4 Adjectives - Attributive or Predicative

Adjectives are determiners that can be placed in two different positions within a sentence to modify or describe a person or a thing.

They can be Attributive or Predicative depending on their position.

Depending on their position and order in the sentence, Adjectives are attributed to different meanings:

The structure of Attributive Adjective is:
Adjective + noun.

The structure of Predicative Adjective is:
Verb + adjective.

Attributive Adjectives:

• … a long stick …
• … a light bag …
• … red shoes …

Predicative Adjectives:

• The stick is long.
• This bag is light.
• The shoes are red.

We use Adjectives to modify or describe a person or a thing. Most of the adjectives can be both Attributive and Predicative.

Adjectives are used to describe or modify a person or a thing. If we have an adjective which is placed before a noun, we call this an Attributive Adjective. We also have Predicative Adjectives which are adjectives placed after a noun.

• Structure of Attributive Adjective is:
  Adjective + noun (e.g. a blue umbrella);
• Structure of Predicative Adjective is:
  Verb + adjective (e.g. The umbrella is blue.).

For example:
— “a blue umbrella” = Adjective “blue” is placed before the noun “umbrella”, therefore this is an Attributive Adjective.
— “The umbrella is blue.” = Adjective “blue” is placed after the noun “umbrella”, therefore this is an Predicative Adjective.

Let’s revise this content within the [Form] section. Take a look at the [Example] section that shows its use within a context.