Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Suartvik stated that there are four characteristics of adjective in t
heir book “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language” 1985:402, as follows:
a. Adjective may freely occur in attributive function and modify a noun. It
usually appears between the determiner and the head of a noun phrase including zero articles.
For example: -
An ugly painting Quirk, et al. 1985: 402 -
The round table Quirk, et al. 1985: 402 -
Good news Huddleston, 2005: 112 b.
Adjective may freely occur in predicative function and have a function as subject or object complement, as follows:
- The painting is ugly Quirk, et al. 1985: 403
- He thought the painting ugly Quirk, et al. 1985: 403
c. The adjective can be premodified by the intensifier very.
For example: -
The children are very happy Quirk, et al. 1985: 403 d.
Adjective can take comparative and superlative forms. The comparison may be means of inflection by adding suffixes
–er as comparative form and –est as superlative form, or by additional more and most of the periphrastic
comparison.
For example: -
The children are happier now Quirk, et al. 1985: 403 -
These students are more diligent Quirk, et al. 1985: 403 -
They are the happiest people I know Quirk, et al. 1985: 403 -
They are the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen Quirk, et al. 1985: 403
1.2.5 Phrase
A group of word which is as a part of sentence is called Phrase. A phrase is different from clause since Phrase does not contain subject and verb, however it
carried meaning may be single piece of meaning. There are 5 kinds of phrases, they are: Verb Phrase, Noun Phrase, Adjective Phrase, Adverb Phrase, and Prepositional
Phrase.
1.2.6 Noun Phrase
Noun phrase is a group of word or phrase which noun as its head and at least is accompanied by modifier, determiner such as the, a, his or adjective such as
beautiful, small . According to the book “A University Grammar of English”
proposed by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum stated that Noun phrase or can be abbreviated as NP has functions as subject, object, complement or sentences and
as a complement in prepositional phrases. For example:
The man The scary man
The scary man in the back row is John Brown
The scary man who became frightened He
Based on the book entitled “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language” 1985:1238-1239 proposed by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Suartvik
stated that a noun phrase contains the following constituent parts, they are: a.
The Head, it is the main noun that is modified by other elements in a noun phrase, for example:
- The scary boy sitting in the back row is my ex-boyfriend.
- I saw a scary boy in the back row which was full of audiences.
b. The determinative which is used to modify a head, for example:
- All the students
- Some new brand clothes
c. The premodification, which comprise all the items placed before the head, for
example: -
Some beautiful ladies -
All discount items d. The postmodification, which comprise all items placed notably, for example:
