A study on the adjective group denoting the beauty in english with reference to vietnamese (based on the bilingual novel the thorn bird)

i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY A STUDY ON THE ADJECTIVE GROUP DENOTING THE BEAUTY IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE BASED ON THE BILINGUAL NOVEL “

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

A STUDY ON THE ADJECTIVE GROUP DENOTING THE BEAUTY IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE ( BASED ON THE BILINGUAL NOVEL “ THE THORN BIRD‟)

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC TÍNH TỪ MIÊU TẢ VẺ ĐẸP TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ CÁC TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT ( DỰA TRÊN TÁC PHẨM ― TIẾNG CHIM HÓT TRONG BỤI MẬN GAI‖)

M.A THESIS Field: English Language

Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2018

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A STUDY ON THE ADJECTIVE GROUP DENOTING THE BEAUTY IN ENGLISH WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE ( BASED ON THE BILINGUAL NOVEL “ THE THORN BIRD‟)

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC TÍNH TỪ MIÊU TẢ VẺ ĐẸP TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ CÁC TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT ( DỰA TRÊN TÁC PHẨM ― TIẾNG CHIM HÓT TRONG BỤI MẬN GAI‖)

Field: English Language

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Phan Văn Quế

Hanoi, 2018

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CIRTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award, the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date

of the approved research program; and ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to my family for their love, sharing and support Without their understanding of the sacrifices throughout these arduous years at Hanoi Open University, I would not have had the courage to accomplish this study Thank you

so much

The efforts, guidance, and support of my supervisor was immensely helpful and encouraging me much Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Quế was tireless, brave, thorough, and accommodating I acknowledge the works and the lectures of lecturers at Hanoi Open University Through your constructive criticisms, excellent methodological reviews, and insistence on the rubric, these distinguished university members influenced the quality of this graduation thesis positively

My appreciation goes to reviewers/inspectors for their excellent works

on editing and ensuring that this work met the high standard of Hanoi Open University

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ABSTRACT

The features of adjective groups has been one of the big concern for learners of linguistics as well as the researchers especially translators who are interested in masterpieces such as ―The Thorn Bird‖ by Colleen McCullough Some studies have been conducted on the similarities and differences of adjective and adjective groups in English and their Vietnamese equivalents but never before has a study on English adjective groups denoting beauty of a specific novel been done This study aims to research on the syntactic and semantic features of English group denoting beauty and their Vietnamese equivalents of the novel ―The Thorn Bird‖ by Colleen McCullough The preliminary results of the study show that there are some similarities and differences in the syntactic and semantic features of English adjective group denoting beauty and their Vietnamese equivalents The conclusion can also be drawn that better ways to teach and learn English Australian literature through understanding about English adjective and adjective phrases can be found and applied into the class lessons Following the brief introduction of the novel and English adjective , some findings will also be presented

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LIST OF TABLES

1 Table 4 1: APDP as Noun Phrase Modifiers and Their Vietnamese

Equivalents……… 36

2 Table 4 2: APDP as predicate adjective and Their Vietnamese………37

3 Table 4 3: APDP as Objective Complement and Their Vietnamese Equivalents……… 38

4 Table 4 4 List of adjectives used to denote beauty in the ―Thorn Bird‖… 49

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Scope of the study 2

1.6 Significance of the study 2

1.7 Design of the study 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Previous studies 4

2.2 Theoretical background 4

2.2.1 English Syntax 4

2.2.1.1 Sentence and clause 4

2.2.1.2 Canonical and non-canonimalclause 5

2.2.1.3 Initial listening of the parts of speech 6

2.2.1.4 Phrases 7

2.2.1.5 The structure of canonical clause 8

2.2.1.5.1 Subject and Predicate 8

2.2.1.5.2 Predicators, Complements and Adjuncts 9 2.2.1.5.3 Object and Predicative Complement 10

2.2.1.5.4 Direct and Indirect Object 11

2.2.1.5.5 Subjective and Objective Predicative Complement 11

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2.2.1.5.6 Five Canonical Clause Structure 11

2.2.1.5.7 Prepositional and Clausal Complements 12

2.2.2 English Semantics 13

2.2.2.1 Defination 13

2.2.2.2 What is the meaning? 14

2.2.2.3 Words and meaning 15

2.2.2.4 Sense and Referent 16

2.2.2.5 Reference 16

2.2.2.6 Speaker's meaning and Semantic meaning 19

2.2.2.7 Different aspects of meaning of a word 21

2.2.3 Enlish adjective 21

2.2.3.1 What is an adjective? 21

2.2.3.2 Semantic features of English adjectives 22

2.2.3.2.1 Stative and dynamic adjectives 23

2.2.3.2.2 Gradable and non- gradable adjectives 23

2.2.3.2.3 Inherent and non- inherent 24

2.2.3.3 Syntactic functions of English adjectives 27

2.2.3.3.1 Attributive adjective 27

2.2.3.3.2 Predicative adjectives 29

2.2.3.3.3 Adjectives function as head of a noun phrase 31

2.2.3.3.3.1 Well- known groups 31

2.2.3.3.3.2 Adjectives referring to abstract ideas 32

2.2.3.3.3.3 Supplementative adjective clauses 33

2.2.3.3.3.4 Exclamatory adjective sentence 35

2.2.4 Adjectives denoting “ Beauty” 36

2.2.4.1 Defining ―Beauty‖ 36

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2.2.4.2 Adjectives denoting ― Beauty‖ in English 37

2.2.5 Introduction of the " Thorn Bird" 38 2.2.6 Summary of the chapter 43

4.1 Syntactic features of adjective group denoting beauty of the Thorn Bird in

4.1.1 Adjective/ Adjective phrases as Noun Phrase Modifiers 51 4.1.2 Adjective/ Adjective phrases as Predicate Adjectives 51 4.1.3 Adjective/ Adjective phrases as Object Complements 52

4.2 Semantic features of adjective group denoting beauty in the “The Thorn Bird” in English and their Vietnamese equivalents 53

4.2.1 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of the human beings 53 4.2.1.1 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of Fiona 53 4.2.1.2 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of Meggie 54 4.2.1.3 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of Ralph 55

4.2.1.4 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of Luke 57 4.2.1.5 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of Dan 58 4.2.1.6 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of Justine 59

