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 She felt really happy with the new baby.
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 She sounded very surprised at the news.
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: RIGEL
PREDICATE: BELONGED TO A MEMBER OF THE CREW.
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 OF THE CREW WHICH CONTAINS:
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.