GOALS FOR TODAY: ALL ABOUT
ADJECTIVES AND VERB TYPES
ADJECTIVES
ADJECTIVES ARE, BY THEMSELVES,
JUST MEMBERS OF A CLASS OF
WORDS. IF YOU LOOK AT A WORD IN
THE DICTIONARY, YOU CAN SEE
WHETHER IT IS LISTED AS AN
ADJECTIVE, A NOUN, A VERB, ETC.
ADJECTIVES ARE JUST MEMBERS OF
ONE CLASS OF WORDS CALLED
“ADJECTIVES.”
DICTIONARIES USUALLY LIST
ADJECTIVES BY THE ABBREVIATION
ADJ.
IN A SENTENCE, HOWEVER,
ADJECTIVES ARE MORE THAN JUST
ADJECTIVES. THEY ARE FORMED
INTO ADJECTIVE PHRASES.
THUS, IT IS POSSIBLE TO LOOK AT
A SENTENCE AND SAY:
THERE ARE THREE ADJECTIVES IN
THIS SENTENCE – MEANING THREE
WORDS THAT I CAN LOOK UP AND
FIND ADJ NEXT TO IN THE
DICTIONARY.
THE INCREDIBLY HUNGRY DOG
ATE THE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES I
LEFT ON THE WOODEN TABLE.
BUT, ALSO IN A SENTENCE, ADJECTIVES FORM
PART OF AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE. TRY TO
THINK OF A PHRASE AS A “BUILDING BLOCK”
OF A SENTENCE.
ADJECTIVE PHRASES CONSIST OF AN
ADJECTIVE AND ANY WORDS THAT MODIFY
THAT ADJECTIVE. ADVERBS CAN MODIFY
ADJECTIVES.
THUS, IN THIS SENTENCE, THERE ARE THREE
ADJECTIVE PHRASES:
THE INCREDIBLY HUNGRY DOG ATE THE
CHOCOLATE BROWNIES I LEFT ON THE
WOODEN TABLE.
INCREDIBLY HUNGRY
CHOCOLATE
WOODEN
NOTE THAT TWO OF THE ADJECTIVE PHRASES
ARE JUST EACH A SINGLE ADJECTIVE. ONE
HAS AN ADVERB MODIFYING IT.
ADJECTIVE PHRASES, BECAUSE THEY
ARE BUILDING BLOCKS, CAN FIT INTO
MANY DIFFERENT POSITIONS IN A
SENTENCE:
1. THE MOST COMMON PLACE IS THE
POSITION IN FRONT OF A NOUN.
THE INCREDIBLY HUNGRY DOG
CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
WOODEN TABLE
2. A LESS COMMON PLACE IS
AFTER A NOUN OR PRONOUN.
NOBODY HUNGRY SHOULD PASS UP
THESE BROWNIES.
(NOBODY IS AN INDEFINITE
PRONOUN; HUNGRY IS AN
ADJECTIVE PHRASE THAT
MODIFIES “NOBODY.”)
THE PRESIDENT ELECT IS OVER
THERE.
3. ANOTHER COMMON PLACE TO
SEE AN ADJECTIVE PHRASE IS
AFTER A LINKING VERB. AS SUCH,
THE ADJECTIVE PHRASE IS PART
OF THE PREDICATE OF THE
SENTENCE AND IT MODIFIES
(DESCRIBES) THE SUBJECT OF THE
SENTENCE. THEREFORE IT IS
CALLED A SUBJECT COMPLEMENT.
A LINKING VERB IS A SPECIAL
SUBSET OF INTRANSITIVE VERBS.
SOMETIMES THESE VERBS ARE
CALLED “COPULAR” VERBS
(COPULA = LATIN FOR “LINK UP”)
HERE ARE SOME LINKING VERBS OF ENGLISH:
appear John appeared happy with the
promotion.
be
The graduate students are tired.
feel
baby.
She felt really happy with the new
look
This person looks really tired.
remain Everybody remained silent for a few
minutes.
seem
This secretary seems very efficient.
smell
That perfume smelled so fresh.
sound
news.
She sounded very surprised at the
stay
Everybody stayed calm.
taste
This grapefruit tastes very bitter.
become He became rich.
get
She got upset with her students.
grow (meaning become) The professor grew
frustrated.
prove
The new secretary proved very
friendly.
run
The children ran wild.
turn
The milk turned sour.
