Skip to main content

Questions tagged [predicate-adjectives]

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
0 votes
1 answer
36 views

"Similar is the case with visits to galleries." — Is "similar" an adjective here or a fused modifier-head noun phrase? [duplicate]

Could you help me please to parse the word "similar" when it stands at the beginning of sentences and has no head-noun after itself? google.com/search: ... in the theatre audience one does ...
Loviii's user avatar
  • 771
15 votes
5 answers
2k views

Is "She played good" a grammatically correct sentence?

As far as I understand, "good" is an adjective and "well" an adverb. Therefore, She played good. is incorrect and should instead be She played well. However, I am a tennis fan ...
デリエゴくん's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
14 views

elements of the science that "helps" or "help"? [migrated]

Cite from cbsnews article: Rodriguez uses his photography skills to taken[sic] 360 degree shots of tree canopies, then he prints them and fits them onto ceiling tiles, so when you look up, it feels ...
VictorLee's user avatar
  • 101
2 votes
1 answer
89 views

Does the adjective "numerous" require plural subjects? Are there any other words with this property?

As a (nonnative) long-time English learner, I found that descriptive grammars often point out that verbs like surround, gather, disband, etc. require plural subjects: (1a) The girl surrounded the ...
Zoltan's user avatar
  • 503
0 votes
1 answer
57 views

Verb or predicate adjective?

In this sentence, is the verb "is" or "is central"? The principle that an action must be judged on the basis of its foreseeable consequences is central to many areas of the law I ...
AfterWorkGuinness's user avatar
0 votes
4 answers
89 views

How to use the word alive as an adjective in a sentence? [closed]

Example: She returned from spiritual retreat "vividly" (OR FULL OF LIFE) Is alive a postpositive adjective? If I want to say: She returned from spiritual retreat "ALIVELY" (...
Castro G's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
108 views

Does "happy" function as a predicate adjective in "He seems to be happy"?

He seems happy. He seems to be happy. In the first sentence, "happy" is the predicate adjective. What is going on in the second sentence? Does the infinitive with "happy" still ...
cookie234's user avatar
  • 259
0 votes
0 answers
42 views

Is it correct to write "feast luxurious" instead of "feast luxuriously"? [duplicate]

And much there is on which my ear and eye Can feast luxurious. The preceding sentence is a line from a sonnet by Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873). Is it correct to write "feast luxurious"...
anjan 's user avatar
  • 721
1 vote
2 answers
60 views

Is it possible to construct a question out of a resultative predicate?

I've seen contradictory answers to this question. Do any of the following how-sentences with resultative adjectives sound remotely fine to you native speakers? Or are they all bad? Is there a cline of ...
Zoltan's user avatar
  • 503
8 votes
6 answers
2k views

In the sentence, "They went to bed hungry," what type of adjective is "hungry?" [duplicate]

This question arises from a mistake I made in class. I incorrectly identified hungry as an adverb in the sentence below. I appreciate your wisdom. Question: In the sentence, "They went to bed ...
Jonathan Kolker's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
54 views

Can anyone help me identifying the type of adjective in the following sentence? [closed]

"He is a beautiful boy." I know that if an adjective is used before the noun, it is known as attributive, but here he is a pronoun and the adjective is used after the verb is. It's a little ...
user469769's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
103 views

Why do we take things personally with an adverb but take them easy with an adjective? How can this be justified? [closed]

Why do we write take it personally or take it seriously with adverbs but we also write take it easy with an adjective, not take it easily with an adverb? How is this switching off between adjectives ...
Elvis's user avatar
  • 19
1 vote
1 answer
211 views

Is it correct to use "versatile" in a sentence without mentioning which thing?

