A study of adjective phrases in www.bbc.co.uk [UK version] and www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued in October 2007 - USD Repository

  

A STUDY OF ADJECTIVE PHRASES

   (UK VERSION) AND

IN WWW.BBC.CO.UK

WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM NEWS ARTICLES

  

ISSUED IN OCTOBER 2007

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

TEGUH SATRIA PRAMANA JAYA

  Student Number: 044214055

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

  2008

  

A STUDY OF ADJECTIVE PHRASES

   (UK VERSION) AND

IN WWW.BBC.CO.UK

WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM NEWS ARTICLES

  

ISSUED IN OCTOBER 2007

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

TEGUH SATRIA PRAMANA JAYA

  Student Number: 044214055

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

  2008

  LAW OF ATTRACTION

  

Desire. Get a strong enthusiasm for that which you want in your life, a real longing for

something which is not there now.

  Decision. Know definitely what it is that you want, what it is that you want to do or have, and be willing to pay in spiritual values.

  Ask. [When sure and enthusiastic] ask for it in simple, concise language.

  Believe. Believe in the accomplishment with strong faith, consciously and subconsciously.

  Work. Work at it. . . a few minutes daily, seeing yourself in

  the finished picture. Never outline details, but rather see yourself enjoying the particular thing . . . Eventually, you will see a time where it will just appear, as a gift or such, or you may see an opportunity to get what you we're asking for.

  Feel gratitude. Always remember to say, "Thank you, God [or

  the universe]," and begin to feel the gratitude in your heart. The most powerful prayer we can ever make is those three words, provided we really feel it. Feel as though you already have what you wanted.

  Feel expectancy. Train yourself to live in a state of happy expectancy...

  Find a way it will appear in your life, and keep believing in that. May it be that someone gives it to you, or you find an initiation to get it.

  Mildred Mann (1904 -1971)

  This thesis is dedicated to My lovely father and mother My dearest sisters Angel and Anggi Firstly, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to the Jesus Christ and Mother Maria for the blessing, protection, and wonderful time in Jogjakarta. I had never thought that I could go through this three and a half years without Him and Mother Maria.

  I am indebted a gratitude to Dr. Francis Borgias Alip, MPd.,M.A. as my advisor for his time, advice, understanding and patience in guiding me during the writing of my undergraduate thesis. I would like to say “thank you” to Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum., my co-advisor for the time to read this thesis and help me make some revisions on it.

  Next, I thank my lovely father and mother, who have given me a chance to have my study in Sadhar, and my dearest sisters who always encourage and support me in finishing my study.

  Beside, I address my gratitude to all my friends I have in Jogjakarta. I thank them for the happy and sad time that we have together. The last but not least, my thanks go to all outstanding people who I have met in Jogjakarta. I have learned many significant values from all of them.

  Teguh Satria Pramana Jaya

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ........... .............................................................................................. i

APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ........................................................................................... iii

MOTTO PAGE .. ...................................................................................................... iv

DEDICATION PAGE ............................................................................................. v

ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS .................................................................................... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT ................ ............................................................................................. ix

ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. x

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION......................................................................... 1 A. Background of the Study.......................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation................................................................................ 4 C. Objectives of the Study............................................................................. 4 D. Benefits of the Study................................................................................ 4 E. Definition of Terms.................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE...................................................... 7 A. Review of Related Studies....................................................................... 7 B. Review of Related Theories..................................................................... 10 B.1. Position of Adjectives............................................................... 10 B.2. The Elements of Adjective Phrases.......................................... 13 B.2.a. Complement............................................................... 13 B.2.b. Attribute..................................................................... 18 B.2.c. Adjunct....................................................................... 19 B.2.d. Specifier..................................................................... 21 A.3. Adjective Phrase Structure....................................................... 21 A.4. Other Phrases and Clause......................................................... 24 C. Theoretical Framework........................................................................... 27

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY..................................................................... 29

A. Object of Study ...................................................................................... 29 B. Method of Study...................................................................................... 29 C. Research Procedure................................................................................. 30 C.1. Data Collection......................................................................... 30 C.2. Data Analysis............................................................................ 31

