Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Adjectives and adjective phrases | 445

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If the head of the noun phrase is one of the pronouns someone, somebody,

something

, somewhere; no one, nobody, nothing, nowhere; anyone, anybody,

anything

, anywhere; everyone, everybody, everything, everywhere, the attributive

adjective phrase occurs as a postmodifier:

There’s 

nothing 

good

about being poor.

There wasn’t really 

anyone

famous

at Lordsborough [University].

There’s 

something 

definitely wrong

here.

Position of adjective and complement

If an attributive adjective has a complement, the whole adjective phrase or just its

complement must follow the head noun.

Examples of attributive adjectives with complements

example

type

Are they 

a 

similar age

?

adjective with no complement

Hardin reached under the counter and brought 

adjective and complement both after the noun 

out 

a badge 

similar to the one he was already

head

wearing on his waistcoat

.

A: So how do you see yourselves in twenty 

adjective before the noun head; complement 

years’ time? 

after the noun head

B: I would imagine very much in 

a 

similar

position 

to my mum and dad now

.

Helsinki has 

a character 

quite different from the Scandinavian capitals

.

You can buy 

a computer system 

good enough for most tasks

for less than £500.

It’s 

a 

very different room from the old one

.

I haven’t got 

a 

good enough voice to sing it

.

For a number of adjectives, the whole adjective phrase must follow the noun when

a complement of the adjective is used. These include closed, eager, full, happy,

keen

, open, ready, responsible, (un)willing, worth:

Fans 

keen to get their hands on the new book

had queued all night.

(Keen fans to get their hands on the new book …)

Events 

open to the public

are listed overleaf.

By the time we got there,

the person 

responsible for giving refunds

had gone

home. 

It’s 

a film 

worth seeing

.

Some fixed expressions include postmodifying adjectives, for example chairperson

designate

, court martial, President Elect.

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RESTRICTIONS ON THE FUNCTIONS OF ADJECTIVES

240

Adjectives restricted to noun phrases (attributive-only) 

240a

Adjectives in the following meaning categories occur only in noun phrases (the

attributive function):

● Degree (intensifiers and downtoners), such as: absolute, complete, mere,

perfect

, proper, pure, real, sheer, true, utter, veritable:

It was

pure nonsense

.

(The nonsense was pure.)

This is 

sheer heaven

.

Û

240c

● Temporal ordering, such as: former, latter, present, future, old (meaning ‘of

many years’ standing’, e.g. an old friend), early (meaning ‘of the initial period in

the history of something’, e.g. early English literature), late (meaning ‘died

recently’, e.g. the late Mrs Thompson):

In 1816 he married Charlotte, daughter of 

the 

future George IV of England

, and

lived in England after her death in 1817. 

The only permanent display is 

the 

late actor William Holden

’s collection of

Asian and African art. 

(late = recently deceased/dead)

● Restrictive adjectives, such as: certain, chief, main, major, only, particular,

principal, sole, very

:

You know, 

the 

main reason for being in business at all

is profit and that’s what

you ought to be judging.

He published 

major works on logic and political theory

.

Adjectives restricted to copular complement (predicative-only) 

240b

Some adjectives can be used only as a complement to copular verbs (the

predicative function), and not attributively. The majority of these are adjectives

with the prefix a-, and include: ablaze, afloat, alive, asleep, awake, awash:

The building 

was 

ablaze

, and we were trapped.

(It was an ablaze building, …)

I 

was 

asleep

in bed when she came to tell me.

Other adjectives that usually occur predicatively are well (and unwell), and ill,

referring to states of health:

His younger brother

was 

ill

.

A: You’re 

looking 

well

.

B: And you are.

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Adjectives and adjective phrases | 447

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Very rarely well and ill may occur attributively with non-specific nouns such as

man

, woman, child, patient, etc., and health may occur with ill:

Dad hadn’t been 

a 

well man

for years.

Whatever feelings a wife may have, she must not add to 

her 

ill husband

’s

problems.

Two 

critically ill patients

were admitted by the hospital late last night.

He retired because of 

ill health

.

Adjectives with similar meanings can be substituted in the attributive function for

some of the predicative-only adjectives. For example, live can substitute for alive;

lone

can substitute for alone; sick can substitute for ill and unwell; sleeping can

substitute for asleep:

It’s better for digestion if the yoghurts are made with

live cultures

. 

(alive)

It’s very much a book for the 

lone traveller

. 

(alone)

Her 

sick child

keeps stopping her from working. 

(ill)

[proverb]

Let 

sleeping dogs

lie. 

(asleep)

Different attributive and predicative meanings

240c

Some of the adjectives used attributively in 240a above have a different meaning

when used in the predicative function:

It’s 

sheer chaos

.