I have seen sentences like these: He’s so versatile an actor. She’s a versatile entertainer. The potato is a versatile vegetable. Can I use versatile in these ways? She is so versatile. She is very ...
Anna's user avatar
  • 25
-2 votes
2 answers
27 views

Sailed back safe [closed]

See this problem: How about the ship then? It sailed back _____. A. safe B. safely C. safety The answer is A. Although it's understandable, I still wondered why B isn't the answer?
Thomas Peng's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
70 views

Verb-ing followed by isolated adjective

There is this definition of the word "Justification" which says, The action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God. Is it correct if I say "righteous" acts as a ...
tabtob's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
2 answers
95 views

What’s grammatically incorrect in the phrase, “create the most impact the quickest?’

The entire sentence reads, Choose a specific process that would create the most impact the quickest. In other words, the resulting impact occurs more rapidly and more powerfully than that caused by ...
Kalloni's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
1 answer
36 views

Can the noun eyewitness be used properly without a preceding article?

Today I was writing an email calling somebody "eyewitness to" some event, but it was marked as incorrect and it was suggested I precede it with an article; i.e. an eyewitness, instead. But ...
Dexygen's user avatar
  • 111
-1 votes
1 answer
62 views

Adverb vs. Adjective use [closed]

We typically use adverbs to describe verbs, but there are exceptions. Would you rather say 'You glow different' or 'You glow differently'? Are both acceptable?
curiouscat's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
222 views

What is the difference between a predicate nominative/predicate adjectives and a subject complement?

For example, the sentence "John was a policeman" or "Ben was angry." Both describe the subject, so I'd call them subject complements. But they could also be a predicate nominative ...
warasdf's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
82 views

Do you think 'alone' can be used as an attribute adjective, ie. before a noun

OED concludes it to be "rare" now. I'm wondering if native English speakers find these quotes too dated and unacceptable for today's English. 1668 Howe - Had this been the alone folly. 1873 ...
Eugene's user avatar
  • 143
0 votes
2 answers
57 views

Is there a word to describe the portion of one's total funds that may be spent as opposed to the portion which must be held on to? [closed]

I cannot think what else I might add...
Christopher's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
213 views

Hyphenation of compound adjective as object complement

Consider these three cases: Here is the up-to-date information. Mark this information up-to-date. This information is up to date. Those are spelled the ways that feel correct to me, but I'm not ...
Sam Kauffman's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
421 views

What kind of verb classification is "causative"?

I understand why "causative" verbs like "let" and "allow" are described this way, but I don't understand how this classification relates to other verb descriptors. Is &...
tangosquared's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
254 views

Adjectives acting in the capacity of adverbs? Or just accumulative adjectives?

You seem scary happy. That house is scary big. Not sure if I am over-reading it, but it seems to me here "scary" functions in the capacity of adverb modifying the adjective that follows: ...
Eddie Kal's user avatar
  • 1,172
0 votes
0 answers
28 views

Adjectives describing quantity

What is the difference between indefinite adjectives and adjectives of quantity. Are indefinite adjectives and adjectives of quantity are same.
user372766's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
84 views

Part of speech of "likely"

It is likely to rain. Here likely is a predicate adjective with to rain as the complement (correct me if I'm wrong). Who took the cookie? It was likely Bob. Is likely also a predicate adjective ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 31
0 votes
1 answer
299 views

only linking verbs with predicate adjectives and nominatives?

Can only linking verbs have predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives as complements? If action verbs can have predicates as well then it would be really helpful to me if you could please share ...
Nick's user avatar
  • 3
0 votes
0 answers
170 views

Gerund or a predicate adjective?

In sentences like "but now it is running" or "but now it is standing" What are the words running/standing? I believe they're verbs/gerunds but I have some friends who think they are predicate ...
Rpeco's user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
2 answers
94 views

Can a phrasal adjective be placed AFTER a noun? [closed]

If phrasal adjectives can be placed after nouns, what are some examples?
bp2017's user avatar
  • 103
0 votes
1 answer
4k views

It sounds well or it sounds good? [duplicate]

Is it possible and correct to use "well" with "to sound"? I am under the impression that most natives find it wrong. For example: 1 The guitar sounds good. - OK 2 The guitar sounds well. - Possible? ...
user1425's user avatar
  • 1,018
3 votes
1 answer
140 views

Is “A increases the bigger B becomes” a legal English sentence pattern? Is it really a disguised “the more X, the more Y” pattern?