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS.................................................................................... 33

A. The Position of the Adjective Phrases ..................................................... 33 A.1. Attributive Position.................................................................... 34 A.2. Predicative Position................................................................... 36 A.3. Postpositive Position................................................................. 38

  C. The Function of the elements.................................................................... 51 C.1. A Complement............................................................................ 52 C.2. An Attribute................................................................................. 58 C.3. An Adjunct.................................................................................. 62 C.4. A Specifier................................................................................... 66

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION............................................................................... 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................... 71

APPENDECIS .......................................................................................................... 75

Appendix 1..................................................................................................... 75 Appendix 2..................................................................................................... 99 Appendix 3..................................................................................................... 107

  TEGUH SATRIA PRAMANA JAYA . A Study of Adjective Phrase in www.bbc.co.uk

(UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com News Articles Issued In October 2007.

Yogyakarta: Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University,2008.

  An adjective phrase, which has the same distribution and function as an adjective, plays an important role in the construction of simple or complex sentences. An adjective phrase is a phrase which has an adjective as its head. It may consist of a single adjective or complete elements like in the Phrase-bar theory. It needs other phrases when it occurs in complex form. The phrases have their functions in the structure of an adjective phrase. This thesis will study the position, the elements and the elements' functions of the adjective phrases that have been identified in both www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and

  

www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued in October 2007. They are chosen because

they are mostly accessed by people when looking for the crucial news every day.

  Thus, this study has three objectives. The first objective is to identify the adjective phrase and to observe its position. The second objective is to find out and to analyze the elements that occur in the adjective phrases. The last objective is to categorize the phrases and the clauses as the elements of the adjective phrases based on their function.

  In order to achieve three objectives, a descriptive study of language is applied. It describes the adjective phrases that are used by the news articles in the two websites. The analysis of this study is based on corpus and data that are collected regarding three characteristics of the descriptive linguistic; objective, empirical and exact.

  From the analysis, it can be concluded that 533 adjective phrases or 74,70% are found in attributive, 127 or 18,81% in predicative and only 15 or 2,22% postpositive position. Most of the adjective phrases are constructed in bare form 508 or 75,25%. The rests are in a complex form 167 or 24,74%. In the complex form, the adjective phrase occurs with phrases and clauses and the percentage of each occurrence is as follows: the intensifier phrase is 78 or about 11,55%, the prepositional phrase is 29 or 4,29%, the adverb phrase is 15 or 2,22%, the verb phrase is 12 or 1,77%, the noun phrase is 4 or 0,59% and the clause is 7 or 1,03% . The phrases or clauses have certain functions in the structure of the adjective phrase. They may fill namely: complement, attribute, adjunct and specifier. A prepositional phrase, verb phrase, noun phrase and clause can function as a complement of an adjective phrase when they are selected by the head to complete the head's meaning. The next element of the head is an attribute. The elements of the adjective phrase that can occur as the attributes are an intensifier phrase, adverb phrase and noun phrase. The other element is an adjunct. A verb phrase, prepositional phrase and clause can function as the adjunct if they only give additional information to the head of the adjective phrases. The last function of the elements is a specifier; articles the and demonstrative pronoun that and this. The adjective phrases in most cases do not have a specifier and the consequence is that the specifier position is rarely filled. TEGUH SATRIA PRAMANA JAYA . A Study of Adjective Phrase in www.bbc.co.uk

(UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com News Articles Issued In October 2007.

Yogyakarta: Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University,2008.

  Frase kata sifat yang memiliki distribusi dan fungsi yang sama dengan kata sifat memainkan peranan penting dalam pembentukkan kalimat sederhana maupun kompleks. Frase kata sifat adalah sebuah frase yang mempunyai kata sifat sebagai induknya. Frase kata sifat dapat berupa sebuah kata sifat saja atau dengan komponen-komponen yang lebih lengkap seperti yang terurai di teori frase-Bar. Pembentukan frase kata sifat yang lengkap membutuhkan frase-frase lain. Frase-frase tersebut memiliki fungsi tersendiri dalam struktur sebuah frase kata sifat. Skripsi ini mempelajari posisi, komponen- komponen serta fungsi komponen dari frase kata sifat yang digunakan di dalam artikel berita pada bulan Oktober di www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com. Kedua situs tersebut dipilihkan karena kedua situs tersebut banyak diakses oleh orang- orang ketika mereka menginginkan berita yang sangat penting setiap hari.

  Studi ini memiliki tiga tujuan. Tujuan pertama adalah mengidentifikasi frase kata sifat dan mempelajari posisinya. Tujuan kedua adalah menemukan dan menganalisis frase-frase maupun klausa yang menjadi bagian dari frase kata sifat. Tujuan terakhir adalah mengelompokkan frase-frase dan klausa-klausa tersebut berdasarkan fungsinya dalam struktur frase kata sifat.

  Pembelajaran bahasa secara deskriptif diterapkan guna mencapai ketiga tujuan tersebut. Pembelajaran ini akan menggambarkan penggunaan frase kata sifat oleh penulis-penulis kolum berita di kedua situs tersebut. Analysis studi ini didasarkan pada korpus dan data yang sesuai dengan ketiga ciri penelitian deskriktif yaitu objektif, empiris dan pasti.

  Dari hasil analisis dapat disimpulkan bahwa 533 frase kata sifat atau 78,96% ditemukan pada posisi attributif, 127 atau 18,81% pada posisi predikatif dan hanya 15 atau 2,22% pada posisi pospositif. 508 frase kata sifat atau 75,25% terbentuk tanpa element. Sisanya 167 atau 24,74% memiliki bentuk yang kompleks. Dalam pembentukannya yang komplek, frase kata sifat membutuhkan frase-frase atau klausa- klausa lain. Persentase frase-frase maupun klausa-klausa tersebut adalah sebagai berikut: frase intensifier 11,55% atau 78, frase kata depan 4,29% atau 29, frase kata keterangan 2,22% atau 15, frase kata kerja 1,77% atau 12. frase kata benda 0,59% atau 4 dan klausa 1,03% atau 7. Frase-frase dan klausa-klausa tersebut memiliki fungsi tertentu dalam struktur frase kata sifat: pelengkap, atribut, adjunct dan specifier. Frase kata depan, frase kata kerja, frase kata benda dan klausa berfungsi sebagai pelengkap dari frase kata sifat ketika frase-frase tersebut diperlukan oleh kata sifat untuk melengkapi arti dari kata sifat tersebut. Elemen berikut dari kata sifat adalah atribut. Elemen-elemen yang dapat mnjadi atribut dalam frase kata sifat adalah frase intensifier, frase kata keterangan dan frase kata benda. Elemen lain adalah adjunct. Frase kata kerja, frase kata depan dan klausa berfungsi sebagai adjunct jika frase-frase tersebut hanya memberikan tambahan informasi pada kata sifat dari frase kata sifat. Fungsi terakhir dari elemen tersebut adalah dipenuhi dalam frase kata sifat yang ditemukan dalam artikel-artikel berita tersebut adalah specifier.

  INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

  Language according to Wardaugh (1977: 3) is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for communication. The system meant by Wardaugh is that language is a system with several levels, namely phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Phonology deals with the way sounds used in individual languages. Morphology studies the structure of words. Syntax concerns with the structure of phrases and sentences, and semantics with the study of meaning.

  In their book An introduction to Language, Fromkin and Rodman (1993: 73) states: Knowing a language includes the ability to put words together to form phrases and sentences that express our thoughts. That part of grammar that represents a speaker's knowledge of the structure of phrases and sentences is called syntax. The meaning of a sentence depends to a great extent on the meaning of the words which it is composed. But the structure of the sentence also contributes to meaning.

  Syntax is a rule of putting words in specific structure to form phrases and sentences. The texts either simple or complex will be followed fully when having a thorough knowledge about syntax by analyzing the structure of the elements in sentences. Furthermore, the clear understanding of syntax will be helpful in producing a good article or text by smartly combining the elements of the sentences. To build up the good and correct sentences, phrases play important roles. An adjective phrase is one of the phrases that is usually used.