4.2.2 Adjective/ Adjective phrases denoting beauty of the nature 59

4.2.3 Adjectives denoting “Beauty” are used in “The Thorn Bird” in

5.3.1 Implication on the language teaching and learning 68

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study

At the every corner of the world, all the languages are continuously fulfilling their major duties- conveying the human being‘s messages, the cultural values, the customs, the tradition or their own nationality Besides, it can be said that all the hidden beauty or charm of those countries and humans have been reserved and expressed through the languages especially the masterpieces of literatures such as novels, short stories …etc and when these are translated into other languages, their own beauty is almost denoted by the native language but keep the original purposes by using the suitable translation techniques as well as understanding about the ways how languages are used grammatically and linguistically The novel ―The Thorn Bird‖ is one of those novels which has been in favored by many Vietnamese readers

But for the effort of the writer and the translators, not only the life style and bravery of Australian immigrants but also the beauty of Australian human beings and nature, landscape could not have been described so breathtakingly and impressively without the presence of adjective and adjective phrases, which make the novel is one of the masterpiece of the modern literature

Along with noun phrases, the adjective phrases are considered as the most important issue in linguistic study They modify, describe and give more information about the subjects Without them, it is impossible to understand the characteristics of the information or enjoy the beauty of the language as well the hidden beauty of the countries, people which are described

All the above reasons have inspired me to choose the title of my thesis

paper: “A study on adjective group denoting beauty in English with reference

to the Vietnamese (base on the bilingual novel „The Thorn Bird‟)” with the

hope to understand clearly about English adjective phrases and their Vietnamese

equivalence

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study is conducted to understand about the syntactic and semantic features English adjective denoting beauty in the novel ―The Thorn Bird‖ and their Vietnamese equivalence The finding s of the study, to some extent, helps the

What are the Vietnamese equivalents of adjectives denoting the beauty

in the Vietnamese translated version?

1.4 Methods of the study

The study is mainly carried out through documentary analysis and descriptive study with the support of descriptive research and contractive analysis The data is quantitatively analyzed in terms of the frequencies of using adjective phrases to describe beauty and techniques used to translate these phrases With the

help of contrastive approach, the Vietnamese equivalents can be found out

1.5 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and ability of the researcher, the data served for this study is collected mainly from the novel The Thorn Bird

1.6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the research results will confirm the importance of the theory of English adjective and adjective phrases in general, and the syntactic and semantic features of English adjective denoting beauty of ―The Thorn Bird‖

Practically, the findings of the research are applied to analyze, evaluates and compare English adjective denoting beauty and Vietnamese equivalents

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1.7 Design of the study

The present study consists of five chapters, in addition to the appendices and the references:

Chapter 1: Introduction: presents rationale, aim of study, significance of the study,

scope of the study, method of the study and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review: displays the theoretical background on adjective,

semantic functions and syntactic functions of adjective

Chapter 3: Methodology: this chapter is conducted with a view to outlining the

methods that are used in this thesis paper It consists of two sections: research design and methodology and research procedures

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion: gives a detailed presentation of data and

detailed description of data analysis This focuses on presenting, analyzing and discussion the results obtained from the study based on the questionnaires

Chapter 5: Conclusion: is a review of the study and points out implications for the

improvement, its limitations and suggestions for future research

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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Previous studies

The prosperity of language in form and content not only has the beauty

of language but also deeply contributes to successful daily communications Every language in the world has large numbers of adjectives Indeed, adjective always takes an important role in enriching language by its abundance and potentially descriptive qualities and characteristics In English, the adjective is multi – functional It is used essentially to describe an object but, in general, it is meant to enrich and clarify ideas and lead the interlocutors to communicate eloquently Being aware of the important role of adjectives denoting ― Beauty‖ in daily communication in society as well as teaching and learning languages, many researchers have taken studies on adjectives denoting in various field such as syntax, semantics and translation, etc

In fact, Adjective and adjective phrases are the ones whose frequency of use is high This can be proved that they can be found in almost of every sentence

of whatever length (Huddleston and Pullum [7]) Moreover, they can be found in

Basic English Grammar by Sargeant, H (2007)[13], Modern English Grammar by Kies, D (1995) [9], A University Grammar of English by Quirk, R and Greenbaun, S (1978)[17], Longman English Grammar by Alexander, L.G (1992) [1], English Grammar by Sargeant, H (2007)[14]

In addition, in Vietnam only some studies were conducted on English

adjective phrases such as ―An investigation into Intensification of Adjectives in English and Vietnamese‖ by Lam Thuy Dung [4]

2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.1 English Syntax

This is a brief introduction to syntax, the study of the structure of sentences It introduces the most important basic concepts, syntactic phenomena and argumentation

2.2.1.1 Sentence and Clause

There are two main types of sentence: a clausal sentence, which has the form of a single clause, and a compound sentence, which has the form of two or

more coordinated clauses, usually joined by a coordinator(such as and, or, but):

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[1] i Sue went to London last week [Clausal sentence]

ii Sue went to London last week and her father went with her

[Compound sentence]

Note that such an example as We stayed at the hotel which you recommended is also a clausal sentence even though it contains two clauses This is

because one clause, which you recommended, is part of the other, rather than

separate from it (more specifically, the which you recommended is part of the noun phrase the hotel which you recommended); the larger clause is thus We stayed at the hotel which you recommended, and this does constitute the whole sentence, like that

in [i]

The fact that the two types of sentence are distinguished in terms of clauses implies that we take the clause to be a more basic unit than the sentence, which reflects the fact that in speech it tends to be more difficult to determine the boundaries between sentences than the boundaries between clauses

2.2.1.2 Canonical and non-canonical clauses

It can be described that the structure of clauses is the most economical if the most basic and elementary kinds of clause can be distinguished, which is called

call canonical clauses, and the rest The idea is that we can present the analysis

more clearly if we begin with canonical clauses, describing them directly, and then deal in turn with the various kinds of non-canonical clause, describing these indirectly, in terms of how they differ from canonical clauses

The following paired examples will give some idea of what is involved in this distinction:

[2] Canonical Non-canonical

i a She has read your article b She hasn't read your article

ii a Sue is coming for dinner b Is Sue coming for dinner?

iii a They knew the victim b She said that they knew the victim

iv a He missed the train b Either he missed the train or it is late

v a The secretary took the key b The key was taken by the secretary

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These illustrate the following properties of canonical clauses:

They are positive; negative clauses like [ib] are non-canonical

They are declarative; interrogatives like [iib] are non-canonical, as are the

other clause types: imperatives (e.g Please stand up) and exclamatives (What a

fool I've been)