(intensifier meaning: attributive only)

Care is needed on some of the stretches of path because the cliffs 

are 

sheer

. 

(very steep/vertical; may be used attributively or, as here, predicatively)

… 

the 

late actor

William Holden … 

(deceased/dead; attributive only)

The train

was 

late

again.

(behind schedule; may be used attributively or, as here, predicatively)

Of course there’s going to be 

a 

certain amount of risk

involved, but you’ve got

to trust me on this.

(particular but not specified; attributive only)

I’

m not 

absolutely certain

, but I think it’s very unlikely. 

(sure/definite; normally predicative only)

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Complex attributive adjective phrases

240d

When degree modifiers are used in attributive adjective phrases, their position

varies. Different degree modifiers require different positions for the adjective

phrase in relation to the indefinite article.

Positions of indefinite article and degree modifiers

example

comments

a/an

very/fairly/moderately/extremely tall man

typical position: indefinite article + intensifier +

adjective

quite 

and rather are special cases

for quite: 

quite a tall man

most frequent position: intensifier + indefinite 

article + adjective

a 

quite tall man

less frequent position: indefinite article + 

intensifier + adjective

for rather:

a

rather tall man

most frequent position: indefinite article + 

intensifier + adjective 

rather a tall man

less frequent position: intensifier + indefinite

article + adjective

A-Z

66 Quite; 67 Rather 

as/so tall a man as him

as/so

+ adjective + indefinite article + noun + 

complement 

a man 

as/so tall as him

indefinite article + noun + as/so + adjective + 

complement (less frequent in writing but more

frequent in informal speech)

a man 

this/that tall

indefinite article + noun + this/that + adjective 

this/that tall a man

this/that

+ adjective + indefinite article + noun

(less frequent)

How tall a man is he?

how

+ adjective + indefinite article + noun

I don’t know 

how tall a man he is.

We kept in touch for 

quite a long time.

He seemed 

a rather childish, impetuous fellow.

But this is not 

as big a problem as it might first appear.

He was willing enough, but my sister was good and virtuous, and hated his

brother with 

a hatred as strong as mine.

It’s not 

that big a place.

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Adjectives and adjective phrases | 449

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ORDER OF ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVE PHRASES

241

Lists of adjectives

When a noun phrase is premodified by more than one adjective, there is a

preferred order for the adjectives. For example, colour normally precedes

material:

A 

yellow plastic container was found at the scene of the crime.

(A plastic yellow container was found …)

Shape normally precedes material and material normally precedes purpose:

You need one of those 

round, wooden, bathing tubs.

References to place or origin usually come after colour or shape and before

material:

You need one of those 

round, Swedish, wooden, bathing tubs.

(You need one of those bathing, Swedish, wooden, round tubs.)

Evaluative adjectives which describe opinions or attitudes often come before more

neutrally descriptive ones:

She’s a 

remarkable old woman. She’s just got such a fantastic, long memory.

(She’s an old remarkable woman. She’s just got such a long fantastic memory.)

The most neutral sequence of adjective types may be summarised as:

(determiner)

evaluation (e) 

size (s)

physical quality (q)

shape (sh)

age (ag)

colour (c)

participle (pa)

origin (o)

material (m)

type (t)

purpose (p)

head noun

An example including a number of these types would be:

(e)

(s)

(q)

(ag)  (c)  

(o)

(p)

These 

wonderful, monumental, strong, old, grey, Indian, log-carrying elephants

of Northern Thailand …

(an invented example to illustrate the possibilities)

A noun phrase which included all these types would be extremely rare.

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Examples of multiple attributive adjectives involving beautiful:

(e)

(sh)

You can also sit in 

the 

beautiful semicircular courthouse

and listen to the trial

of a farmer accused of fraud.

It was designed by Bror Marklund and the whole hall unbelievably won the 

(e)

(o) (p)

1964 award for 

the 

most beautiful Swedish public building

.

(e)

(pa)

… 

the 

beautiful walled city of Avila

, birthplace of Saint Teresa; …

(e) (s)  (ag)

It was 

a 

beautiful little old church

.

(e)

(c)

(pa)

Where was 

that 

just most beautiful black-and-white timbered house

?

Adjectives joined by and

Some lists of adjectives are joined by and. When a list of adjectives occurs

predicatively, the penultimate and final adjectives are normally joined by and:

It was 

wet, wild and windy. How can anyone forget a night like that?

And

occurs less commonly when the list of adjectives is in an attributive position:

A 

tall, dark, mysterious stranger entered the room.

