16 · Phrases
Adjectives before nouns
An adjective before a noun describes the thing or helps identify which one is meant. In the old red engine, old and red both depend on engine. This job before the noun is called premodifier.
Old and red are adjective premodifiers of the noun head engine.
Kitchen is a noun premodifier of clock; it fills the same function slot as an adjective.
The two diagrams separate the kind of word from the job it does. Old is an adjective and kitchen is a noun, but both premodify the following noun. Position can reveal the job before it reveals the word class.
Work from the noun outward
- Find the noun head in the noun phrase.
- Mark each earlier dependent that narrows that noun as a premodifier.
- Use the word’s other patterns and its meaning to decide whether it is an adjective, a noun, or another form.
A common adjective can often also follow a linking verb or take a comparative form, but neither pattern defines every adjective. The premodifier function does not identify the word class by itself.
a restricted case
Sometimes the adjective also supplies the head
Here poor still has adjective form, but no noun is expressed, so the model records both jobs on one word. The poor has an established collective meaning. Other combinations of the and an adjective do not automatically refer to a group of people.
Ten sentences from this lesson, one decision at a time.