Predicate-only adjectives

Question

I think there's a term for adjectives that can only be used in the predicate position, but I can never remember it.  (You can say, "the man was asleep," but not "the asleep man...")  Could someone help me out again please?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

I know I'm not helping you, khoff.

I'd just like to tell you that as far as I know no special term exists for predicate-only adjectives in Scandinavian grammar terminology. That doesn't mean that such a term isn't used outside Scandinavia; there are considerable differences in terminology.

CB

CalifJim · Answer

khoffI think there's a term for adjectives that can only be used in the predicate position

Are you sure? There is the "predicative use" of adjectives (The farmer is happy) and the "attributive use" of adjectives (the happy farmer), and it seems to me that you just say that certain adjectives (like asleep) can only be used predicatively, or you say that they can't be used attributively.

I'm not sure there is another term that specifically names all adjectives that can only be used predicatively -- unless it's the obvious "predicative adjectives". My understanding, however, is that "predicative" describes a use of a given adjective, not a set of all adjectives with the specific property you're interested in.

CJ

Khoff · Answer

I guess you're right, Jim -- I went back and looked at some old thread that gave examples of both kinds of "exclusive-postion" adjectives, and there really isn't a specific term for them.  I think the terms I was looking for are just "exclusively-attributive" and exclusively-predicative."

Predicate-only adjectives

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