General characteristic of the adjective

The adjective expresses the property of an entity. In the sentence, the adjective performs the functions of an attribute (an adjunct) and a predicative. Of the two, the more typical function is that of an attribute since the function of a predicative can also be performed by other parts of speech.

E.g.: The young man vs. The man is young.

In the latter example, the adjective is syntactically the complement of the verb “to be”, but semantically they both constitute the predicate. As a lexeme, “to be” has little meaning; it performs the function of predicativity; it expresses the verbal categories of person, number, tense, etc. The combination of “to be + adjective” is then comparable to a verb with its own lexical content.

E.g. The man was dead. vs. The man died.

Typically, adjectives denote states, usually permanent ones, although there are also adjectives which can denote temporary states (e.g. John is being clever). A state can also be denoted by verbs (e.g. know, understand, like, etc.). However, the more typical meaning of the verb is a dynamic process.

Derivationally, adjectives are related either to nouns or verbs. Suffixes changing nouns to adjectives are: - (i)al, -ar, -ary or -ery, -ed, -en, -esque, -ful, - ic(al), -ish, -istic, -less, -like, -ly, -ous, -ward, -wide, -y. E.g. monument — monumental, family — familiar, element — elementary, talent — talented, picture — picturesque, hope — hopeful, history — historic(al), style — stylish, character — characteristic, use — useless, life — lifelike, friend — friendly, fame —famous, back — backward, world — world-wide, wind — windy. Suffixes changing verbs to adjectives are: -able or -ible, -ent or -ant, -ed, -ing, -ive, - (at)ory. E.g. to navigate — navigable, to sense — sensible, to depend — dependent, to frustrate — frustrated, to bore — boring, to attract — attractive, to congratulate — congratulatory.