They are main clauses; the underlined clause in [iiib] is subordinate and

hence non-canonical

They are non-coordinate; the two underlined clauses in [ivb]

are coordinated and hence each of them is non-canonical

They are active; passive clauses like [vb] are non-canonical This is a matter

of information packaging and we can say, more generally, that canonical clauses

package the information in the grammatically most basic way Thus I have now read most of them is canonical but Most of them I have now read is not

There are two further points that should be made at this point

(a) In all the above examples the non-canonical clauses differ in their structure from canonical clauses, but this is not always so In [iiib] the subordinate

clause is introduced by that but we could omit this, giving she said they knew the victim, where the underlined clause is identical with [iiia]; nevertheless it is still

subordinate and hence non-canonical It is subordinate by virtue of being

Complement of the verb said, but the subordination happens not to be marked in the

internal grammatical structure of the clause itself

(b) A clause is non-canonical if it lacks at least one of the above properties It

may of course lack more than one of them Thus wasn’t the key taken by the secretary? has three non-canonical properties: it is negative, interrogative and

passive In the discussion below we will take the non-canonical properties in turn with the understanding that they can combine

2.2.1.3 Initial listing of the parts of speech

There are nine primary word classes, or parts of speech, to use the traditional

term In this overview we needn't worry about interjections (wow, ah, hello, and the

like), which leaves us with eight classes They are named and exemplified in [3]:

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[3] i Verb He is ill She left early We want to help

ii Noun The dog barked Sue won easily I love you

iii Adjective He's very young I've got a sore knee It looks easy

iv Adverb She spoke clearly You're extremely fit He works very hard

v Determinative The dog barked I've got a sore knee We need some milk

vi Preposition He's in the garden It's from your uncle We went to Paris vii Coordinator We saw Kim and Pat Hurry or we'll be late It's

cheap but good

viii Subordinator I know that it's true Ask whether it's true I

wonder if it's true

Note that we use `determinative' as the name of a class and `Determiner' as the name of a function; ]we need to invoke the class vs function distinction here to

cater for the construction illustrated in the doctor's car Here the doctor's has the same function, Determiner, as the in the car, but it is not a word and hence not a

determinative: as far as its class is concerned it's a noun phrase

The above scheme differs from that of traditional grammar in three respects:

We take pronouns to be a subclass of nouns, not a distinct primary class Traditional grammars generally take our determinatives to be a subclass of

adjectives, though some recognise a class of articles consisting of the and a Our determinative class is much larger, containing not just the and a, but also words like some, any, all, each, every, no, etc.; these are very different from words like

those underlined in [iii]

We have coordinator and subordinator as distinct primary classes, whereas traditional grammar has a primary class of conjunctions subdivided into coordinating and subordinating conjunctions

2.2.1.4 Phrases

For each of the first six of the word classes in [3] there is a corresponding class of phrases whose Head belongs to that class In the following examples, the phrase is enclosed in brackets and the Head underlined:

iv Adverb-phrase I spoke [too soon]

It's [quite extraordinarily] good

v Determinative phrase I saw [almost every] card

We've [very little] money left

vi Preposition phrase They're [in the garden] He wrote a

book [on sharks]

2.2.1.5 The structure of canonical clauses

2.2.1.5.1 Subject and Predicate

A canonical clause consists of a Subject followed by a Predicate The Predicate is realised by a verb phrase; the Subject is mostly realised by a noun phrase, but there are other possibilities too, most importantly a subordinate clause:

[5] Subject Predicate

i One of his friends | called a doctor [noun phrase as Subject]

ii That he was lying | was obvious [subordinate clause as

Subject]

In canonical clauses describing an action the Subject will be associated with the semantic role of actor, or agent, as in [5i] But many clauses don't express

actions: we heard an explosion, for example, describes a sensory experience, and

here the Subject is associated with the role of experiencer There are numerous different kinds of semantic role that can be associated with the Subject: what the role is in a particular instance will depend on the meaning of the clause, especially

of the verb

Meaning therefore does not provide a reliable way of identifying the Subject But this function has a good few distinctive grammatical properties which together generally make it easy to identify Here are some of them

of do In either case the Subject ends up following the auxiliary verb:

[6] Declarative Interrogative

i a The boss is in her office b Is the boss in her office?

ii a Everyone signed the petition b Did everyone sign the petition?

(c) Interrogative tags To seek confirmation of a statement you can add an interrogative tag, consisting of an auxiliary verb and a personal pronoun Subject

which relates back to the Subject of the clause to which the tag is attached: The boss is in her office, isn't she?; Everyone signed the petition, didn't they?

(d) Subject-verb agreement, Where the verb has person-number properties

(in the present tense and the past tense of be), they are normally determined by

agreement with the Subject:

[7] a Her son plays the piano b Her sons play the piano

2.2.1.5.2 Predicator, Complements and Adjuncts

At the next layer of structure below the Predicate we distinguish three functions The Predicator is the function filled by the verb The verb is the Head of the verb phrase, and Predicator is the special term used for the Head of the verb

phrase forming the Predicate of a clause Thus in [7b] play the piano is a verb phrase functioning as Predicate while play is a verb functioning as Predicator

Complement and Adjunct are different kinds of Dependent, distinguished by

the licensing condition Complements can occur only if they are licensed by the

Head verb: the verb must belong to a subclass that permits (or requires) a Complement of the type in question Adjuncts are not subject to this restriction Compare:

[8] I mowed the lawn before it started to rain

Here the lawn is admissible because the verb mow (unlike disappear, for

example) allows a Dependent of this kind, so the lawn is a Complement But a

[9] i She spoke very clearly [adverb phrase as Adjunct of manner]

ii As a result of his action, he was fired [prep phrase as Adjunct of reason] iii We cycle to work to save the bus fare [subordinate clause as Adjunct

of purpose]

iv They left the country last week [noun phrase as Adjunct of time]

2.2.1.5.3 Object and Predicative Complement

Two important subtypes of Complement are the Object and the Predicative Complement:

[10] a Object: Ed blamed the minister

b Predicative Comp: Ed was a minister

While thousands of verbs license an Object, only a fairly small number

license a Predicative Complement, and of these be is by far the most common:

others include become, remain, appear, seem, etc The term `Predicative

Complement' is most easily understood by reference to the construction with be: the

verb has little meaning here (it is often called just a `linking verb'), so that the main semantic content of the Predicate is expressed by the Complement

There are several grammatical properties that distinguish Objects from Predicative Complements, of which the two most important ones are illustrated in [11]:

[11] i a Ed blamed the minister [Object] b The minister was blamed by Ed

ii a Ed was a minister [Pred Comp] b *A minister was been by Ed iii a Ed was innocent [Pred Comp] b *Ed blamed innocent

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The Object of an active clause can usually become the Subject of a corresponding passive clause, but a Predicative Complement never can Thus the Object of active [ia] corresponds to the Subject of passive [ib], whereas [iib] is not a possible passive version of [iia] (Here and below the asterisk indicates that what follows is ungrammatical.)

