Adjectives

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Adjectives
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Types of Adjectives

• Attributive Precede and modify nouns, the big
  house
• Predicative Appear in predicates, The house is
  big.
• Postpositive Appear after the noun or pronoun,
  he alone, notary public

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Gradable Adjectives

• Can take qualifiers, very big, somewhat good,
  totally awesome
• Can take comparative and superlative forms,
  smarter, more likely
• Some adjectives are not gradable, e.g., atomic,
  unique, singular, dead, pregnant

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Adjectives Used as Nouns

• Adjectives that modify people, e.g., the good,
  the wise, the tired
• Adjectives that refer to nationalities and end in
  -ch, -sh, or -ese, e.g. the English, the French,
  the Japanese
• Some adjectives referring to abstractions, e.g.,
  the mystical, the unexpected, the latest

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Other Words that Function as Adjectives

• Nouns, garden tool, student loan, bus stop
• Participles, a surprising finish, a surprised
  man, the offending party, the offended party