Adjective
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 19:41, 31 May 2008 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 19:42, 31 May 2008 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | :Adjectives compose a fundamental category of words in most languages. In most languages, most adjectives can be used both [[attributively]] and [[predicatively]], can be graded, and can be modified by an adverb. | + | :''[[Auctorial descriptive]]s |
| + | '':Adjectives compose a fundamental category of words in most languages. In most languages, most adjectives can be used both [[attributively]] and [[predicatively]], can be graded, and can be modified by an adverb. | ||
| In [[grammar]], an '''adjective''' is a word whose role is to [[grammatical modifier|modify]] a [[noun]] or [[pronoun]] (called the adjective's ''[[subject (grammar)|subject]]'', giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional eight [[part of speech|parts of speech]], though [[linguistics|linguists]] today distinguish adjectives from words such as [[determiner]]s that used to be considered adjectives but that are now recognized to be different. | In [[grammar]], an '''adjective''' is a word whose role is to [[grammatical modifier|modify]] a [[noun]] or [[pronoun]] (called the adjective's ''[[subject (grammar)|subject]]'', giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional eight [[part of speech|parts of speech]], though [[linguistics|linguists]] today distinguish adjectives from words such as [[determiner]]s that used to be considered adjectives but that are now recognized to be different. | ||
Revision as of 19:42, 31 May 2008
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
:Adjectives compose a fundamental category of words in most languages. In most languages, most adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively, can be graded, and can be modified by an adverb. In grammar, an adjective is a word whose role is to modify a noun or pronoun (called the adjective's subject, giving more information about what the noun or pronoun refers to. Collectively, adjectives form one of the traditional eight parts of speech, though linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that used to be considered adjectives but that are now recognized to be different.
Not all languages have adjectives, but most, including English, do. (English adjectives include big, old, and tired, among many others.) Those that don't typically use words of another part of speech, often verbs, to serve the same semantic function; for example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big", and would use a construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as "big house". Even in languages that do have adjectives, one language's adjective might not be another's; for example, where English has "to be hungry" (hungry being an adjective), French has "avoir faim" (literally "to have hunger"), and where Hebrew has the adjective "צריך" (roughly "in need of"), English uses the verb "to need".
In most languages with adjectives, they form an open class of words; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation.