A Predicative Complement can be realised not only by a noun phrase, as in [iia], but also by an adjective phrase, as in [iiia], whereas an Object cannot be realised by an adjective phrase, as evident from the ungrammaticality of [iiib]

2.2.1.5.4 Direct and Indirect Object

A clause may contain two Objects, distinguished as Direct and Indirect In canonical clauses, the Indirect Object always precedes the Direct Object, and typically (but not invariably) is associated with the semantic role of recipient or beneficiary:

[12] i He gave the prisoner some water [Indirect Object (recipient) + Direct

Object]

ii She baked me a cake [Indirect Object (beneficiary) + Direct Object]

2.2.1.5.5 Subjective and Objective Predicative Complements

The Predicative Complements in [10b] and [11iia/iiia] are related to the Subject, but it is also possible for a Predicative Complement to be related to the Object: we accordingly distinguish two subtypes, Subjective and Objective Compare:

[13] Subjective Pred Comp Objective Pred Comp

i a He became angry b This made him angry

ii a He was a charlatan b They considered him a charlatan

2.2.1.5.6 Five canonical clause structures

On the basis of the presence or absence of the Complement types considered

so far we can distinguish the following canonical clause structures:

[14] Example Structure Name

i They disappeared S-P (Ordinary) intransitive

ii They were ecstatic S-P-PCs Complex-intransitive

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iii They bought a house S-P-Od (Ordinary) monotransitive

iv They kept it warm S-P-Od-PCo Complex-transitive

v They sent her some flowers S-P-Oi-Od Ditransitive

In the representations of the structures, S stands for Subject, P for Predicator,

PCs for Subjective Predicative Complement, Od for Direct Object, PCo for Objective Predicative Complement, and Oi for Indirect Object The names reflect the fact that there are two dimensions of contrast:

One has to do with Objects: an intransitive clause has no Object, a monotransitive clause has a single Object, and a ditransitive clause has two Objects The other has to with Predicative Complements: if a clause contains a Predicative Complement it is complex, otherwise ordinary, though the latter term is often omitted (as it is in [v], since there is no possibility of adding a Predicative Complement to a ditransitive clause)

The names apply in the first instance to the clause constructions, and then

derivatively to the verbs that appear in these constructions Thus disappear is an (ordinary) intransitive verb, be a complex-intransitive one, and so on But it must be

borne in mind that the majority of verbs can appear in more than one of them, and

hence belong to more than one class Find, for example, commonly appears in [iii]

(We found the key), [iv] (We found her co-operative), and [v] (We found her a job)

2.2.1.5.7 Prepositional and clausal Complements

The Complements considered so far have been noun phrases or adjective phrases, but these are not the only possibilities Complements often have the form

of preposition phrases or subordinate clauses:

[15] i a She went to Paris b She took him to Paris

ii a She relied on her instinct b He congratulated her on her promotion iii a He said he was sorry b He told her he was sorry

iv a We intend to leave on Tuesday b I advise you to leave on Tuesday

In the [a] examples here the underlined preposition phrase ([i-ii]) or subordinate clause ([iii-iv]) is the only Complement, while in the [b] ones it follows

an Object We look at different kinds of subordinate clause in Section13, but there

is one point to be made here about the prepositional constructions In [i] to contrasts

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with other prepositions such as over, from, via, beyond, etc., but in [ii] on is selected

by the verb: any adequate dictionary will tell you (if only by example)

that rely takes a Complement with on, consist with of, refer with to, and so on

Verbs like these that take as Complement a preposition phrase headed by some specified preposition are called `prepositional verbs' Most ditransitive verbs also belong to this latter class by virtue of licensing a preposition phrase

with to or for instead of the Indirect Object: compare He gave some water to the prisoner and She baked a cake for me with [12] above

2.2.2 English Semantics

Semantics is the study of meaning Seen by Breal, in the late 19th century, as an emerging science (French, ―semantique‖) opposed to phonetics (―phonetique‖) as a science of sounds: similarly for Bloomfield in 1930, it was a field covering, as one account of meaningful forms, and the lexicon Also seen more narrowly, in a traditional lasting into the 1960s, as the study of meaning in the lexicon alone, including changes in word meaning Later, in accounts in which the study of distribution was divorced from that of meanings, opposed either to grammar in general; or, within grammar and especially within a generative grammar from the 1960s onwards, to syntax specifically Of the uses current at the beginning of the 21st century, many restrict semantics to the study of meaning is abstraction from the contexts in which words and sentences are uttered: in opposition, therefore, to pragmatics Others include pragmatics as one of its branches In others its scope is in practice very narrow: thus one handbook of

―contemporary semantic theory‖, in the mid-1990s deals almost solely with problems in formal semantics, even the meanings of lexical units being neglected II

2.2.2.1 Definition

Semantics is the study of meaning in language It is known that language

is used to express meanings which can be understood by others But meanings exist

in our minds and we can express what is in our minds through the spoken and written forms of language (as well as through gestures, action etc.) The sound patterns of language are studied at the level of phonology and the organization of words and sentences is studied at the level of morphology and syntax These are in turn organized in such a way that we can convey meaningful messages or receive and understand messages „How is language organized in order to be meaningful?‟

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This is the question we ask and attempt to answer at the level of semantics Semantics is that level of linguistic analysis where meaning is analyzed It is the most abstract level of linguistic analysis, since we cannot see or observe meaning as

we can observe and record sounds Meaning is related very closely to the human capacity to think logically and to understand So when we try to analyze meaning,

we are trying to analyze our own capacity to think and understand our own ability to create meaning Semantics concerns itself with „giving a systematic account of the nature of meaning‟ (Leech, 1981)

2.2.2.2 What is meaning?

Philosophers have puzzled over this question for over 2000 years Their thinking begins from the question of the relationship between words and the objects which words represent For example, we may ask: What is the meaning of the word

„cow‟? One answer would be that it refers to an animal who has certain properties, that distinguish it from other animals, who are called by other names Where do these names come from and why does the word „cow‟ mean only that particular animal and none other? Some thinkers say that there is no essential connection between the word „cow‟ and the animal indicated by the word, but we have established this connection by convention and thus it continues to be so Others would say that there are some essential attributes of that animal which we perceive

in our minds and our concept of that animal is created for which we create a corresponding word According to this idea, there is an essential correspondence between the sounds of words and their meanings, e.g., the word „buzz‟ reproduces

