| Wiktionary:English adjectives Aug 30th 2011, 01:55 Tests of whether an English word is an adjective: | ← Older revision | Revision as of 01:55, 30 August 2011 | | Line 48: | Line 48: | | | * Adjectives and participles are, sometimes: "Give me your tired, your poor, / {{...}} / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / {{...}}" (from "[[w:The New Colossus|The New Colossus]]"). | | * Adjectives and participles are, sometimes: "Give me your tired, your poor, / {{...}} / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / {{...}}" (from "[[w:The New Colossus|The New Colossus]]"). | | | * Other adjectivals usually are not. | | * Other adjectivals usually are not. | | | + | | | | + | ===Requirement for a [[predicand]]=== | | | + | Adjectives will typically require a predicand. Consider these examples with ''absent'' in adjunct function: | | | + | # '''''Absent''' from the household, Tinkerbell, Paris's famous Chihuahua, was missed.'' (Adj) | | | + | #''?'''Absent''' from the household, Paris sat in her room missing Tinkerbell.'' (Adj) | | | + | #''*'''Absent''' from the household, there was no dog.'' (Adj) | | | + | #'''''Absent''' the upper classes, many people would be much happier.'' (Prep) | | | + | #'''''Absent''' the upper classes, there would be fewer wars and less crime.'' (Prep) | | | + | In 1, Tinkerbell, the subject of the sentence is the predicand, and is thus said to be absent. In 2, the subject and natural predicand is Paris, though we can figure out that the intended predicand was likely Tinkerbell. In 3, the subject of the sentence is the dummy pronoun ''there'', which cannot be a predicand. This causes the sentence to be ungrammatical. In 4, and 5, however, ''absent'' is a preposition, not an adjective and no predicand is needed. Thus, even when no predicand is available, as in 5, the sentence remains grammatical. | | | | | | | | ===Common cases=== | | ===Common cases=== | | |
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