Participial adjectives

Participles can be used as adjectives to describe people and things.

-ing adjectives

1. One group of “-ing” adjectives describes the effect that something has on your feelings and ideas, or on the feelings and ideas of people in general.

(surprising, annoying, boring, interesting, shocking)

He lives in a charming house just outside the town.

She always has a warm welcoming smile.

1. These adjectives are normally qualitative adjectives. They have comparatives, superlatives and can be used with a submodifier.

A very convincing example

Much more convincing

The most boring books

1. They can be used in attributive or predicative position.
2. Some “-ing” adjectives have a similar meaning to the usual meaning of the related verb.
3. “-ing” adjectives are used to describe a process or state that continues over a period of time.

increasing labour

Britain is an ageing society.

These adjectives are classifying adjectives. They can’t be used with “very” and “rather”. They can be identified by adverbs which describe the speed with which the process happens.

Rapidly rising productivity

1. “-ing” adjectives can be used attributively as adjectives to indicate what someone or something is doing.

A walking figure

Ed adjectives

Most “-ed” adjectives are past participles of a verb:

a disappointed man

Noun + “-ed”:

a bearded man

Some “-ed” adjectives are not closely related to any other words:

sophisticated electronic devices

a beloved child

Adjectiveswith the form as irregular past participles:

a broken bone

The past participles of some phrasal verbs can be used as adjectives:

the built-up urban man of the city

Most “-ed” adjectives have passive meaning:

a frightened person

A bored student complained to his teacher.

Qualitative “-ed” adjectives refer the person’s mental or emotional reaction:

a worried old man

“-Ed” adjectives describe the expression, voice or manner of the person affected:

blue frightened eyes

Some “-ed” adjectives have a similar meaning to the related verb, and some do not:

alarmed, confused - determined, mixed

Many “-ed” adjectives can be submodified with an adverb of degree:

pleasantly furnished rooms

a well-known novelist

Sometimes “-ed” adjectives can not be used without an adverb:

well-equipped army

powerfully-built man

Some “-ed” adjectives have active meaning (fallen, vanished, retired, grown –up, escaped, faded)

an escaped prisoner, vanished civilizations, fallen rocks

“-Ed” adjectives can be used attributively and as a complement of a link verb:

pleased, tired, etc.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14