„the sound made by a bee‟ It is easy to understand this, but not so easy to understand how „cow‟ can mean‟ a four-;egged bovine‟ – there is nothing in the sound of the word „cow‟ to indicate that, (Children often invent words that illustrate the correspondence between sound and meaning: they may call a cow

„moo-moo‟ because they hear it making that kind of sound.) The above idea that words in a language correspond to or stand for the actual objects in the world is found in Plato‟s dialogue Cratylus However, it applies only to some words and not

to others, for example, words that do not refer to objects, e.g „love‟, „hate‟ This fact gives rise to the view held by later thinkers, that the meaning of a word is not the object it refers to, but the concept of the object that exists in the mind Moreover, as de Saussure pointed out, the relation between the word (signifier) and the concept (signified) is an arbitrary one, i.e the word does not resemble the

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concept Also, when we try to define the meaning of a word we do so by using other words So, if we try to explain the meaning of „table‟ we need to use other words such as „four‟, „legs‟, and „wood‟ and these words in turn can be explained only

by means of other words In their book, The Meaning of Meaning (1923), C.K Ogden and I.A Richards made an attempt to define meaning When we use the word ―mean‖, we use it in different ways ―I mean to do this‖ is a way of expressing our intention „The red signal means stop‟ is a way of indicating what the red signal signifies Since all language consists of signs, we can say that every word is a sign indicating something-usually a sign indicates other signs Ogden and Richards give the following list of some definitions of „meaning‟ Meaning can be any of the following: 1 An intrinsic property of something 2 Other words related to that word

in a dictionary 3 The connotations of a word (that is discussed below) 4 The thing

to which the speaker of that word refers 5 The thing to which the speaker of that word should refer 6 The thing to which the speaker of that word believes himself to

be referring 7 The thing to which the hearer of that word believes is being referred

to These definitions refer to many different ways in which meaning is understood One reason for the range of definitions of meaning is that words (or signs) in a language are of different types Some signs indicate meaning in a direct manner, e.g an arrow (→) indicates direction Some signs are representative of the thing indicated, e.g onomatopoeic words such as „buzz‟, „tinkle‟, „ring‟; even „cough‟,

„slam‟, „rustle‟ have onomatopoeic qualities Some signs do not have any resemblance to the thing they refer to, but as they stand for that thin, they are symbolic

2.2.2.3 Words and meanings

―When I use a word‖, Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ―it means just what I choose it to mean neither more nor less‖ The question is‟ said Alice, „whether you can make words mean so many different things.‟ (Lewis Carroll Alice through the Looking Glass Macmillan 1871) We distinguish between a word and its meaning We will start with an ordinary word pen What does the word pen mean? Pen is a concept in your mind and you know a variety of facts about it – the fact that it is spelt ―pen‖, that it is a noun, and so on Let us make this word bold and call it pen The name of your concept for pen is just pen One other fact that you know about pen is that it means: „an apparatus for writing, This

is also part of your knowledge Therefore it must be another concept Now we have

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two concepts and it is essential to keep these concepts distinct, so we shall call this second concept „pen‟; i.e by single quotes In fact, when we use the word as a name for its meaning we are actually using it in the normal way That is what words are: names for their meanings So we could say pen mean „pen‟

2.2.2.4 Sense and referent

In the above discussion we assumed that the word pen always has the same meaning, namely „pen‟ To use a technical term, we could say pen has „pen‟

as its sense Now look at the following sentence: 1) Jack put his pen next to Bettye‘s pen What is the meaning of the word pen in this sentence? On the one hand we could agree that it has the same meaning each time it is used, but on the other hand

we would also agree that it is used to mean two different things, Jack‘s pen and Betty‘s pen Thus we are using the word meaning in two different ways When we agreed that both examples of pen have the same meaning we meant that they have the same sense But when we think of pen as meaning specifically Jack‘s pen we have a different kind of meaning in mind – something like ―the particular pen the speaker has in mind when saying that word.‖ There is a technical term which we could easily use for „having something particular in mind when saying a word‟, which is the verb refer This allows us to say that the speaker of (1) was referring to Jack‘s pen when saying his pen, but to Betty‘s when saying Betty‘s pen The thing referred to is called the word‘s referent, so the two pens in (1) have the same sense but different referents In short, we can recognize two parts to the meaning of a word like pen: its sense which lives permanently in the dictionary, and its referent, which varies from occasion to occasion

2.2.2.5 Reference

The study of reference, like the study of sense, can be divided into two areas: speaker-reference and linguistic-reference Speaker-reference is what the speaker is referring to by using some linguistic expression For example, if someone utters the sentence Here comes Queen Elizabeth facetiously, to refer to a snobbish acquaintance, then the speaker-reference of the expression Queen Elizabeth is the acquaintance Speaker-reference, because it varies according to the speaker and context, is outside the domain of semantics; instead it is part of pragmatics Linguistic-reference, on the other hand, is the systematic denotation of some linguistic expression as part of a language For example, the linguistic expression

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Queen Elizabeth in the sentence Here comes Queen Elizabeth refers in fact to the public figure Queen Elizabeth Linguistic-reference, in contrast to speaker-reference, is within the domain of semantics, since it deals with reference that is a systematic function of the language itself, rather than of the speaker and context Let‘s now consider some concepts that seem useful in thinking and talking about reference (referent, extension, prototype, and stereotype); then we will take a look at some different types of linguistic reference (co-reference, anaphora, and deixis) Referent- The entity identified by the use of a referring expression such as a noun or noun phrase is the referent of that expression If, for example, you point to a particular robin and say That bird looks sick, then the referent for the referring expression That bird is the particular robin you are pointing at Extension - Extension refers to the set of all potential referents for a referring expression For example, the extension of bird is the set of all entities (past, present, and future) that could systematically be referred to by the expression bird In other words, the extension of bird is the set of all birds Prototype A typical member of the extension of a referring expression is a prototype of that expression For example, a robin or a bluebird might be a prototype of bird; a pelican or an ostrich, since each

is somewhat atypical, would not be Stereotype A list of characteristics describing a prototype is said to be a stereotype For example, the stereotype of bird might be something like the following: has two legs and two wings, has feathers, is about six

to eight inches from head to tail, makes a chirping noise, lays eggs, builds nests, and

so on Co-reference Two linguistic expressions that refer to the same real-world entity are said to be co-referential Consider, for example, the sentence Jay Leno is the host of the Tonight Show The expression Jay Leno and The host of the Tonight Show are co-referential because they both refer to the same entity, namely the person Jay Leno Not, however, the co-referential expressions do not ―mean‖ the same thing; that is, they are not synonymous For example, before Jay Leno hosted the Tonight show, Johnny Carson held that position; thus, there was a period of time when Johnny Carson was co-referential with host of the tonight show However, we cannot describe Johnny Carson and Jay Leno as ―meaning‖ the same thing The fact that they are not synonymous is illustrated by the unacceptability of the sentence

