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An adjective phrase (or ''adjectival phrase'') is a phrase whose head word is an adjective, e.g. ''fond of steak'', ''very happy'', ''quite upset about it'', etc.〔Most any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology define the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland (1996:499), Crystal (1996:9), Greenbaum (1996:288ff.), Haegeman and Guéron (1999:70f.), Brinton (2000:172f.), Jurafsky and Martin (2000:362).〕 The adjective in an adjective phrase can initiate the phrase (e.g. ''fond of steak''), conclude the phrase (e.g. ''very happy''), or appear in a medial position (e.g. ''quite upset about it''). The dependents of the head adjective - i.e. the other words and phrases inside the adjective phrase - are typically adverbs or prepositional phrases, but they can also be clauses (e.g. ''louder than you do''). Adjectives and adjective phrases function in two basic ways in clauses, either attributively or predicatively. When they are attributive, they appear inside a noun phrase and modify that noun phrase, and when they are predicative, they appear outside the noun phrase that they modify and typically follow a linking verb (copula). ==Examples== The adjective phrases are underlined in the following example sentences, the head adjective in each of these phrases is in bold, and how the adjective phrase is functioning—attributively or predicatively—is stated to the right of each example:〔See Ouhalla (1994:34, 39) and Crystal (1997:9) concerning the distinction between adjectives and adjective phrases used attributively and predicatively.〕 ::a. Sentences can contain tremendously long phrases. - Attributive adjective phrase ::b. This sentence is not tremendously long. - Predicative adjective phrase ::a. A player faster than you was on their team. - Attributive adjective phrase ::b. He is faster than you. - Predicative adjective phrase ::a. Sam ordered a very spicy but quite small pizza. - Attributive adjective phrases ::b. The pizza is very spicy but quite small. - Predicative adjective phrases ::a. People angry with the high prices were protesting. - Attributive adjective phrase ::b. The people are angry with the high prices. - Predicative adjective phrase The distinguishing characteristic of an attributive adjective phrase is that it appears inside the noun phrase that it modifies.〔For an overview of the differences in the use of adjective phrases, i.e. their distribution, see Greenbaum (1996:290ff.).〕 An interesting trait of these phrases in English is that an attributive adjective alone generally precedes the noun, e.g. ''a proud man'', whereas a head-initial or head-medial adjective phrase follows its noun, e.g. ''a man proud of his children''.〔See Haegeman and Guéron (1999:71) and Osborne (2003) concerning the distribution of pre- and post-noun modifiers in noun phrases.〕 A predicative adjective (phrase), in contrast, appears outside of the noun phrase that it modifies, usually after a linking verb, e.g. ''The man is proud''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「adjective phrase」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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