Which one of these charts about adjectives are correct?

Question

oror are they both wrong?Idea 1  i'm always confused by adjectives so i decided to make a chart. predicate adjective can never be a determiner, but descriptive adjective can be a predicate adjective.in the sentence :popeye was very angrysince was is a linking verb, Very angry must be a predicate adjective. And since it has very , Very angry should be a descriptive adjective. The noun modifiers can be used as descriptive adjective is because, in this sentence :Fred took a smaller piece than I did.Smaller piece is behind the noun and is a comparative form, so it must be a noun modifier and a descriptive adjective.Idea 2popeye was very angryso 'very angry' must have only 1 function? as a predicate adjective? in the sentence:Fred is the most sensitive person in the class.the the is used after linking verb is, the is now a predicate adjective?, and according to my  grammar book:determiners are adjectives that do not have comparative and superlative forms and cannot be used as predicate adjective.can anyone please clear this out for me? D:

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Terminology differs from book to book, so without knowing the approach of the entire book you are working from, it's difficult to sort this out for you. Nevertheless, you might find this way of looking at it useful:

Determiners are the articles (a, an, the), possessive phrases (my, his, John's, the president's), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), and a few others like all and some.

Some books call determiners adjectives, or 'limiting adjectives' I believe your book is doing this. This contrasts with the other adjectives, which are not 'limiting adjectives', and these are called 'descriptive adjectives'.

So you have limiting adjectives (determiners) and descriptive adjectives.

Descriptive adjectives can be used in two different ways. They have an attributive use and a predicative use. (Determiners -- that is, 'limiting adjectives' -- do not have these uses.)

A descriptive adjective has an attributive use if it occurs before a noun. big car, clean room, angry man. These combinations of descriptive adjective and noun are often preceded by a determiner. the big car, this clean room, an angry man.

A descriptive adjective that is not attributive (does not occur before a noun) has a predicative use if it occurs after a linking verb. seems small, was open, looks happy. These are not preceded by determiners.

Descriptive adjectives can be modified by adverbs of degree like very, somewhat, more, or less. very glad, less worthy, somewhat talkative, seems very quiet, was more cooperative. This can happen whether the adjective is used attributively or predicatively.
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Here's a partial outline like the one you were trying to make.

ADJECTIVES

DESCRIPTIVE LIMITING (Determiners)

Attributive use (before a noun; Articles
may be after a linking verb) Demonstratives
Predicative use (not before a noun; Possessives
always after a linking verb) ...

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Example 1.

Popeye was very angry. The descriptive adjective angry does not occur before a noun, so it is not being used attributively. It occurs after the linking verb form was. There is no determiner. So it has a predicative use, so you can say it's a 'predicate adjective'.

Example 2.
Fred is the most sensitive person in the class. The descriptive adjective sensitive occurs before the noun person, so it is being used attributively. The determiner the is used, which is also a good clue that the adjective is attributive. sensitive occurs after the linking verb is, but there is a determiner between and a noun follows. So it is not a predicate adjective. We already see that it occurs before a noun, so we know that it is used attributively.

CJ

Which one of these charts about adjectives are correct?

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