) the noun in

a sentence

Ex: the beautiful painting, his main argument, etc.

+) Attributive adjectives can be either restrictive or non-restrictive

Restrictive adjectives help establish the identity of the noun or pronoun being modified, while non-restrictive adjectives simply help describe a noun that is already clearly identified Note the difference between these two sentences:

• “She was emotional, and would avoid a sad film at all costs.”

• “Titanic was a sad film that no viewer could finish with dry eyes.” In the first

sentence, sad is restrictive: it tells us what kind of films she avoids

In the second sentence, sad is non-restrictive We already know that Titanic

is the film in question; the adjective sad simply serves to describe it further

+) In simple sentences, attributive adjectives usually occur before the noun

they modify, like in our first example, “The black dog is barking.”

Adjectives in this position are known as prepositive or prenominal adjectives While most attributive adjectives can also occur as predicative adjectives after the noun, there are a number of specific adjectives which

can only occur before the noun they modify Some of these are: main,

former, and mere.

✔ “The main idea is at the beginning of the paragraph.” (correct)

✖ “The idea at the beginning of the paragraph is main.” (incorrect)

Another adjective that only occurs attributively before the noun is the word utter, which provides heavy emphasis to the noun it modifies:

✔ “The dress was in utter ruin.” (correct) ✖ “The ruin was utter.” (incorrect)

+) Attributive adjectives almost always appear postpositively when they modify indefinite pronouns, such as someone, anyone, nobody, anyone, etc For example:

• “I wish I could find somebody perfect for the job.”

• “We can give these jeans to anybody tall.”

*Post-modifier:

+) Adjectives can sometimes be postpositive, ie they can sometimes follow the item they modify A postposed adjective (together with any comple-mentation it may have) can usually be regarded as a reduced relative clause

Indefinite pronouns ending in -body, -one, -thing, -where can be modi-fied

only postpositively:

Ex: I want to try on something larger {ie ‘which is larger’)

+) Postposition is obligatory for a few adjectives, which have a different sense when they occur attributively or predicatively The most common are

probably elect (‘soon to take office’) and proper (‘as strictly defined’), as in the president elect the City of London proper

+) In several compounds (mostly legal or quasi-legal) the adjective is

post-posed, the most common being : attorney general, body politic, court

martial, heir apparent, notary public (AmE), postmaster general.

+) Postposition On preference to attributive position) is usual for a few

a-adjectives and for absent, present, and (esp BrE) concerned, involved,

which normally do not occur attributively in the relevant sense:

The house ablaze is next door to mine The people involved were not found +) Some postposed adjectives, especially those ending in -able or -ible,

retain the basic meaning they have in attributive position but convey the implication that what they are denoting has only a temporary

application Thus, the stars visible refers to stars that are visible at a time specified or implied, while the visible stars refers to a category of stars

that can (at appropriate times) be seen

2.2.2 complement- both Cs and Co +) A predicative adjective (or simply “predicate adjective”) is used in the predicate of a clause to describe either the subject of the clause or the direct object of a verb

Ex: The children were soon asleep Not the asleep children

+) Some words with the prefix “a”: asleep, awake, afraid, ashamed, alone, alike

Ex: These are stimulants that can keep you awake

+) Some words expressing feelings: pleased, glad, content, upset.

Ex: I am glad to meet you.

+) Some words to do with health: well, fine, ill, unwell

Ex: I am fine.

+) Many adjectives used predicatively may be followed by prepositions:

Ex: He is capable of managing well.

2.2.2.1 Predicative adjective can be a subject complement:

+) Predicative adjectives that describe the subject of the clause will follow

a linking verb In such cases, they are known as subject complements For example:

Here, “nice” describes the subject “you,” while “old” describes the subject “he.”

+) Note that adjectives appearing immediately before the noun they are describing are known as attributive adjectives For example:

• “The old man seems nice.”

“Old” is an attributive adjective that describes the subject, “man.” “Nice”

also describes “man,” but it is a predicative adjective because it follows the linking verb “seems.”

Ex: The children were noisy and naughty.

In the example, noisy and naughty function as predicative adjectives, they both qualify children and complete the predications begun by the verb

were Ex: Your suspicions seem to be unfounded.

In example, the infinitive to be unfunded functions as a predicative adjective, it both qualifies suspicions and completes the predication begun

by the verb seemed

2.2.2.2 Predicative adjectives can be a object complement:

+) Predicative adjectives can also describe the direct object of non-linking verbs In this case, such adjectives function as object

complements For example:

• “All that training made me stronger.”

The predicative adjectives here are describing (complementing) the direct objects of the verbs, rather than the subjects of the sentences

“Red” describes the noun “door” (not the subject, “they”), while

“stronger” describes the pronoun “me” (not the subject, “training”)

Ex: The situation made Mr Hardy courageous and even a bit daring.

In sentence, courageous and daring functions as predicative adjectives, they both qualify Mr Hardy and complete the predication begun by the

verb made They are objective complement Ex: The jury found him guilty.

In example, guilty is a predicative adjective, it both qualifies him and completes the predicative begun by the verb found, so guilty is an objective complement

2.3.3 Adjective can function as head of a noun phrase

+) Adjective can function as head of noun phrase and can be subject, of the sentence , object, complement or complement of preposition As a result,

do not inflect for number or genitive case, and they must take a definitive determine We can not usually leave out a noun after an adjective

For example: Poor little boy not poor little In the example, poor little

has meaningless,non-sense so reader can not understand There are some

exceptions,there are three types of adjectives that function without noun , that are adjectives functioning as head of noun phrase

2.3.3.1 Well-known groups +) Adjectives belonging to well-known group are adjectives expressing

some group of people in society The form the+adjective used to discuss

certain well-known groups of people in society especially people in a particular physical or social condition such as: the blind,the dead, the handicapped, the jobless, the mentally ill, the old, the poor, the rich, the

unemployed,the young, the sick…For example: she is collecting money for

the blind In the example , it means that he is collecting money for the blind’

people or all blind people in general It does not refer to just one person or to

a small group It can not denote one person the blind man , the blind woman

It is often capable of adding a general word for human beings likes people

In which case, people normally omitted and the use of the blind as head of the noun phrase or without noun

+) The meaning of well-known groups is usually general, sometimes a more

limited group is referred to,for instance:After the accident, the injured were

take to hospital In the example, the injured does not mean general,but it

refers to a limited group,that is the injured people in the accident,but such as the injured people in the war,fighting Note that these expressions can not be used with a possessives The problems the poor or poor people’s problem is not correct grammatically

+) Some adjectives used without the as head of a noun phrase in paired

structures with and or…or, for example: Opportunities for both the rich and

the poor In the example, the rich and the poor express the rich people and the

poor people in general From the above point , it is a very common knowledge that adjectives use as head of a noun phrase NP heads normally need a definite determiner, they are absolutely able to without a determine if they are linked

So it is the reason that opportunities for both the rich and the