For many years I’ve been using constructions of two interrelated clauses where each of the two verbs comes with a comparative adverb or adjective of some sort (so either with more or less, or else ...
Mehdi Haghgoo's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
2k views

adverbs after linking verbs

They write we must use adjectives rather than adverbs after linking verbs. For example https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/taste_2: Food can taste sweet like sugar. But here's ...
Loviii's user avatar
  • 771
-2 votes
3 answers
5k views

Why is "sad" not a verb? [closed]

I'm learning English grammar now for the first time, and I find it extremely confusing. A verb is defined as an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. Whether mental, physical, or ...
Bach's user avatar
  • 113
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is 'white' an adverb in "the lamp will flash white"?

What is the role of 'white' in the following sentence? The lamp on the machine will flash white when you restart it. It seems like it is an adverb here, but is it possible to use colours as ...
d.alex's user avatar
  • 319
2 votes
1 answer
360 views

The predicate nominative and the predicate adjective is to subjective complements as the ___ and the ___ is to objective complements

What do we call those words which are adjectives used as objective complements and nouns/pronouns used as objective complements See the terms that describe adjectives or nouns/pronouns used as ...
user2901512's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
643 views

Is "something red" an example of ellipsis or adjectival positioning

I want to better understand why the construction something + [adjective] makes grammatical sense. Background: I was recently reading a Washington Post article and came across the following sentence. ...
Nonnal's user avatar
  • 4,190
4 votes
3 answers
2k views

Can adjectives be placed in front of verbs, e.g. “The duck was busy diving for food”?

The duck was busy diving for food. The duck was busily diving for food. Are both sentences grammatically correct? If the first one is correct, does it mean that adjectives can be placed in ...
developer.cyrus's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

How to tell the difference between predicate adjectives and action verbs

While analyzing essays, I often get confused between whether a word is a predicate adjective of an action verb. I found the definition of a predicate adjective to be "An adjective used in the ...
RK01's user avatar
  • 545
2 votes
2 answers
912 views

Adjectives used with intransitive verbs in lieu of adverbs

I certainly wouldn't argue that "I feel good" should be replaced with "I feel well," but I have forgotten what we used to call the adjective in this type of construction. Adjective predicate? ...
Michael Owen Sartin's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
269 views

Is there a difference between "good" and "well" when they are connected to subject via linking verb? [duplicate]

John is feeling well. John is feeling good. "well" is an adverb and "good" is an adjective. Is #2 grammatically correct at all or is it ok to construct Subject + Linking Verb + Adjective ...
code19's user avatar
  • 93
4 votes
2 answers
7k views

Non verbal predicates in English

Is a non-verbal predicate a synonymous term for "nominal predicate"? And moreover, do non-verbal predicates only appear with linking verbs or can also appear in other types of constructions? I ...
ABu's user avatar
  • 201
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

Correct use of "rid of"

From what I understood, "rid of" is used when I want to express that particular object will be disposed of something. "Get rid of something," on the other hand, does not specify the object. According ...
PTRR's user avatar
  • 49
12 votes
4 answers
20k views

Differences between Verb + to be + adjective and Verb + adjective

What are the differences between these two sentences? These two guys seem to be inseparable. These two guys seem inseparable. I can intuitively say that the latter one is grammatically wrong. Could ...
Baskaya's user avatar
  • 245
4 votes
4 answers
1k views

The verb "to get" + particle ...?

In the phrase "to get all crazy" am I correct when I say that the "all crazy" is a particle phrase? Example: I'm up for tonight's party. I'm going to get all crazy.
user avatar