Adjective Phrase

What is an Adjective Phrase?

Typically, an adjective phrase is a group of words containing an adjective that describes a noun or a pronoun in a sentence - this means that an adjective phrase functions as an adjective in a sentence. Adjective phrases are a useful writing technique when you need to convey a lot in a few words, making them a commonly used literary tool in English.

Adjective phrases always consist of an adjective which is usually accompanied by other words that can add more information - we call these extra words modifiers. Adjective phrases can also be singular adjectives on their own.

Identifying adjective phrases

To identify an adjective phrase, you should locate a group of words within a sentence that describes a noun or pronoun. This can be tricky if the adjective phrase is hidden within a long and complicated sentence. To make it simple, we will break it down step by step.

Step 1. Find the adjective in the sentence. This is a word that describes a noun or pronoun.

E.g. 'The burger looks very appetising.' In this example, the adjective appetising describes the noun burger.

Step 2. See if the adjective is the only word describing the noun or if the description includes other surrounding words. If the description includes more than one word, then it's an adjective phrase.

E.g. 'The burger looks very appetising.' In this example, the adjective phrase is very appetising.

Step 3. Identify the 'head adjective' (main adjective). If the adjective can function by itself, it's described as the head of the adjective phrase.

E.g. 'The burger looks very appetising.' In this example, appetising still works as an adjective without the modifier very; therefore, it is the head adjective.

Step 4. Identify the modifiers. The words that work alongside the head adjective in an adjective phrase are called modifiers; these can be adverbs, prepositions, or other adjectives. Words that go before the head adjective are called premodifiers, and words that go after are called postmodifiers.

Fig 1. Adjective phrases can help us describe the burger

Structure of adjective phrases

The formation of adjective phrases typically involves the use of modifiers. Modifiers are words or phrases used alongside the main adjective, such as adverbs, prepositions, and comparative and superlative adjectives, to add more detail to the description of the noun. Adjective phrases can go before or after the noun. If they go before the noun, they are considered premodifiers, and if they go after, they are postmodifiers.

Adjective phrases as premodifiers

Premodifiers are usually a simple adjective or adverb phrase that is positioned before the head adjective.

Here, the adjective phrase 'short black' is a premodifier for the noun 'hair'.

Adjective phrases as postmodifiers

Adjective phrases as postmodifiers are often adverbs or prepositional phrases positioned after the noun.

The adjective phrase 'on the top shelf' is a postmodifier as it comes after the noun. The preposition 'on' has been used to describe the position of the noun (the football).

Types of adjective phrases

Adjective phrases typically contain an adjective and its modifiers (words that give extra detail). These modifiers are usually adverbs, prepositions, comparative and superlative adjectives, or additional adjectives. Let's look at some examples of adjective phrases containing different types of modifiers.

Adjective phrases with multiple adjectives

Adjective phrases can simply be a list of adjectives.

Adjective phrases with comparative and superlative adjectives

Comparative adjectives compare one thing to another, whereas superlative adjectives show the upper or lower limit of an adjective.

Adjective phrases with prepositions

Adjective phrases with prepositions give us more information regarding where a noun is. They can also tell us when something is happening.

Adjective phrases with adverbs

Typically speaking, adverbs modify verbs; however, they can also be used to add more detail or intensity to an adjective.

Fig 2. The adverb 'shockingly' intensifies the adjective 'blue'

Examples of adjective phrases

Let's take a look at some examples of adjective phrase examples. We will use the same base sentence and expand upon it to show you how adjective phrases are used to add extra information to a noun.

"Bill is strong"

This is a simple adjective phrase that consists of a single adjective, 'strong'.

"Bill is very strong"

This adjective phrase includes the qualifier 'very'. The qualifier supplements the head adjective (strong), acting as an intensifier since it makes the adjective stronger.

"Bill is even stronger than all of the boys in his class."

This adjective phrase contains the comparative adjective 'stronger'. It gives us even more information about Bill by comparing him to the other boys in the class.

The difference between a noun phrase and an adjective phrase

It can often be difficult to identify the difference between a noun phrase and an adjective phrase. So, let's take a look at the key differences.

The definitive difference between them is that a noun phrase acts as a noun while an adjective phrase acts as an adjective. This difference is important when we try to determine the function of each phrase.

A noun phrase functions as the subject or object of a sentence, while an adjective phrase acts by modifying a noun.

The key to identifying a noun or adjective phrase is to remember that a noun phrase can appear anywhere in a sentence, while an adjective phrase can only appear before or after a noun.

Take a look at the following two sentences. Which one contains an adjective phrase?

1. He was scared of the black cat.

2. I found a tiny little kitten.

The correct answer is sentence number two. In number one, the black cat is the noun phrase that comes after the adjective scared. In number two the adjective phrase tiny little is used to describe the noun kitten.