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The Attribute 221
o f objects corresponding to the pattern "preposition + noun or pronoun"; a necessary feature of the type we are now considering would be the numeral preceding the noun, so that the pattern would be this: "preposition (about, over, under) + cardinal numeral + noun". A decisive point of difference between the types would be this. In type 1 (as in the sentence We spoke about recent events) the preposition cannot be left out: a sentence We spoke recent events is impossible. In type 2 the preposition can be left out without affecting the grammatical correctness of the sentence; only the idea of approximation conveyed by the word about in this context will disappear.
THE ATTRIBUTE
As we have already discussed the cases where the distinction between object and attribute is neutralised, so that a secondary part can equally be termed the one or the other (see above, p. 215), we need not dwell on these cases here but we can turn to the attribute as such.
An attribute can either precede or follow the noun it modifies. Accordingly we use the terms "prepositive" and "postpositive" attribute. The position of an attribute with respect to its head word depends partly on the morphological peculiarities of the attribute itself, and partly on stylistic factors.
We will discuss this question at some length in the chapter on word order (see pp. 246—247).
The size of a prepositive attributive phrase can be large in Modern English. This is mainly due to the fact that whatever is included between the article (definite or indefinite) and the noun, is apprehended as an attribute to the noun. Examples of attributes reaching considerable length are met with in usual literary (though not in colloquial) style. This is what we can see in the following sentence: The younger, Leander, was above all young, it seemed to him, charmingly, crashingly so, with only a slightly greater than usual grace and a deep reserve to distinguish him from any of his friends who had joined them. (BUECHNER) The phrase slightly greater than usual is characterised as an attribute by its position between the indefinite article and the noun grace, so that no. misunderstanding is possible here. Compare the following example: . . . her courage was not equal to a wish of exploring them after dinner, either by the fading light of the sky between six and seven o'clock, or by the yet more partial though stronger illumination of a treacherous lamp. (J. AUSTEN) The attributive group here is rather long (yet more partial though stronger) but it is held together by being placed between the definite article and the noun illumination. It is essential that no other noun appears between the article and
222 Secondary Parts in Detail
illumination. In this example we have even the subordinating conjunction though introducing the second attributive adjective stronger, so that the structure of the attributive group almost oversteps the limits of a clause. Compare also the following sentence from a modern novel: He was relieved when I motioned to him and started to wrap the by now almost insensible figure of Melissa in the soft Bokhara rug. (DURRELL)
Such attributes can acquire enormous proportions in humorous writings, so that whole sentences with subordinate clauses are squeezed into them, as in the following example (from an article containing criticism of the most common types of British crime films): Here are two possibilities only, and the threadbare variations are endlessly woven around them: the "I-ain't-askin'-no-questions-just-tell-me-what-to-do" kind and the "My-God,-Henry,-you-must-believe-me" kind (which can also be described as the "Why-the-devil-can't-you-leave-my-wife-alone-Can't-you-see-she's-distraught" kind). The hyphens connecting the various elements do not of course mean that the whole has coalesced into one monstrous word: they merely serve to show the unity of the syntactical formation functioning as an attribute. It goes without saying that such possibilities are due to the absence of inflections for number, gender, and case in the part of speech which most usually performs the function of an attribute, namely, the adjective.
This consideration brings us to what is the most difficult question in the study of the attribute, its position in the general system of parts of the sentence. The question is briefly this: is the attribute a secondary part of the sentence standing on a footing of equality with the object and the adverbial modifier, or is it a unit of a lower rank? Approached from another angle, the question would be this: is the attribute a constituent of the sentence, or does it belong to the level of phrases? This is of course a problem of general linguistics, and it has been discussed with reference to different languages. Here we will treat it taking into account the specific conditions of Modern English.
The problem can best be approached in the following way. If we take the sentence: History only emerged in the eighteenth century as a literary art. . . (MOULTON) and if we want to state the parts of the sentence, we shall stop at the phrase in the eighteenth century. We shall have to choose between two views: (1) in the century is an adverbial modifier of time; eighteenth is an attribute; the two secondary parts of the sentence stand on the same syntactical level; (2) in the eighteenth century is an adverbial modifier of time and is (as a whole) a secondary member of the sentence, modifying the predicate verb emerged; eighteenth is part of that adverbial modifier, which is expressed by a phrase, and it is part of the phrase, not of the sentence: it stands on a lower level than the
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