THUS, IN THE SENTENCE “TIBET IS
NOT FREE” WE HAVE:
A SUBJECT THAT CONTAINS
:A NOUN PHRASE WHICH CONSISTS OF
ONE PROPER NOUN: TIBET
A PREDICATE THAT CONTAINS:
A LINKING FINITE VERB PHRASE:
IS (which is also the lexical
verb of the sentence and which
is present tense, simple aspect,
third person singular of the
verb “be”)
AN ADVERB WHICH MODIFIES THE
VERB: NOT
A SUBJECT COMPLEMENT WHICH IS AN
ADJECTIVE PHRASE CONTAINING ONE
ADJECTIVE: FREE
TYPES OF VERBS AND HOW THEY
ARE RELATED TO SENTENCE
ANALYSIS.
THERE ARE THREE MAJOR TYPES
OF VERBS WE HAVE STUDIED:
TRANSITIVE (HAS A DIRECT
OBJECT)
INTRANSTIVE (DOES NOT HAVE A
DIRECT OBJECT)
->LINKING (HAS A SUBJECT
COMPLEMENT)
WE ARE NOW GOING TO REVIEW
HOW ALL THIS INFORMATION
LEADS US TO ANALYZE WHOLE
SENTENCES IN ENGLISH:
HERE IS A SENTENCE ABOUT A DOG RIGEL
THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ON THE TITANIC.
RIGEL BELONGED TO A MEMBER OF THE CREW.
1. LOCATE THE FINITE VERB PHRASE –
BELONGED.
2.
LOCATE THE SUBJECT - RIGEL
3. SEPARATE THE SUBJECT AND THE
PREDICATE (PREDICATE = PRETTY MUCH
EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT PART OF THE THE
SUBJECT):
SUBJECT:
PREDICATE:
CREW.
RIGEL
BELONGED TO A MEMBER OF THE
4. ANALYZE THE SUBJECT FIRST: THIS IS
A NOUN PHRASE CONSISTING OF ONE PROPER
NOUN: RIGEL
5.
ANALYZE THE PREDICATE SECOND:
5A. DETERMINE WHAT TYPE OF VERB THIS
IS – BELONGED: INTRANSITIVE; SIMPLE
PAST.
5B. FIGURE OUT WHAT THE WORDS
FOLLOWING THE VERB PHRASE ARE DOING IN
RELATIONSHIP TO THE VERB:
TO – IS A COMPLEMENT OF “BELONG” SO:
TO A MEMBER OF THE CREW IS A COMPLEMENT
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE THAT CONTAINS:
A NOUN PHRASE: A MEMBER
WHICH CONTAINS:
OF THE CREW
A NOUN: MEMBER
A DETERMINER: A
A NOUN-MODIFIYING PREPOSITIONAL
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE: 0F THE CREW
WHICH CONSISTS OF
A PREPOSITION: OF
A NOUN: CREW
A DETERMINER: THE
WORKSHEET:
SENTENCE:
THOSE WELL KNOWN DOGS SURVIVED THE SINKING.
MEGA-ANALYSIS QUESTIONS:
1.
What is the finite verb phrase?
2.
What is the subject?
3.
What is the predicate?
SUBJECT ANALYSIS:
4.
What is the noun phrase?
5.
What is the structure of the noun phrase?
Head noun:
Adjective phrase:
Determiner:
PREDICATE ANALYSIS:
6. What type of verb is this?
(transitive/intransitive/linking).
7. What is the analyzed structure of the words that
come after the verb?
FAST QUIZ FOR MORE POINTS!
Draw a line THROUGH each adjective. Draw a box AROUND
adjective phrases. Find one adjective phrase used as a
subject complement and draw an X through it!
Of all the dogs on the Titanic, only two survived.
One a Pomeranian was owned by Miss Margaret Hays of New
York.
She tucked the tiny dog inside her coat and got
into a lifeboat 7. The other was a Pekinese named Sun
Yat Sen and owned by Henry Sleeper.
He boarded a
lifeboat with his master. Because both lifeboats were
nearly empty, no one objected to the dogs being there.
A passenger went below and released all the dogs
from the flooded kennels before the Titanic disappeared
below the icy waves.
There are tales of Rigel, a
Newfoundland that belonged to a crewman.
Rigel swam in
the freezing sea in a desperate attempt to find his
master.
Rigel apparently was taken on board the
Carpathia and given medical attention and food.