And

can occur when two or more adjectives of the same category are used, or

when the adjectives refer to different parts of the same thing:

He drives a 

red and black Ferrari.

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Adjectives and adjective phrases | 451

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Adverbs and adverb phrases

Introduction

242

Adverb phrases

243

Types of meaning

244

Adverbs modifying phrases

245

Types of modification 245a

Degree adverbs and focusing adverbs 245b

Evaluative adverbs 245c

Evaluative, viewpoint and linking (disjunct and conjunct) adverbs

246

Copular verbs (be, seem) and complementation

247

Adverbs used as short responses

248

Adverbs and discourse markers

249

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| 453

Adverbs and adverb phrases

INTRODUCTION 

242

Adverbs, the fourth major open word class, have strong affinities with adjectives.

Many adverbs are derived from adjectives, mostly by adding the suffix -ly. 

(

Û

162 Adverbs for a full description of the construction of adverbs

.)

adjective

adverb

nice

nicely

beautiful

beautifully

fond

fondly

slow

slowly

Most adverbs, like most adjectives, are gradable: they can be modified by other

(degree) adverbs, including comparative forms, to form adverb phrases which are

very similar in their structural characteristics to adjective phrases:

She sings

really beautifully.

(compare: She has a really beautiful voice.)

He played 

more skilfully this time.

(compare: He was more skilful this time.)

Adverb phrases most typically function as adjuncts in the clause structure, but

may also occur as complements:

I ate my dinner 

very slowly.

(adjunct)

Could you put it 

just there please?

(complement, required by put)

Your sister’s 

here.

(complement of be)

However, adverb phrases differ from adjective phrases in their function. Adjective

phrases most typically modify noun phrases (or are used in the predicate of the

clause to state a quality of a noun phrase). Adverb phrases typically modify verb

phrases, adjectives and other adverbs. Some adverbs modify whole clauses or

sentences:

I think a doctor or a nurse should be a 

careful person, and she isn’t.

(adjective: modifying the noun person)

I was always very 

careful not to offend them. 

(adjective: predicative, describing the subject I)

---

They walked 

carefully along the edge of the canal. 

(adverb: modifying the verb phrase; answers the question ‘How did they walk?’)

(They walked careful along the edge of the canal.)

✪

Adjectives cannot modify verbs:

She spoke angrily.

(She spoke angry.)

Here are some examples of how adverbs modify different items:

Talk 

properly

!

(modifying a verb – talk)

An 

extremely tall

man came round the corner.

(modifying an adjective – tall)

The business in Holland went 

remarkably smoothly

.

(modifying another adverb – smoothly)

Only someone very stupid

would say that.

(modifying a noun phrase – someone very stupid)

We’ve got our silver wedding 

soon

, so we’re planning a few days away.

(modifying the whole clause)

Frankly, when he smiles, it terrifies me.

(modifying the whole sentence)

Adverbs do not normally have inflected forms, but a few, most of which are

identical in form to adjectives, inflect for comparison (e.g. far, fast, hard, high,

long

, low):

We haven’t got very 

far with that yet.

That’s probably the area where they’ve gone 

furthest.

But the happy life did not last 

long.

You know, she’d be quite happy to stay 

longer.

Û

465 Comparative and superlative adverbs

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ADVERB PHRASES

243

Adverbs function as the head of adverb phrases. 

An adverb may function alone as the head of the adverb phrase or it may have

dependents of various kinds. 

In general, these dependents are similar in type to those found in adjective

phrases – partly because most adverbs are related to adjectives and partly because

many adverbs, like many adjectives, are gradable.

Examples of simple adverb phrases (head only) and complex adverb phrases

(head + dependents) are given in the table below.

Simple and complex adverb phrases (adverb phrases are in green, adverb heads are in bold)

example

dependents 

You 

rarely

get a full break.

head only

Personally

I’m not fond of ice cream.

head only

The six weeks went by 

very

quickly

.

premodifier + head

Dr Smith wrote back 

fairly

promptly

.

premodifier + head

It’s amazing 

how

quickly

you get used to it.

premodifier + head

But 

luckily enough

, neighbours did see them and 

head + postmodifier

called the police.

He plays

really

well for a beginner

.

premodifier + head + postmodifier

Unfortunately for me

, I started to get ill. 

head + complement

Its body seems to move 

almost

independently of the head

.

premodifier + head + complement

Occasionally, the structure may be more complex:

adverb phrase

premodifier head

adverb phrase

premodifier

head

I was | 

very

nearly

| 

there

.

The structure of the adverb phrase may also be discontinuous, i.e. it may consist of

a structure which commences before the adverb and is completed after it:

I think he put it 

more 

succinctly than that

.

