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Û
539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms
Types of verb | 435
Phrasal-prepositional verbs
235g
Phrasal-prepositional verbs consist of an adverb particle and a preposition.
Common phrasal-prepositional verbs include:
These verbs normally occur in informal contexts:
I’ll
catch up with
you
in a minute.
(catch up with = reach, join)
Let her
get on with
it
.
(get on with = continue doing)
I’m
looking forward to
the weekend
.
(looking forward to = anticipating with pleasure)
You have to
watch out for
the things coming along behind that you can’t see
.
A small number of such verbs also take a direct object after the verb as well as an
object of the preposition. These include:
She’s going to try and
fix
me
up with
a bit of part-time work
.
(fix me up with = arrange for me)
Do you
put
that
down to
luck or judgement
?
(put down to = think the cause or reason is)
He was just
taking
his frustration
out on
me
, shouting at me and stuff.
(taking … out on me = causing me to suffer)
fix … up with
fob … off with
let … in on
put … down to
put … up to
take … out on
catch up on
catch up with
come up against
do away with
face up to
get away with
get along with
get on with
listen out for
look forward to
look down on
look in on
look out for
look up to
put up with
watch out for
436 | Types of verb
Cambridge Grammar of English
Adjectives and adjective phrases
Adjectives
236
Introduction 236a
Suffixes and prefixes 236b
Comparative and superlative inflections 236c
-ing and -ed form adjectives 236d
Meanings of adjectives
237
Types of meaning 237a
Oppositeness (antonymy) and gradability 237b
Adjective phrases
238
Structure of adjective phrases 238a
Premodification and postmodification of adjectives 238b
Premodification and gradability 238c
Gradable opposites (antonyms) 238d
Cross-classification of gradable and non-gradable adjectives 238e
Implicit superlatives (filthy, starving) 238f
Fixed modifiers (bone dry, as dry as a bone) 238g
The functions of adjective phrases
239
General 239a
Adjectives modifying nouns (attributive function) 239b
Restrictions on the functions of adjectives
240
Adjectives restricted to noun phrases (attributive-only) 240a
Adjectives restricted to copular complement (predicative-only) 240b
Different attributive and predicative meanings 240c
Complex attributive adjective phrases 240d
Order of attributive adjective phrases
241
438 |
Adjectives and adjective phrases
ADJECTIVES
236
Introduction 236a
Adjectives are the third major open word class in English. They describe the
features of persons or things denoted by nouns or pronouns (
Û
237 below
):
It’s a
nice
room
.
The
service
was
awful.
Her father
is
German.
She
’s
beautiful.
Adjectives cannot be automatically identified by their form, although certain
suffixes typically occur with adjectives (
Û
236b below
). Many common, everyday
adjectives have no form which identifies them as such (e.g. good, nice, old, wet).
Adjectives are identified most typically by their functions in a sentence.
Suffixes and prefixes
236b
Some suffixes occur typically or exclusively with adjectives.
Suffixes that occur with adjectives
suffix
examples
-able,-ible
acceptable, usable, inedible
-al,-ial
normal, comical, radial
-ed
timbered, aged
-ful
masterful, wishful
-ic
frantic, heroic
-ical
hysterical, political
-ish
amateurish, childish
-ive, -ative
active, attractive, talkative
-less
endless, priceless
-eous, -ious, -ous
erroneous, anxious, famous
-y
angry, busy, windy, wealthy
As can be seen from the table, adjectives may be derived from nouns (hero–heroic,
wind–windy
) or verbs (accept–acceptable, attract–attractive) by the addition of
suffixes.
The prefix a- also identifies certain adjectives (e.g. awake, alive, ablaze).
Û
also 258–268 Word structure and word formation
Comparative and superlative inflections
236c
Many one-syllable adjectives, and two-syllable adjectives ending in an unstressed
syllable, have inflections to show the comparative and superlative.
Adjectives that inflect
base form
comparative
superlative
fine
finer
finest
small
smaller
smallest
young
younger
youngest
funny
funnier
funniest
gentle
gentler
gentlest
However, two-syllable adjectives ending in a stressed syllable and longer
adjectives do not inflect. Comparatives and superlatives are formed using more
and most (
Û
462 and 463
).
Adjectives that do not inflect
base form
comparative
superlative
correct
more correct correcter
most correct correctest
memorable
more memorable memorabler
most memorable memorablest
Û
460–471 Comparison
-ing and -ed form adjectives
236d
The -ing and -ed forms of verbs may also function as adjectives:
[cooking instructions on food packet]
Just add
boiling water.
They only want to travel to
English-speaking countries.
It’s not
smoked salmon, it’s smoked trout.
Even supermarkets now sell
home-made jams.
MEANINGS OF ADJECTIVES
237
Types of meaning
237a
Adjectives describe features and qualities of entities (people, animals and things)
denoted by nouns or pronouns.
● Some adjectives denote characteristic or inherent properties and qualities which
are long-lasting or permanent: tall, heavy, old, good, rough, true, ugly, red.
● Some adjectives express transient states and conditions: hungry, cold, absent,
ill
, dry, full, lonely.
● Some adjectives denote relations between entities. These are among the
adjectives that require complements (
Û
238a below
): fond (of), similar (to),
aware (of)
, keen (on/to), far (from).
Û
539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms
Adjectives and adjective phrases | 439
● Some adjectives describe entities in terms of their actions: generous, cruel,
talkative
, polite, cooperative.
● Some adjectives classify entities into types: wooden (spoon), Swedish (film),
departmental (meeting)
, detached (house), organic (vegetables), impressionist
(painter)
, wild (salmon).
Oppositeness (antonymy) and gradability
237b
Most common adjectives (except the classifying type in 237a above) are members
of a pair of opposites (antonyms). For example:
tall–short; heavy–light; good–bad; dry–wet; dead–alive; absent–present
Many of these are also gradable, i.e. one can differentiate between different
degrees of the same property along a scale (
Û
238c and 238d below
):
He’s
quite tall for his age, isn’t he?
Your hair’s going to be
very wet.
ADJECTIVE PHRASES
238
Structure of adjective phrases
238a
Just as nouns and verbs function as the heads of noun phrases and verb phrases,
adjectives function as the head of adjective phrases. An adjective phrase consists
minimally of an adjective acting as head. The head may be accompanied by
modifiers (pre- and post-head) and complements (post-head).
Û
the tables at 169d and 214b for comparison with noun phrases and verb phrases
The structure of adjective phrases (adjective phrases are in green; adjective heads are in bold)
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