Research on the Properties of Adjectives and Adverbs in English and their Functions

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The purpose of this research over the years 1985-1987 is to explore the properties of two word classes, adjective and adverb, which are similar to each other in some respects.1. The syntactic properties of adjectives are that they can function as premodifiers and postmodifiers of nouns and that some of them can be used as sentence-initial adjuncts. The semantic properties of adjectives are summarized as follows: first, adjectives as premodifiers of nouns express the intrinsic properties of the nouns which they modify, and then, they have functions of attribution and classification: second, the adjectives which are used as postmodifiers of nouns, predicates, or adjuncts are usually describe the temporary characteristics of the nouns which they modify or predicate. 2. The syntactic properties of adverbs are attributed to the fact that almost all of adverbs can be used as an adjunct in a sentence, while some of them can appear as a complement of copulative verbs. Flat adverbs are used in quite the same position in a sentence as predicative adjectives. Flat adverbs are essentially adverbs in that they function as describing the states or manners of events or actions but not as attributing properties of nouns. Adverbs have a semantic function of characterizing in an abstract fashion the state or manners of events or actions which a predicate or a sentence describes; this function should be explained in terms of the notion of orientation, especially, primary orientation and secondary orientation.