Meaning & use
adjectival phrase
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A group of words, built around an adjective or acting like one, that describes a noun or pronoun, such as 'very tired' or 'full of surprises'.
Grammar: Plural is adjectival phrases: one adjectival phrase, two adjectival phrases.
Patterns
- an adjectival phrase describing something
In the sentence 'She felt extremely nervous', the words 'extremely nervous' form an adjectival phrase.
Our grammar teacher asked us to underline every adjectival phrase in the paragraph.
'Afraid of the dark' is an adjectival phrase that tells us more about the child.
Word forms
| plural | adjectival phrases |
|---|
Common combinations
- identify an adjectival phrase
- The quiz asks you to identify an adjectival phrase in each sentence.
- a simple adjectival phrase
- 'Quite old' is a simple adjectival phrase.
- an adjectival phrase modifying a noun
- In 'a house full of books', the adjectival phrase is modifying the noun house.
- adjectival phrase and adverbial phrase
- Students often mix up the adjectival phrase and the adverbial phrase in a long sentence.
- use an adjectival phrase
- Writers use an adjectival phrase when one word is not enough to paint a picture.
Synonyms and how they differ
- adjective phrase
- This is the more common name in many American textbooks, while adjectival phrase sounds slightly more formal.
- modifier
- A modifier is a much broader term, because it can be a word or phrase that changes any part of speech, not only nouns.
- descriptive phrase
- This is an everyday label that does not require grammar knowledge, so it is less exact than adjectival phrase.
Word family
- adjective noun
- the word class that describes nouns
- adjectival adjective
- relating to or working like an adjective
- adjectivally adverb
- in the manner of an adjective
- adjectivize verb
- to turn another word into an adjective (rare)
Commonly confused: adjectival phrase or adverbial phrase?
adjectival phrase vs adverbial phrase
An adverbial phrase tells us how, when or where something happens, so it modifies a verb, while an adjectival phrase describes a noun.
Practice
Which underlined part is an adjectival phrase? 'The soup, hot enough to burn my tongue, was served quickly.'
Choose one answer.
'Hot enough to burn my tongue' describes the soup, so it is an adjectival phrase. 'Served quickly' tells how something happened, so it is not adjectival.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “adjectival phrase”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.