  An adjective phrase is a phrase which has an adjective as its head. It may consist of a single adjective or complete elements like in the X-bar theory. It needs other phrases like a noun phrase, verb phrase, adverb phrase and prepositional phrase when it occurs in complex form. It has the same distribution and function as an adjective (Asher, 1994: 5150).

  In their book A Student's Grammar of the English Language, Greenbaum and Quirk classify the syntactic functions of the adjectives into seven. First function is attributive and predicative. The adjectives are attributive when they premodify the head of a noun phrase, e.g. a small garden. They are predicative when they function as subject complement or object complement, e.g. He seems careless (C s ); I find him careless (C o ).

  The second function is postpositive. The adjectives can immediately follow the noun or pronoun they modify, e.g. something useful. The third is the adjectives with complementation. The adjectives with complementation normally will require postposition, e.g. I know an actor suitable for the part. The fourth is the adjectives as heads of noun phrases. The adjectives can function as heads of noun phrases, which can be subject of the sentence, complement, object, and prepositional complement, e.g. The

  

innocent are often deceived by the unscrupulous; She admires the mystical. The fifth is

  verbless clauses. The adjectives can function as the sole realization of a verbless clause, e.g. The man, quietly assertive, spoke to the assembled workers. The sixth function is contingent verbless clauses. One type of verbless clause, which is often introduced by a subordinator, expresses the circumstance or condition under which what is said in the superordinate clause applies, e.g. Right or wrong, he always comes off worst in an argument because of the his inability to speak correctly. The last function is exclamatory adjective clauses. The adjectives can be exclamation, with or without an initial wh- element, e.g. Excellent! ; How wonderful!

  Based on the syntactic function of the adjectives, it is clear that the adjective phrase, which has the same distribution and function as an adjective (Asher, 1994: 5150), also plays an important role in the construction of simple or complex sentences. That is why, the writer choose “adjective phrase” as the study. In this thesis, the syntactic contribution of the adjective phrase in sentences will not be the concern since it has become the study of other writers. As consequence, this study will focus on the adjective phrase itself; the elements and the elements' functions of the adjective phrase.

  The aims of this study are to find, to analyze, and to discuss the position of the adjective phrases, the elements and the elements' functions of the adjective phrases that have been used in both www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com articles issued on October 2007.

  In this study, the writer will use the adjective phrases in www.bbc.co.uk (UK

  

version) and www.washingtonpost.com articles as the source of the data. BBC (British

  Broadcasting Corporation) is the first and biggest broadcasting organization in the United Kingdom. The scientific origins of broadcasting are over 100 years old. Washington Post Company is the international news and communications company. The Washington Post is one of the most respected daily newspapers in the United States. It means that both websites will serve crucial news in the world every day. They also cover current and hottest news and also present explicit information which denotes time and place very well. That is why www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com are used as a source in this research.

  B. PROBLEM FORMULATION

  1. Where are the adjective phrases in sentence structures in www.bbc.co.uk (UK

  version) and www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued on October 2007

  located?

  2. What are the elements of the adjective phrases in www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued on October 2007?

  3. What are the functions of the elements?

  C. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

  This study has three objectives. The first objective is to identify the adjective phrases in www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued on October 2007 and to observe their position which can be in attributive, predicative or postpositive position. The second objective is to find out and to analyze the elements that occur in the adjective phrases in www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and

  

www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued on October 2007. They can be an adverb

  phrase, noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, intensifier phrase and clauses. The third objective is to categorize the phrases and the clauses as the elements of the adjective phrases based on their function. The elements can function as a complement, attribute or adjunct in the adjective phrase.

