Structures That Function as Adjectivals

Section 13.2 Structures That Function as Adjectivals

Think about how many ways English has to say something about a noun. You can say the sleeping dog (participial phrase), the dog in the yard (prepositional phrase), the dog that bit me (relative clause), the dog to avoid (infinitive phrase), or the guard dog (attributive noun). Each of those noun phrases means something different, but in every case a modifier is doing the work of characterizing or identifying the noun dog. That is the adjectival function, and English fills it with at least six distinct structural forms. Learning to recognize all six will sharpen your ability to analyze noun phrases and to understand why some modifiers must follow the noun rather than precede it.

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1. Adjective Phrases.

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The prototypical adjectival is an adjective phrase—a single adjective or an adjective with modifiers:

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the tall man
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a very interesting book
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someone happy about the news
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Multi-level labeling table for "The red car stopped"

Syntax tree for "The red car stopped" showing a prenominal adjective modifying "car"

[S [NP [DET The] [ADJ red] [N car]] [VP [V stopped]]]

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2. Nouns (Attributive).

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Nouns can function adjectivally when they modify other nouns:

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the coffee table
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a government report
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the history professor
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These are sometimes called "noun adjectivals" or "attributive nouns." They always precede the head noun.

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Multi-level labeling table for "The history professor lectured"

Syntax tree for "The history professor lectured" showing a noun adjectival modifying "professor"

[S [NP [DET The] [N history] [N professor]] [VP [V lectured]]]

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3. Prepositional Phrases.

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Prepositional phrases commonly function as adjectivals, appearing as post-modifiers inside the NP:

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the man in the hat
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a book about grammar
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a sense of accomplishment
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Multi-level labeling table for "The book on the shelf is mine"

Syntax tree for "The book on the shelf is mine" showing a PP post-modifier inside the subject NP

[S [NP [DET The] [N book] [PP [PREP on] [NP [DET the] [N shelf]]]] [VP [V is] [PRON mine]]]

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4. Relative Clauses.

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Clauses introduced by relative pronouns or adverbs function as adjectivals. They are the most structurally complex adjectival form and are covered in detail in Sections 13.10 and 13.11:

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