*Jay Leno used to be Johnny Carson Anaphora A linguistic expression that refers

to another linguistic expression is said to be anaphoric or an anaphor Consider the sentence Mary wants to play whoever thinks himself capable of beating her In this

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sentence the linguistic expression himself necessarily refers to whoever; thus himself is being used anaphoric ally in this case Note, moreover, that it would be inaccurate to claim that whoever and himself are co-referential (i.e., that they have the same extra linguistic referent) This is because there may in fact not be anyone who thinks himself capable of beating Mary; that is, there may not be any extra linguistic referent for whoever and himself It is common, however, for co-reference and anaphora to coincide Consider, for example, the sentence The media reported that Congress voted themselves a raise The expressions Congress and themselves are co-referential since they refer to the same real-world entity, namely the legislative branch of the federal government At the same time, themselves is an anaphor since it necessarily refers to the expression congress Note that there is no reading of this sentence such that themselves can be construed as referring to the expression the media In sum, co-reference deals with the relation of a linguistic expression to some entity in the real world, past, present, or future; anaphora deals with the relation between two linguistic expressions Deixis (pronounced DIKE-sis)

A deictic expression has one meaning but can refer to different entities depending

on the speaker and his or her spatial and temporal orientation Obvious examples are expressions such as you and I, here and there, and right and left Assume, for instance, that Jack and Jill are speaking to each other face to face When Jack is speaking, I refers to Jack, and you refers to Jill When Jill is speaking, the referents for these expressions reverse Likewise, when Jack is speaking, here refers to a position near Jack, and there refers to a position near Jill When Jill speaks, the referents for these expressions reverse Similarly, right and left can refer to the same location, depending upon whether Jack or Jill is speaking; his left is her right, and vice versa Likewise, expressions such as Jack or Jill is speaking; his left is her right, and vice versa Likewise, expressions such as yesterday, today, and tomorrow are deitic Jack may say to Jill, Yesterday I told you I would pay you tomorrow, which is today Note, moreover, that deixis can intersect with anaphora Consider, for example, the sentence Members of Congress believe they deserve a raise The expression they can refer either to the expression members of Congress or to some other plural entity in the context of the utterance When, as in the first case, a pronoun refers to another linguistic expression, it is used anaphoric ally; when, as in the second case, it refers to some entity in the extra linguistic context, it is used deictically

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2.2.2.6 Speaker‟s meaning and semantic meaning

Everyone knows that language can be used to express meaning, but it is not easy to define meaning One problem is that there are several dimensions of meaning Imagine that I ask you, ―Can you give me an apple?‖ while looking at bowl of apples on the table beside you What I literally asked is whether you have the ability to give me an apple; this is the semantic meaning of what I said Sometimes people will make an annoying joke by responding only to the semantic meaning of such a question; they‘ll just answer, ―Yes, I can.‖ But what I almost certainly want is for you to give me one of the apples next to you, and I expect you

to know that this is what I want This speaker‘s meaning is what I intend to communicate, and it goes beyond the literal, semantic meaning of what I said Linguists study both semantic meaning and speaker‘s meaning Let‘s look at semantic meaning first To understand semantic meaning, we have to bring together three main components: the context in which a sentence is used, the meanings of the words in the sentence, and its morphological and syntactic structure For example, suppose you say to me: 1) My dog chased a cat under the house Because (1) contains the pronoun my, part of its meaning depends on the fact that you uttered it,

my refers to you So to some extent the semantic meaning of a sentence depends on the context of use – the situation in which the sentence was uttered, by a particular speaker, to a particular addressee, at a particular time, and so forth The semantic meaning of (1) also depends on the meanings of the individual words dog, chased,

a, cat, etc.; therefore, semantic meaning depends on the lexicon of English In addition, the morphological and syntactic structure of sentence (1) is crucial to its meaning If the words were rearranged to A cat Under the house chased my dog, it would mean something different So semantic meaning depends on the grammatical structure of the sentence Now let‘s think about the speaker‘s meaning of (1) Suppose that you know I‘ve lost my cat and you say (1) to me In that case, it would

be likely that your speaker‘s meaning is to inform me that my cat may be hiding under the house, and to suggest that I go there to look for it To understand where this meaning comes from, we need to bring together two components First, the semantic meaning is certainly part of the picture; there is some kind of connection between your saying that your dog chased a cat under the house and your suggesting that I look for my lost cat under the house But in order for me to understand your speaker‘s meaning, I have to assume that we both know my cat is

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missing, that you know I want to find it, and that you want to see that my cat is safely back home These are additional aspects of the context of use which help to determine your speaker‘s meaning We can visualize the two kinds of meaning as follows:

Grammar (morphology and syntax) generate novel words, phrases, and sentences – in fact an infinite number of them This gives us an infinite number of words, phrases, and sentences that can have meaning In order to explain how an infinite number of pieces of language can be meaningful, and how we, as language users, can figure out the meanings of new ones every day, semanticists apply the Principle of Compositionality The Principle of Compositionality: The semantic meaning of any unit of language is determined by the semantic meanings of its parts along with the way they are put together According to the Principle of Compositionality, the meaning of a sentence like Mary liked you is determined by (a) the meanings of the individual morphemes that make it up (Mary, like, you,

―past‖) and (b) the morphological and syntactic structures of the sentence The Principle of Compositionality doesn‘t just apply to sentences It also implies that the meaning of the verb phrase liked you is determined by the meanings of its parts and the grammatical structure of the verb phrase, and that the meaning of the word liked

is determined by the meanings of the two morphemes that make it up (like and (e) d) The subfield of semantics known as compositional semantics (or formal semantics) is especially concerned with how the Principle of Compositionality applies, and consequently formal semanticists study the variety of grammatical patterns which occur in individual languages and across the languages of the world Formal semantics developed in linguistics during the early 1970s under the influence of philosophers, especially Richard Montague (Montague 1974)

