There is a disagreement as to what are the adjectives in this passage. Any help from those who can identify the same to settle the disagreement! "It was a cold and icy day. David burst out of his front door and ran for his usual bus. However in doing so he slipped violently and broke his arm, which was excruciatingly painful" many thanks grammar people
There is a disagreement as to what are the adjectives in this passage. Any help from those who can identify the same to settle the disagreement! "It was a cold and icy day. David burst out of his front door and ran for his usual bus. However in doing so he slipped violently and broke his arm, which was excruciatingly painful" many thanks grammar people
no test, just during a training session for teachers some of the words presented were deemed not adjectives (by the english department) and I am convinced they are incorrect, so thought I would throw the same to the forum. Posted twice by accident many thanks
Seven adjectives: Cold, icy, front, usual, violently, excruciatingly, painful. How many did you and the teacher say there were?
I was thinking about that, but a front door is a compound word and I thought it would be counted as a noun here. But I don't know and can't be arsed to check it. Maybe that particular word was something the English department couldn't agree on. The suspense is killing me.
"out" is an adjective in this case as well, it describes the manner of bursting that was taking place.
This has a twin thread, so I think this one should be closed. However, I have to say that "violently" and "excruciatingly" are adverbs, not adjectives, and "out" is not an adjective--it is part of the prepositional (or "phrasal") verb, "burst out."
It's strange to me how everyone's separating "burst out of" into separate pieces O.O Surely it's a 3-part phrasal verb? You cannot eliminate any of those words and get the very same meaning. So, adjectives: cold, icy, usual, painful. Madhoca is right - violently and excruciatingly are both adverbs. The -ly identifies this. "Violent" and "excruciating" would be the adjectives. However, I'm wondering if "front" in "front door" is an adjective? It's true "front" describes which exact door it is, but then again, I'm wondering if "front door" should be treated as one word, if you get me meaning.
I diagrammed this for clarity (I'm a little rusty, but I think this is mostly correct) So your Adjectives are: Cold, Icy, Front, Usual, and His (3 instances). Violently and Excruciating are adverbs. The "Which was painful" clause is an adverbial phrase that modifies broke (I am sure of that, although I suspect I didn't properly diagram it). *EDIT* I might have just revealed the embarrassingly severe nature of my English-nerdiness. Also, the adverbial clause could potentially be adjectival instead, if it were to modify 'arm' rather than 'broke'. In that case, the arm was excruciatingly painful before it was broken, and the break has nothing to do with the pain. In that case I'd argue that "excruciatingly painful" would then be added to the adjective list. *SECOND EDIT* I think that "Was Painful" is actually a verb phrase with an implied subject (the break), so it would be diagrammed slightly differently. *THIRD EDIT* I referenced my notes and grammar book last night. The clause is properly diagrammed: ---[S/NP]---[L.V.]---[Adj] [the break]| was \ painful _____________\excruciatingly ________________[Adv]
Answered twice, on purpose. I would assume the issue is over possessive adjectives vs possessive pronouns. It's one of those things that makes me wonder if grammar enthusiasts don't have too much time on their hands. And reading Ian J's post I found: Owl Purdue's notes
Edit: just checked out Ginger's link... it appears "his" is a possessive adjective, so it could fall into the adjective list actually. Interesting lol.
I think the issue was if 'painful' was an adjective following 'was', not if 'painful' could be an adjective in a different position in the sentence.
All three instances of 'his' are adjectives in this example. Sentence diagramming is a great tool for teasing out these details. It also catches vagueness that we might otherwise miss (like the adjectival or adverbial nature of "which was extremely painful".)
But then it would be a different sentence. There are few hard/fast rules about what position a word plays in a sentence. Buffalo, for example, can be a verb, adjective, or noun--all in the same sentence. As in, "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." The word itself is not so important, it's the word's position in the sentence that matters. That's why we can understand Carroll's "The Jabberwocky", despite its heavy use of nonsense words.
But it was a different sentence, that was my point. You misunderstood Ian's comment. I'm pretty sure Ian meant he didn't think 'painful' was an adjective in the OP sentence.
It's not an adjective in the OP's post; it's [the clause] most likely an adverb (because it is in a clause that describes the verb [broke]). It could be an adjective, but in that case the arm was excruciatingly painful before the break occurred, which is possible, but likely not the intended meaning. *EDIT* I fear that is kind of murky. Regardless of if the clause is adverbial or adjectival, "painful" modifies 'was' so it's an adverb in that clause. The resultant clause is either adverbial or adjectival, dependent on the author's intention.
I wasn't sure so I looked it up, as did Ian, according to his comment. He didn't think it was an adjective but after looking it up he changed his mind. Did you miss my quote and link? 'Painful' doesn't modify 'was', it modifies 'broke his arm' in the OP sentence. Since it wasn't "broken painfully", which would have made 'painful' an adverb, then it has to be modifying the clause, "broke his arm", which is a thing. "The broken arm was painful." Painful and broken are both modifiers of the noun, arm. I will accept corrections if I'm wrong, but that's how I read it.
