About adjectives and adverbs

Question

In English adverbs and adjectives do not always modify the verb, the adjective or the noun they come before. I mean, for example, in "college-graduate job", the college-graduate is the person who gets the job, not the job itself. Can you recommend me any sites or books which explain this?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

marquezor example, in "college-graduate job", the college-graduate is the person who gets the job, not the job itself

Yet the hyphenated adjective 'college-graduate' describes the noun 'job', which follows it. I fail to see your problem.

CalifJim · Answer

marquezcollege-graduate job

"college graduate" is a noun, not an adjective or adverb, so your example doesn't really illustrate the rule you cited.

marquezthe college-graduate is the person who gets the job, not the job itself.

True, but that doesn't mean that 'college graduate' doesn't modify 'job'. It's still called modification.

You could just as well say that in committee report, the committee are the people who write the report, not the report itself, but that doesn't mean that 'committee' doesn't modify 'report'.

CJ

Marquez · Answer

CalifJimTrue, but that doesn't mean that 'college graduate' doesn't modify 'job'. It's still called modification.

Well, of course, it's a modification. This "problem" (from the point of non-Germanic and non-Romance languages, let's say) is seen especially in translation. For example, here is another sentence: "The sentence is legibly crossed out." This is a perfectly normal and natural sentence; "legibly" modifies the verb, but what is meant is that although the sentence is crossed out, it is legible. So when I translate this, I need to look at the deep structure of the sentence (as one cannot do the action of crossing out legibly). I think it's better to look for some comparative studies.

Fivejedjon · Answer

marquez "The sentence is legibly crossed out." This is a perfectly normal and natural sentence;

It's not normal and natural to me.

Marquez · Answer

fivejedjon It's not normal and natural to me.

Why? It's actually in one of A. S. Byatt's stories.

CalifJim · Answer

marquezone cannot do the action of crossing out legibly

I disagree. You can write legibly, and crossing out is a simple form of writing. To my ear that's exactly what the sentence says, even though it seems to me an odd thing to say.

marquezdeep structure

I think you'll need more than the deep structure of the syntax. You'll need more of a semantic analysis. You could try to find books or sites on translation, but I don't know of any, so I can't help there. It seems to me, though, that if you know both languages well, you don't need a book to tell you how to translate.

CJ

marquezIn English adverbs and adjectives do not always modify the verb, the adjective or the noun they come before. I mean, for example, ... ... ... Later: Well, of course, it's a modification.

Confusing. You state that adjectives don't always modify the verb (but I think you meant noun). Then you show a sentence that you say contains an example of an adjective that doesn't modify the noun. I say yes it does modify the noun. Then you say of course it does.

CJ

Marquez · Answer

Thank you all for the answers. When I say one cannot do the action of crossing out legibly, I mean one cannot do it in my language (i.e. not in English) because that would sound most unnatural, even funny.

CalifJim · Answer

marquezWhen I say one cannot do the action of crossing out legibly, I mean one cannot do it in my language (i.e. not in English) because that would sound most unnatural, even funny.

That kind of thing happens all the time in translation. You can very rarely translate one word at a time using an adjective for an adjective, a noun for a noun, a verb for a verb, etc. You may have to reword the whole thing in the other language, moving phrases around, and maybe even splitting one sentence into two or more. That's usually a lot easier to do when you're translating to your own native language, which I assume you're doing.

CJ

Marquez · Answer

CalifJimwhich I assume you're doing.

Yes, I'm aware of all that. I was trying to find more examples (like the ones I have given) and explanations on usages, but nothing can be found on the Internet. I'd better collect my own examples from the books (as always).

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