Adjectives in Middle English The situation in Middle English: a brief discussion of the literature

NPs that have a numeral as their head but another noun following

And þis Eleazar sent him lxx wel lerned men (CMCAPCHR,43.354)

(10) cases where like functions as a preposition and is no longer an adjective (cf. Maling 1983), contrast (a) with (b): in (b) like is still adjectival because it has its own preposition (these are counted)

(b) …there was sene in the chircheyard … a grete stone four square, lyke unto a

marbel stone (CMMALORY,7.191)

(11) cases where the small clause status of the postposed adjective is completely clear

(a) hij [they] shul be ete multiplied in elde plentifous [plentiful] (CMEARLPS,114.4987)
[here plentifous does not go with elde as the corpus analysts imply, but is a subject complement of hij (this is the usual interpretation in Bible translations I have consulted of this verse in Psalms 92)]

(b) & þah hwen he þus is.alre þinge feherest. he underueð bliðeliche.& bicluppeð swoteliche þe alre ladlukeste. (CMHALI,158.434)

‘and yet, though he [Christ] is thus of all things the fairest, he accepts joyfully and embraces sweetly the most loathsome of all’
[feherest is not an adjective dependent on þinge (rather, þinge is a genitive plural depending on feherest) but a subject complement of he]⁷

(12)