  D. BENEFIT OF THE STUDY

  Theoretically, it is expected that the findings will give more contribution to the study of phrases especially the adjective phrase. This study is helpful for readers to enrich their knowledge about the adjective phrase like where the adjective phrase can be located in sentences, what can be the elements of the adjective phrase and how the function of the elements in the adjective phrase is. Particularly this study is useful for the readers who want to compare the adjective phrases in the BBC and Washington Post on-line news articles issued on October 2007. Moreover, it is essential that the readers can produce the adjective phrase, whether it is in a simple or complex form.

  E. DEFINATION OF TERMS

  Some terms are basically used in this thesis: adjective, phrase, and adjective phrase.

  According to Asher, an adjective is a major word class, containing words that describes properties or qualities (1994: 28) There are three positions of adjectives: attributives, predicative and postpositive

  (Quirk et al, 1985: 418). The adjectives are attributive when it modifies its noun directly (Bhat, 1994: 98). The adjectives used in predicative position function as subject complement after linking verb like be, seem, look, feel and object complement after verbs like consider, believe, find (Leech,1979: 193). The postpositive adjectives are adjectives that immediately follow the noun or pronoun they modify (Quirk et al, 1985: 1293).

  A phrase is a maximal projection of a category of word (Dwijatmoko, 2002: 7).

  An adjective phrase is a phrase with an adjective as head, as in (He was) very happy (Quirk, 1973: 115).

THEORETICAL REVIEW

  Chapter II will cover three parts; review of related studies, review of related theories and theoretical framework. The first part is the review of another study that also concerns about adjective phrase. Another study is needed to show the position of this current study. The second part is the review of theories that are used to accomplish the thesis. The theory of the adjective position is important since it will be helpful in the identification of the adjective phrase. Next, the review of the adjective phrase will include more explanation about the occurrence of the adjective phrase with its element, either in a minimal or complex form. The theory of the adjective phrase structure will be a significance part in the review since it shows how the adjective phrase is structured by using an X-Bar theory. Then, the review will also include the theories of other phrases and clause since they are the elements of the adjective phrase. The last part is the theoretical framework. It shows how the theories and another study are related to the study of this thesis.

A. Review of Related Studies

  This review will discuss the findings of two researches that have relation with this study. The findings are the result of Sanata Dharma University student's thesis researches.

  First, a thesis entitled An Analysis on the Structure and the Use of Adjective

  

Phrases in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome by Patricia Dewanti Nur Prastiwi, 1999, tries to analyze the elements and the use of adjective phrases in Edith Wharton's novel entitled Enthan Frome. From her research, the writer concludes that adjunct is the most frequently used element since it has four categories of adjective phrase adjunct. Although adjunct is the most frequently used element, there are a great number of adverb phrases which have a function as an adjective phrase attributes. She also states that the adjective phrases give a specific meaning to the sentences. The elimination of adjective phrases may differ the meaning of the sentences.

  Furthermore, the adjective phrases in Ethan Frome have three types of adjective phrase elements. The first type is a complement. A complement is always attached to the right of the head. There are 82 complements appear in the novel. An adjective phrase may take some phrasal categories as its complement, namely a prepositional phrase, to- infinitive verb phrase, and clause. There are 38 prepositional phrases, 30 to-infinitive verb phrases, and 14 clauses occur in the novel as the adjective phrase complements. The second type of adjective phrase elements is an attribute. There are 90 attributes of adjective phrases occur in the novel. The adjective phrases take an intensifier phrase and an adverb phrase as its attribute. There are 22 intensifier phrases and 68 adverb phrases in the novel as the adjective phrase attributes. The third type of adjective phrase element is an adjunct. There are 94 in the novel. There are 42 prepositional phrases, 33 clauses, 12 adverb phrases, and 7 to-infinitive verb phrases functioning as the adjective phrase adjuncts. Adjective phrases have three functions in sentences. The first function of adjective phrases is the attribute of noun phrases. There are 1119 adjectives functioning as the attributes of noun phrase. The second function of adjective phrases is as the subject complement. There are 293 adjective phrases functioning as the subject complement. The third function of adjective phrases is as the object complement. There are 79 adjective phrases functioning as the object complement.

