What Are Adjectives?

The class of adjectives is one of the more problematic ones in English grammar. In order to see what kind of problems and questions we are dealing with we need to address the following two questions: what adjectives are, and how we can recognize them.




The most common answer to this question, provided by most grammars, is ‘adjectives modify nouns' (Pence, Hodges 51, Johnson 31). This answer (or definition) may seem obvious enough but, as Roberts notes, this definition will lead to some serious difficulties. Nouns form their plurals with -s, adjectives modify nouns, but to what class does stone belong in the stone wall? Clearly it is an adjective, it modifies or qualifies wall, but stone also has a plural in stones. Roberts says, "If we define some parts of speech on the basis of form [nouns forming a plural with -s, MA] and others on the basis of syntax [adjectives modify nouns, MA], we will necessarily find many words which fit two definitions at once."




Not a very satisfying conclusion if you like your parts of speech in neat boxes.




Fries offers a different definition. He gets rid of the word adjective and adopts Class 3 words (Class 1 words are (what we call) nouns, Class 2 words are (what we call) verbs). His definition is that a word belongs to Class 3 if it fit into the following formula: The [Class 3 word] [noun] is [Class 3 word]. Good is a Class 3 word because the good student is good. Fries continues by giving a set of three ‘important formal contrasts' for Class 3 words. Neither his definition nor his formal contrasts however offer a solution to the problem of the stone wall. Fitting stone wall into his formula gives the stone wall is stone, which is, if not questionable, at least not very obvious. And what about the wooden chair? Is that chair wooden, or wood? His ‘formal contrasts' don't provide us with an answer either.




Interestingly enough, Palmer doesn't offer us a...