(than that is the complement of more)

Nuclear power stations produce electricity 

much more 

cheaply than other types

of power station

. 

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Adverbs and adverb phrases | 455

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TYPES OF MEANING 

244

There are a number of different types of meaning adverb phrases can have. The

important general types are shown in the table below.

Main types of meaning of adverb phrases

type

function

example

manner

refers to how something happens

Those flowers grow 

quickly, don’t they?

The vicar spoke 

very nicely.

place

refers to where something happens

Many 

locally owned bookshops are 

cutting prices.

Sign 

here please.

time

refers to when something happens

Her father died 

recently.

He came in 

very early.

duration

refers to length of time over which 

No, I’m not staying there 

permanently.

something happens 

frequency

refers to how often something happens

I 

often go and see them.

degree

refers to how much, to what degree

I was 

greatly relieved when we were 

something happens

finally rid of her.

focusing

focuses on or specifies an entity

Waiter: What about you, sir?

Customer: Just ice cream please.

modal

expresses degrees of truth, possibility, 

She 

most probably thinks I’m joking. 

necessity, etc.

evaluative

judges or comments on the event, gives 

I 

stupidly forgot to mention the meeting 

the speaker’s opinion

to him.

viewpoint

expresses the perspective or standpoint 

I 

personally don’t think you would hate 

from which the speaker sees things

it, Elaine.

linking

links and relates clauses and sentences

She wanted to study but there wasn’t 

to one another

any provision. 

However, her younger

sisters are now studying. 

Û

326b and 326c on the order of adverbs

ADVERBS MODIFYING PHRASES 

245

Types of modification 

245a

The following types of modification are common. (Adverb phrases are in bold,

modified phrases are in green.)

● Adverb phrase modifying verb phrase:

He’s 

played

extremely well.

She 

blushed

furiously.

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● Adverb phrase modifying adjective phrase:

It was 

perfectly

acceptable

.

Her heartbeat was 

very slightly

erratic

.

● Adverb phrase modifying adverb phrase:

She’d worked 

extremely

hard

.

It seems to affect different people 

completely

differently

.

● Adverb phrase modifying noun phrase:

It’s a chapel but it’s 

almost

a cave

.

It takes 

quite

a dose

to reach fatal levels.

● Adverb phrase modifying prepositional phrase:

It’s really 

right

out in the country

.

The situation was 

completely

out of control

.

Degree adverbs and focusing adverbs

245b

Degree adverbs and focusing adverbs are the most common type of adverb

modifiers of phrases. These include (adverbs in bold, modified phrases in green):

Degree

I wouldn’t mind living 

a bit

longer

.

Oh that will make it 

doubly

attractive

won’t it?

The food was 

pretty

awful

actually.

Quite

obviously

they don’t want to push anything under the carpet.

They don’t normally have three together so it seemed 

rather

strange

.

He’s going to be 

terribly

upset

.

His sister is 

totally

different from his brother

.

absolutely

a (little) bit

almost

awfully

completely

doubly

enough

entirely

extremely

fairly

highly

a lot

lots

perfectly

pretty

quite

rather

remarkably

slightly

somewhat

terribly

too

totally

utterly

very 

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Adverbs and adverb phrases | 457

---

Focusing

They’d be upset, 

especially

my father

, if I didn’t try.

I just feel 

generally

fed up

.

Evaluative adverbs 

245c

Evaluative adverbs are also used to modify phrases:

But something has gone 

oddly

wrong

in the meantime.

The family, two brothers and a sister, lived 

curiously

isolated

.

EVALUATIVE, VIEWPOINT AND LINKING (DISJUNCT AND CONJUNCT) ADVERBS

246

Often adverbs are fully integrated in the clause (

Û

244 above, the examples of

manner, place and time adverbs

). However, adverbs may be less integrated in the

clause structure and may modify the whole sentence or utterance. Evaluative and

viewpoint adverbs often function in this way. Adverbs of this type are referred to

as disjunct adverbs:

What was more, 

oddly, he seemed to have bought enough for two. 

(evaluative)

Personally, I think it’s a waste of time.

(viewpoint)

Linking adverbs express a logical relationship (e.g. cause and consequence,

sequence in time, contrast) between two clauses or sentences. These may be

referred to as conjunct adverbs:

The overwhelming majority of big-name French chefs are, as they have always

been, men. There is one place, 

however, that for 100 years and more has

provided an exception – Lyon, close to the Swiss and Italian borders and

France’s second city.

The bad news is that your shares are almost certainly overvalued at present, as

is the entire banking sector. The good news is that they are probably worth

keeping 

anyway.

especially

generally

just

largely

only