  Second, another thesis titled A study on English Adjective Phrases in the Fashion

  

and Style Articles on New York Times Published in December 2002 and January 2003 by

  Holan Nauli Christine Siahaan, 2003, analyzes the occurrence of the adjective phrase in sentence and its elements on New York Times Published in December 2002 and January 2003. From her research, the writer concludes that an adjective phrase occurs in a projection with other elements as pre-modifiers and post-modifiers, and it functions as attributive or predicative in the sentence.

  In addition, a pre-modifier can be an attribute and a specifier element. The attributes are the intensifier elements such as so, very, too, still, etc, adverbs, and the comparison. However, the specifiers are determiners that or this that function as the condition of the head. While a post-modifier element can be adjuncts and complements.

  Adjuncts are the optional elements because they only give circumstantial information to the head adjectives. An adjunct can be a preposition phrase, verb phrase (to-infinitive), or clause from. The only adverb taking the position of adjunct is enough. The comparison adjectives can function as the adjunct in the adjective phrase structures as they are giving the additional information to the head adjective by comparing. In additional, these comparison more or less can not leave their attribute elements. Meanwhile, the complement is an obligatory element in adjective phrases structures. In some cases, the complement can be omitted although it is stated explicitly, e.g. aware.

  Moreover, for its presence in sentences, an adjective phrase has two functions: attributive and predicative. As attributive, the adjective phrase heads have a minimal form, without complement element. As predicative, the adjective phrases function as subject complements or object complements.

  This current study is similar to the thesis done by Prastiwi and Nauli. First, this study is also about the adjective phrase. Second, the discussion of this study also includes the analysis about the elements of the adjective phrases and their functions. However, this current study is different from the previous studies. First, this current study will have discussion about the position of the adjective phrase in the sentences. Second, this study uses the different source as the data of the analysis. This study takes the adjective phrases

  www.bbc.co.uk (UK version) and

  from the on-line news articles in

  

www.washingtonpost.com news articles issued on October 2007. The previous studies

discuss deeper the use of the adjective phrases in Ethan Frome and New York Times.

  Prastiwi only took the adjective phrases from Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and Nauli used New York Times as the data of her study.

B. Review of Related Theories

  1. Position of Adjectives According to Quirk et al, there are three positions of adjectives: attributives, predicative and postpositive (1985: 418). An adjective phrase has the same distribution and function as an adjective (Asher, 1994: 5150). As a result, the adjective phrase is also found on the attributive, predicative, or postpositive position.

a. In the Attributive Position

  The adjectives are attributive when it modifies its noun directly and names an attribute of the noun (Emlyn, 1950: 81). They are placed between the determiners and the head of NP it modifies, for example: the old lady and a small hostel. The adjectives can modify the head of an NP and also becomes the head of an NP. When they modify the head noun, the emphasis is on denoting a property associated with the meaning of the head, whereas they are used as the head of NP they emphasize on denoting a property or its possessor as an entity by itself (Bhat, 1994: 98).

  There are three types of adjectives that are used as the head of NP (Quirk, 1990:138). The first type adjectives refer to certain fairly well-established classes of persons, for example:

  (1) The very lazy are punished by the teacher. (2) The government will have to supply jobs for our unemployed. (3) The rules are fair for both the poor and the rich. The adjectives the very lazy, our unemployed, or both poor and rich have plural and generic reference. The use of the definite article shows the generic reference.

  The second type is adjectives that refer to nationalities. Sometimes they are used to refer some part of the nation, for example teams or troops.

  (4) The English will met The French in final UEFA. (5) The agricultural Turkish The third type is adjectives that have abstract references.

  (6) The biggest (match) is held in the last summer.

  (7) The very hottest (news) is that they divorce. (8) The worst is never expected to arrive

  According Bhat, the attributive adjectives can not be followed by complement (1994; 61)

b. In the Predicative Position

  The adjectives used in predicative position function as subject complement after linking verb like be, seem, look, feel and object complement after verbs like consider,

  

believe, find (Leech,1979: 193). Predicative adjectives functioning as subject complement

can follow NP, finite clause, and non-finite clause (Quirk et al, 1985: 417).