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Linguists who are interested in the meanings of words, and the relations among words‘ meanings, study lexical semantics Thematic roles provide one very popular framework for investigating lexical semantics, in particular the lexical semantics of verbs, but not the only one Lexical semantics is very interesting to syntacticians, because the meaning of a word often influences how it fits into syntax; for example, the fact that ripen can have two different patterns of thematic role explains why it

can be used grammatically either with or without an object

2.2.2.7 Different aspects of meaning of a word

(i) Denotative meaning: The logical meaning, which indicates the essential qualities

of a concept which distinguish it from other concepts

(ii) Connotative meaning The additional or associated meaning, which is attached

to the denotative, conceptual meaning It consists of associations made with a

concept whenever that concept is referred to

(iii) Social meaning It is the meaning that a word possesses by virtue of its use in particular social situations and circumstances

(iv) Thematic meaning It lies in the manner in which a message is organized for emphasis

2.2.3 English adjective

2.2.3.1 What is English adjective?

As an important part of English Grammar, adjectives have been defined by different grammarians Each of them has their own point of view According to L

G Alexander (1,p.106), a word is considered as an adjective when it describes the person, thing,… which a noun refers to and provides information about quality, size, age, temperature, shape, color, origin or describes the ideas contained in the

whole group of words, as in :

Professor Robert’s lecture on environment was fascinating

To maintain that we can survive a nuclear war is absurd

Many adjectives can answer the question what… like?

What’s Pam like (as a person)?

She is clever/kind/witty (1,p 106)

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Yet, as for Quirk et all, ―We usually cannot tell a word is an adjective by looking at

it in isolation because the form of a word doesn‘t necessarily indicate its syntactic function Nor can we identify a word as an adjective merely from its potentials for inflexion‖ (1973, 114) In their opinion, a word is commonly considered an adjective if it processes at least one of four criteria:

It can freely occur in attributive function, i e they can pre -modify a noun, appearing between the determiner and the head of a noun phrase:

a beautiful girl the round table

It can freely occur in predicative function, i e they can function as subjective complement or as object complement:

The girl is attractive

I guess the girl attractive

They can be modified by the intensifier very For example:

The new house is very large

She is very happy now

It can take comparative and superlative forms The comparison may be by

means of inflections (-er, -est), or by the addition of the pre-modifiers more and most or called periphrastic Let‘s see the following examples:

Ho Chi Minh is the most wonderful city in Vietnam

Lan is more charming than other classmates

The children are happier now

(Quirk et al, 1973, p.115)

In conclusion, adjective is one of four elements of open class items (noun, adjective, adverb, verb) which belongs to part of speech in English grammar, and adjectives are describing words expressing quality, quantity, size, color, characteristics, etc

2.2.3.2 Semantic features of English adjectives

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According to Quirk et al, the adjectives are classified into stative and dynamic, gradable and non- gradable

2.2.3.2.1 Stative and dynamic adjectives

As their names suggests, stative adjective denote a state or condition,

which may generally be consider permanent, such as big, red, tall, etc Stative

adjectives cannot normally be used in imperative constructions:

* Be big/ red/ tall

* He is being red/ big/ tall

(Quirk et al, 1973, p.124) While, dynamic adjectives denote attributes which are, to some extent at

least, under the control of the one who possesses them For instance, brave denotes

an attribute which may not always be in evidence( unlike red, for example ), but which may be called upon as it is required For this reason, it is appropriate to use it

All dynamic adjectives can be used in imperatives such as be careful, don’t

be cruel, and they can also be use predicatively in progressive tense:

Your son is being disruptive in class

He is being careful

We are being very patient with you

Most of the adjectives are stative The stative or dynamic contrast, as it related to adjectives, is largely a semantic one, and though as we have seen it also has syntactic implications

2.2.3.2.2 Gradable and non- gradable adjectives

According to Longman English grammar (1988, p.108) adjectives can be

also divided into gradable and non- gradable

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Gradable adjectives mean a large class of words which can be graded, or

in other words, they can be modified by intensifiers and include comparison such as

very young, young, younger, the youngest…

An adjective is gradable when:

It can be imagined that degrees in the quality referred to and so it can

used with words like very, too and enough Let‘s see the followings examples:

Your work is good

Your work is very good

Mary has been very ill

A comparative and superlative can be formed from it as big, bigger, biggest, etc

Non- gradable adjectives are a small class that cannot be graded or in other words, principally technical adjectives and adjectives denoting provenance such as

atomic, hydrochloric, British…

According to Longman English grammar (1988, p.108) an adjective is non- gradable when:

It is impossible to modify it, it means that we cannot use it with very, too,…and it is also impossible to make a comparative or superlative from it such as daily, dead, medical, unique, etc

2.2.3.2.3 Inherent and non- inherent

Based on English grammar of Quirk et al (1973, 125), some adjectives are classified into inherent and non- inherent

Most attributive adjectives denote some attribute of the noun which they

modify For instance, the phrase a red car may be said to denote a car which is red

In fact most adjective- noun sequences such as this can be loosely reformulated in a similar way, for example:

An old man ~ a man who is old

Difficult questions ~ questions which are difficult

Round glasses ~ glasses which are round

This applies equally to postpositive adjectives as:

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Something understood ~ something which is understood

The people responsible ~ the people who are responsible

In each case the adjective denotes an attribute or quality of the noun, as the

reformulations show Adjectives of this type are known as inherent adjectives The

attribute they denote is, as it were, inherent in the noun which they modify

However, not all adjectives are related to the noun in the same way For

example, the adjective small in a small businessman does not describe an attribute

of the businessman It cannot be reformulated as a businessman who is small Instead, it refers to a businessman whose business is small It can be referred to

adjectives of this type as non- inherent adjectives They refer less directly to an attribute of the noun than inherent adjectives do

Whether or not an adjective is inherent or non- inherent, it may involve

relation to an implicit or explicit standard, such as in a big mouse, the adjective big

is inherent, the meaning is the relative size of mice, contrast a little mouse and in a big fool, the adjective big is non- inherent, the meaning is degrees of foolishness, contrast a bit of a fool

Here are some more examples, showing the contrast between inherent and non- inherent:

distant hills distant relatives

a complete chapter a complete idiot

a heavy burden a heavy smoker

a social survey a social animal

an old man an old friend

(Wikipedia.com viewed on March 10, 2008)

Some adjectives can come before or after nouns, which may change meaning or may not change meaning of adjective The following is come cases denoting the position of adjectives (with or without change in meaning)

