Adjectives/Nouns?

Question

1. He is an Idiot.Idiot= adjective, modifying 'He'2. She is an Engineer.Engineer=adjective,modifying 'She'But, when we see them as individual words,they are nouns.I am confused about whether to classify them as adjectives or nouns. Could you please help me with this?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

LeGion12359I am confused about whether to classify them as adjectives or nouns.

They are nouns. Idiot is a noun; idiotic is the adjective form.

After a copular verb (be is a good example) you can have either an adjective or a noun as a complement.

LeGion12359 · Answer

AlpheccaStarsThey are nouns. Idiot is a noun; idiotic is the adjective form.After a copular verb (be is a good example) you can have either an adjective or a noun as a complement.

How can you classify them as noun? You are utterly neglecting the definition of an adjective here.
Adjective= A word that modifies noun.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

LeGion12359You are utterly neglecting the definition of an adjective here.

In modern grammar, an adjective has to pass more tests that just to modify a noun.
You have to be able to modify an adjective with an adverb, and an adjective has a comparative and superlative degree.

eg. Sick is an adjective:
He was a sick man.
He was a very sick man. (adverb modifier)
He was sicker today than he was yesterday. (comparative degree)

Surprised is an adjective, too. (very surprised, most surprised)

But "brick" is not an adjective.
This is a brick wall.
This is a very brick wall. (wrong)
This wall is bricker than that wall. (wrong)

And noodle is not an adjective:
This restaurant has noodle soup on the menu.
This restaurant has very noodle soup on the menu. (wrong)
This restaurant has noodlier soup than that restaurant. (wrong)

In modern grammar, noun modifiers come in different classes.
1. Adjectives (as explained above)
2. Noun adjuncts (also adjectival nouns) are nouns that can be used to modify other nouns. There are thousands of these! Brick and noodle are only two.
3. Quantifiers: These words tell how many, how much: We ate two hamburgers each. Also: a half gallon of milk, no way, a few good men, several leaves...
4. Determiners (articles, possessives, demonstratives). These determine which object the noun is, distinguishing it from other possible choices: this cat, that boy, George's tree, my book, any choice...

Different books can classify or label these words different ways. Traditional grammar just called any word that "modified" a noun an adjective. Modern grammarians distinguished these words because they did not all have the same attributes or characteristics.

CalifJim · Answer

LeGion123591. He is an idiot. Idiot= adjective, modifying 'He'

No. 'an idiot'. It has 'an'. Anything that has 'a', 'an' or 'the' is a noun.

Also, 'is an idiot' does not modify "he". It predicates something of him, claims something about him.

If you want modification, you need something like "The idiotic man spilled coffee all over the table". Here, 'idiotic' modifies 'man', describes him, but 'spilled coffee ...' predicates something about the idiotic man, claims that he did the spilling.

LeGion123592. She is an Engineer.Engineer=adjective,modifying 'She'

Exactly the same. You should now be able to work this one out for yourself.

CJ

LeGion12359 · Answer

AlpheccaStarsIn modern grammar, an adjective has to pass more tests that just to modify a noun.You have to be able to modify an adjective with an adverb, and an adjective has a comparative and superlative degree.eg. Sick is an adjective:He was a sick man.He was a very sick man. (adverb modifier)He was sicker today than he was yesterday. (comparative degree)Surprised is an adjective, too. (very surprised, most surprised)But "brick" is not an adjective.This is a brick wall.This is a very brick wall. (wrong)This wall is bricker than that wall. (wrong)And noodle is not an adjective:This restaurant has noodle soup on the menu.This restaurant has very noodle soup on the menu. (wrong)This restaurant has noodlier soup that that restaurant. (wrong) In modern grammar, noun modifiers come in different classes. 1. Adjectives (as explained above)2. Noun adjuncts (also adjectival nouns) are nouns that can be used to modify other nouns. There are thousands of these! Brick and noodle are only two.3. Quantifiers: These words tell how many, how much: We ate two hamburgers each. Also: a half gallon of milk, no way, a few good men, several leaves...4. Determiners (articles, possessives, demonstratives). These determine which object the noun is, distinguishing it from other possible choices: this cat, that boy, George's tree, my book, any choice...Different books can classify or label these words different ways. Traditional grammar just called any word that "modified" a noun an adjective. Modern grammarians distinguished these words because they did not all have the same attributes or characteristics.

Thank you so much, teacher. I pray that may *** bless you with more and more profound knowledge. You people are really doing a great thing.

Could you please recommend me some good modern English grammar books?

LeGion12359 · Answer

AlpheccaStarsDifferent books can classify or label these words different ways. Traditional grammar just called any word that "modified" a noun an adjective. Modern grammarians distinguished these words because they did not all have the same attributes or characteristics.

Please reply to my previous post,teacher.

Adjectives/Nouns?

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