  (9) Many of the students are clever. (10) That you love her is obvious. (11) Reading the classics novels are enjoyable. Predicative adjectives that function as object complements can follow a direct

  object and clause, for example: (12) I believe her happy.

  (13) She considers what he did foolish. They express the result of the process denoted by the verbs, for example:

  (14) They pushed the door close (=the door can be closed) As the predicative adjectives, they will change from a dependent element to an independent element. The sign of independent that the predicative adjectives have is their ability to take complements.

c. In the Postpositive Position

  The postpositive adjectives are adjectives that can immediately follow the noun or pronoun they modify. They are divided into three types. First, the postpositive adjectives required by the head of an NP include indefinite pronouns ending in -body, -one, and

• thing and adverbs wh-forms, for example:

  (15) everything metal (16) nothing extraordinary (17) we're not going anywhere very exciting.

  Second, the postpositive adjectives that are required by complementation of adjectives include adjective phrases having a prepositional phrase or to-infinitive verb phrase as complement, for example: (18) I know an actor suitable for the part.

  (19) The boys easiest to teach were in my class. The first and second types of the postpositive adjectives are always regarded the reduced relative clause.

  Third, the postpositive adjectives that are required by particular noun-adjectives combinations such as The President elect and blood royal (Quirk et al, 1985: 1293).

2. The Elements of the Adjective Phrases

  Like the other types of phrases, an adjective phrase may also have five phrase elements. They are a head, complement, attribute, adjunct and specifier. They have certain function in their occurrences within the adjective phrase that is explained in the following part. a. A complement is an element which a head needs to complete its meaning. According to Leech and Svartvik, a complement plays a significant role in a grammatical construction to complete the meaning of the head. The absence of a complement in certain phrase may cause an ill-formed construction (1979: 220). An adjective may need or not need a complement. The adjectives angry and different need a complement.

  (20) Mr Smith is angry with some students. (21) Mary is very different from her sister. The complement of angry is the prepositional phrase with some students, and the complement of different is the prepositional phrase from her sister. The heads need the complements semantically. With some students is needed to show the direction of Mr Smith's anger, and from her sister is needed to show who Mary is very different from.

  The complement is not present explicitly in a sentence when it may be understood from context or probably not important for the message exchange.

  (22) Mr Robinson was very angry in the meeting (23) The new manager is very ambitious.

  The complements of angry and ambitious are not stated since the speaker of the sentences only want to give the fact that Mr. Robinson was very angry and the manager is ambitious.

  A complement can not be separated from the head because of their close relationship. The proposing of the complements results in the ungrammaticality of the sentences.

  (24) *With some students, Mr Smith is angry.

  (25) *From her sister, Mary is very different. An adjective may take several phrase categories as its complement. The first category of adjective complement is prepositional phrase.

  (26) good at mathematics (27) responsible for the refreshment

  

Good takes at mathematics and responsible takes for the refreshment as their

complement.

  There are three tests to identify a prepositional phrase as the complement of an adjective (Dwijatmoko, 2002: 23). First, the noun phrase, which functions as the complement of preposition, can be replaced with what or who to form a question.

  (28) Mary is responsible for the refreshment. ⇒ What is Mary responsible for? (29) Tina is angry with Mark. ⇒ Who is Tina angry with? The refreshment is replaced by what and Mark is replaced by who form a question.

  Second, the noun phrase, which functions as the complement of preposition, can occur as the focus in a cleft sentence.

  (30) It is the refreshment that Mary is responsible for. (31) It is Mark that Tina is angry with.

  The refreshment and Mark become the focuses of (30) and (31) respectively.

  Third, the noun phrase, which functions as the complement of preposition, can occur in a pseudo-cleft sentence.

  (32) What Mary is responsible for is the refreshment.

  (33) Who Tina is angry with is Mark.

  The refreshment and Mark become the focuses of (32) and (33) respectively.

  The second category of adjective complement is a to-infinitive verb phrase.

  (34) Mary is eager to study abroad. (35) The children are ready to swim.