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Adjectives come before or after nouns, which may not change in

meaning: some adjectives, mostly ending in –able and – ible can come before or after nouns and usually with no change in meaning such as available, eligible, imaginable, taxable, possible, impossible, etc Let‘s consider the above examples:

I doubt whether we can complete our contract in the time available/ in the available time.(1)

We have to exploit all available potential/ all potential available in our

country (2)

It is clear that when changing the position of adjective available in the

example 1 and 2, there is no change in meaning of adjective

However, some adjectives sometimes have different meanings if they

modify different nouns, for example, old can be either a central adjective or an adjective restricted to attributive position as in an old friend of mine means a longstanding friend In this case, old is the opposite of new The person referred to

is not identified as old , but it is very his friend that is old

Moreover, some adjectives come before or after nouns with a change in meaning, in some case a few adjectives change in meaning depending on whether

they are used before or after a noun Some of these are concerned, elect, involved, present, proper, and responsible They would be illustrated as follows:

E.g.: The concerned doctor rang for an ambulance

~ The worried doctor rang for ambulance

The doctor concerned is on holiday

~ The doctor responsible is on holiday

(Longman English grammar, 1988, 111)

Some adjectives such as present, absent, concerned, involved and responsible are used with most frequency in post-modification Sometimes they are

also used in post-modification but then their meaning is different, for example:

E.g.: There were ten members of staff present (There)

Our present problems are much worse (Now)

The person concerned must be fined (Relevant)

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(Quirk et al, 1972, 418)

2.2.3.3 Syntactic functions of English adjectives

An adjective may bear several possible relationships to the noun or noun phrase that it qualifies

2.2.3.3.1 Attributive adjectives

According to Longman English grammar (1988, 110) adjectives are attributive when they modify nouns (they can pre-modify or post-modify nouns) Therefore attributive adjectives can be considered as part of the noun phrase Let‘s see the following the examples:

E.g.: Lan is a beautiful girl

Hung is a heavy smokers.( It means that Hung smokes a lot.)

After the compound indefinite pronouns and adverbs, which begin with

no-, any-, some-, and every-, and end in -body, -one, -thing, -where, adjectives are

usually used attributively as post-modifiers:

E.g.: Anyone (who is) intelligent can do it

I want to try on something (that is) larger

There is nothing new, but something important

Some adjectives can be only used attributively with absolute/complete

meanings such as mere, out and out, sheer, utter…

E.g.: What you say is sheer/ utter nonsense

He is a mere boy

The above adjectives can behave like adverbs of degree or intensifiers but they can be used only in the attributive position To prove this, we can take some examples into consideration:

E.g.: * He is mere

* What you say is sheer/ utter

These sentences are meaningless, they are not correct They cannot be complement, so one time; we can affirm that the above adjectives can be only attributive

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Adjectives which restrict the reference of the noun are always attributive

as the followings:

certain( a woman of a certain age )

chief ( my chief complaint )

main ( my main concern)

only ( the only explanation)

particular ( my particular aim)

principle( the principle reason)

sold ( my sold interest)

These adjectives only used attributive, except for certain and particular

which then change in meaning (Longman English Grammar 110-111) The use of commas should be taken into consideration to separate adjectives which are used attributively When we have more than two adjectives before a noun, we only need commas to separate those which are equally important ( it means that where the order of the first two could easily be reversed), for instance:

This is a beautiful, bright clean room

That is to say, a comma is put after the quality adjective; we never use a comma after the adjective that comes immediately in front of a noun Let‘s see the following examples:

The hotel porter led me to a beautiful, bright clean room

Joy is engaged to a daring, very attractive young air force pilot

If there are only two adjectives, we separate them with and

He wore dirty and old shoes

I have a young and beautiful sister

When there more than two adjectives, they may be separated by commas

and apart from the last adjective which separated by and

He wore dirty, wet, old and worn shoes

But, there are some fixed phrases of adjectives which are often linked by

and: old and musty with, a long and winding road, hard and fast rules When the pre-modifiers are two color adjectives, it is obligatory to use and, not the commas

as: the yellow and blue flag and it does not exist in * the yellow, blue flag

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Sometimes, we use but instead of and if the meaning of two modifying adjectives are contrastive: a rich but stingy man, a cheap but effective solution ( Longman English grammar, 115-116)

* Subject complement: Adjective is subject complement when there is a

co-reference between subject and subject complement Both of them are in an intensive relationship Let‘s see the following examples:

The children were noisy and naughty (3)

In the example 3, noisy and naughty function as predicative adjectives, they both qualify children and complete the predications begun by the verb were

Your suspicions seem to be unfounded (4)

In example 4, the infinitive to be unfunded functions as a predicative adjective, it both qualifies suspicions and completes the predication begun by the verb seemed

* Object complement: adjective is object complement when there is Co-reference

between direct object and object complement They are in intensive relationship with object Let‘s see the following examples:

The situation made Mr Hardy courageous and even a bit daring.(5)

In sentence 5, 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

The jury found him guilty.(6)

In example 6, guilty is a predicative adjective, it both qualifies him and completes the predicative begun by the verb found, so guilty is an objective complement

Apart from being subject complement to noun phrase (subjunctive) , adjectives are also subject complement to clauses when the subject is a finite Clause

or non-finite Clause

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Whether he will design is uncertain

Driving a bus isn’t easy

The adjective which functions as objective complement often show the result of the process denoted by the verb, for example:

He tide the rope tight ( As a result, he rope was then tight)

He pushed the window open ( As a result, the window was then open.) (Quirk et al, 115)

Apart from the above cases, some also are predicative adjectives:

*Adjectives describing health uses predicatively:

The following adjectives are most common in predicative position

relating to health: faint, ill, poorly, unwell and well

“What’s the matter with him?

He’s ill/ unwell He feels faint

However, some adjectives describing health used both predicative and attributive with different meanings:

How are you?

I‘m very well, thank you (7)

I‘m fine thanks (8)

fine in example 8 related to health is predicative because it modifies the subject and

linking by a linking verb am so it‘s realized by object complement It can be

paraphrased in another sentence I’m well thanks

However, when we use the adjective ‗‖fine” in the attributive position It no longer relates to health, it means excellent

Let‘s see another example:

She is a fine woman

Fine is an adjective realized as noun phrase in which fine pre-modifies noun

woman so fine is attributive similarly; “faint” can be used attributively when it is not in connection with health such as a faint chance, a faint hope

* Predicative adjectives beginning with a- The following adjectives are used only

predicatively like afloat, afraid, alight, alike, alone, ashamed, asleep, awake

The children were asleep at 7, but now they‘re awake