Position of adjectives: general

Most adjective can go in two places in a sentence:

With a noun (attributive position):

The new secretary doesn't like me.

She's going out with a rich businessman.

Please send me all the tickets available.

After be, seem, look, become and a few other verbs (predicative position):

That dress is new, isn't it?

S/he looks rich.

Can you tell me if Mr. Smith is available?

Some adjectives can only go in one of these positions (e.g. awake, elder). Some adjectives may come after the noun in attributive position (as in tickets available in the example above). One or two adjectives have different meaning in attributive and predicative positions. When several adjectives are used together, it is always easy to put them in the right order (e.g. a beautiful little old Chinese porcelain vase). There are also problems about the use of and with two or more adjectives.

Comments

Across Vs Over

The prepositions 'Across' and 'Over' are used with similar meaning, but there are differences. Both Across and Over can be used to mean 'on or to the other side' of a line, river, road, and so on (position or movement related to things that are 'long and thin'. Examples: They walked across or over the road... See if you can jump over or across the corridor... Her room's just over or across the corridor... They will be over/across the frontier by midnight... Over is used for movements on or above water, but not in water. For example: How long would it take to swim across the river? (Not: ...over the river?) Both Across and Over can mean 'on the other side of' a high barrier (like a hedge, a fence, a wall, a mountain range...), but only Over is used for a movement to the other side of something high. Compare the following: If we can be over/across the fence before sunrise, we have got a chance. When I last saw them, they were climbing ver...

Adjective Vs Adverbs: Confusing cases

Adjectives in -ly ----------------------------------------------------------------- Typical mistakes: He spoke to me very friendly. She sang lovely. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Many adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding -ly. Compare the following sentences: The engine is very quiet. > It runs very quietly. He is a wonderful guitarist. > He plays wonderfully. But some words that end in -ly are adjectives, not adverbs. For example: friendly, lovely, lonely, likely, ugly, deadly, cowardly, silly. These words cannot be used as adverbs. Examples: He spoke to me in a very friendly way. Her singing was lovely (or she sang beautifully). Other words that end in -ly can be both adjectives and adverbs. Examples are daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, early. A daily paper is published daily, we get up early to catch an early train. Adjectives and adverbs with the same form, adverbs with two ...

Adjectives Vs Adverbs in general

There are a large number of problems connected with the use of adjectives and adverbs. Most of them are explained in the following section, a few are dealt with in other parts of this blog. The problems include: The difference between adjectives and adverbs, confusing cases like friendly (adjective) or cheap (adjective and adverb). The use of adjectives with verbs like look, feel, taste... The use of adjectives without nouns (e.g. the blind)... The position of adjectives... The use of nouns as adjectives (e.g. a roof garden)... The order of adjective before nouns (e.g. a great big fat old tabby cat)... The use of and between adjectives... Comparison of adjectives and adverbs... The use of participles as adjectives... The position of adverbs in sentences...

CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH

Search This Blog