  

To study abroad and to swim are complements of the adjectives eager and ready. Those

  three tests that are used to identify a prepositional phrase as the complement of an adjective are also applicable for a to-infinitive verb phrase. First, a to-infinitive adjective complement can be identified using a what question.

  (36) What is Mary eager to do? (37) What are the children ready to do? To study abroad and to swim are the answers of questions (36) and (37).

  Second, a to-infinitive adjective complement is the focus in a cleft sentence.

  (38) It is to study abroad that Mary is eager. (39) It is to swim that the children are ready.

  To study abroad and to swim are the focus of the cleft sentences.

  Third, a to-infinitive adjective complement is the focus in a pseudo-cleft sentence.

  (40) What Mary is eager is to study abroad. (41) What the children are ready is to swim.

  To study abroad and to swim are the focus of the pseudo-cleft sentences.

  The third category of adjective complement is a clause; a that clause or a whether clause. The adjectives like sure, certain, and doubtful take a whether clause as their complement.

  (42) Rita is still doubtful whether she will join the club or not. (43) The kids are afraid that their parents leave them.

  

Whether she join the club or not is the complement of doubtful and that their parents

leave them is the complement of afraid. A clause adjective complement also can be

  identified using those three tests. First, a clause adjective complement is an answer to a what question.

  (44) What is Rita doubtful of? (45) What are the kids afraid of?

  

Whether she join the club or not and that their parents leave them are the answer of

questions (44) and (45) respectively.

  Second, a clause adjective complement is the focus in a cleft sentence.

  (46) It is whether she join the club or not that Rita is still doubtful. (47) It is that their parents leave them that the kids are afraid.

  

Whether she join the club or not and that their parents leave them are the focus of the

cleft sentences.

  Third, a clause adjective complement is the focus in a pseudo-cleft sentence.

  (48) What Rita is still doubtful is whether she join the club or not. (49) What the kids are afraid is that their parents leave them.

  

Whether she join the club or not and that their parents leave them are the focus of the

pseudo-cleft sentences.

  The last category of adjective complement is a noun phrase. A noun phrase adjective complement can be identified using a paraphrase; the noun phrase is changed into the prepositional phrase.

  (50) context-free ⇒ free from the context (51) gender-sensitive ⇒ sensitive to gender

  

Free in (50) takes context as its complement, and sensitive on (51) takes gender as its

complement.

  Not all adjectives needs a complement. The adjectives long, wide and expensive do not need any complement.

  (52) very long (53) fairly expensive

b. An attribute is an element that shows the characteristics of the head. There are four

  types of phrases that can be attributes (Dwijatmoko, 2002:27). The first phrase is an intensifier phrase. The intensifiers are very, quite, rather, fairly, and too.

  (54) The book is very easy. (55) The dress is quite expensive.

  Very and quite are the attributes of adjectives easy and expensive.

  The second one is an adverb phrase.

  (56) The workers are physically tired. (57) The girls are emotionally mature.

  Physically and emotionally are the attributes of adjectives tired and mature.

  The third one is a noun phrase.

  (58) Bobby is two years old. (59) His explanation is crystal clear. The noun phrases two years and crystal are the attributes of the adjectives old and clear.

  The last category of an adjective attribute is an adjective phrase.

  (60) Her dress is light blue. (61) The hair of the woman is reddish brown.

  Light and reddish are the attributes of blue and brown.

  An adjective attribute is identified by using how or in what aspect question. (62) How easy is the book? (63) How tired are the workers? (64) How old is Bobby? (65) How blue is her dress?

  (66) In what aspect is the book easy? (67)In what aspect are the workers tired? (68) In what aspect is Bobby old? (69) In what aspect is her dress blue?

c. An adjunct in an adjective phrase makes the condition or state or gives circumstantial

  information on the state or condition. An adjective may take several categories as its adjunct (Dwijatmoko, 2002:29). The first category of an adjective adjunct is a prepositional phrase.

  (70) This film is only good at the beginning. (71) Rudy was very lazy in the first semester.

  

At the beginning and In the first semester are the adjuncts of adjectives good and lazy. At