ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Question 1: Does an adverb always precede the word it modifies?

Kooyeen — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:56:24 GMT

Hi,
there are some adjectives that are used after the nouns. I thought of this: "There weren't many people present".

Re: Question 1: Does an adverb always precede the word it modifies?

Grammar Geek — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:15:09 GMT

Jackson6612 wrote:

Hi G.G.

1: What do you mean by ''I'm assuming you mean immediately after...''? In answering your question, I made the assumption that you wanted to know about adjectives that came immedately after the nouns they modify, not predicate adjectives. In "He is happy" happy is after the word He, but there is a verb that links them together. The adjective doesn't come right after the noun.

2: What are these set nouns? Do you call 'compound nouns' set nouns in AmE? No. A compound noun is a single word formed from two or more nounds. When I say it's a "set" phrase or noun, I met it comes together as a set. Idioms are also set phrases.

3: I would have written this sentence ''I thought this was a pretty good description'' as:

I think this is a pretty good description.

Is my way also correct? Why did you use past tense? When I looked at it, it seemed good. I didn't spend enough time studying it to see if it was really good. Once I found it and thought it was good enough to add to the discussion. In contast, I continue to think that the OWL at Purdue is a great resource. I didn't change my mind about the link I gave you - I just stopped thinking about it altogether.

Re: Question 1: Does an adverb always precede the word it modifies?

Jackson6612 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:35:41 GMT

Grammar Geek wrote:

1. No.

2. No.

Not enough? Okay, here's some more information.

Adverbs are often used after the action that it modifies. He trod heavily on her foot. I doodled aimlessly.

For nouns and adjectives, I'm assuming you mean immediately after¹, not in uses like "He is happy" or "The mug is red," in which they are linked by a verb. This is more rare, but certanily can happen, as in "The dancer wore a bright costume, red and blue in color, as he lept nimbly across the stage."

There are also set nouns² in which the adjective follows, like mother-in-law, attorney general, president elect, or court martial. These can create confusion for people when forming the plurals -- but remember, it's the main noun that gets the plural, as in attorneys general or sisters-in-law.

I thought this was a pretty good description³: http://www.anindexer.com/about/adj/adjindex.html

Hi G.G.

1: What do you mean by ''I'm assuming you mean immediately after...''?

2: What are these set nouns? Do you call 'compound nouns' set nouns in AmE?

3: I would have written this sentence ''I thought this was a pretty good description'' as:

I think this is a pretty good description.

Is my way also correct? Why did you use past tense?

Re: Question 1: Does an adverb always precede the word it modifies?

Grammar Geek — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:53:42 GMT

1. No.

2. No.

Not enough? Okay, here's some more information.

Adverbs are often used after the action that it modifies. He trod heavily on her foot. I doodled aimlessly.

For nouns and adjectives, I'm assuming you mean immediately after, not in uses like "He is happy" or "The mug is red," in which they are linked by a verb. This is more rare, but certanily can happen, as in "The dancer wore a bright costume, red and blue in color, as he lept nimbly across the stage."

There are also set nouns in which the adjective follows, like mother-in-law, attorney general, president elect, or court martial. These can create confusion for people when forming the plurals -- but remember, it's the main noun that gets the plural, as in attorneys general or sisters-in-law.

I thought this was a pretty good description: http://www.anindexer.com/about/adj/adjindex.html

Question 1: Does an adverb always precede the word it modifies?

Jackson6612 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:11:55 GMT

Question 1: Does an adverb always precede the word it modifies?

Question 2: Does an adjective always precede the noun/pronoun it modifies?