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In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified.^[1]

Adjectives are one of the traditional eight English parts of speech, though linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that were formerly considered to be adjectives. In this paragraph, "traditional" is an adjective, and in the preceding paragraph, "main" and "more" are.

Distribution[link]

Most but not all languages have adjectives. Those that do not typically use words of another part of speech, often verbs, to serve the same semantic function; for example, such a language might have a verb that means "to be big", and would use as attributive verb construction analogous to "big-being house" to express what English expresses as "big house". Even in languages that do have adjectives, one language's adjective might not be another's; for example, whereas English uses "to be hungry" (hungry being an adjective), Dutch and French use "honger hebben" and "avoir faim," respectively (literally "to have hunger", hunger being a noun), and whereas Hebrew uses the adjective "זקוק" (zaqūq, roughly "in need of"), English uses the verb "to need".

Adjectives form an open class of words in most languages that have them; that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation. However, Bantu languages are well known for having only a small closed class of adjectives, and new adjectives are not easily derived. Igbo has an extremely limited number, just eight: mnukwu 'big', nta 'small'; ojii 'dark', ocha 'light'; ohuru(ofuru) 'new', ochie 'old'; oma 'good', ojoo 'bad'.^[2] Similarly, native Japanese adjectives (i-adjectives) are a closed class (as are native verbs), though nouns (which are open class) can be used in the genitive and there is the separate class of adjectival nouns (na-adjectives), which is also open, and functions similarly to noun adjuncts in English.

Adjectives and adverbs[link]

Many languages, including English, distinguish between adjectives, which qualify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs, which modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Not all languages have exactly this distinction and many languages, including English, have words that can function as both. For example, in English fast is an adjective in "a fast car" (where it qualifies the noun car), but an adverb in "he drove fast" (where it modifies the verb drove).

Determiners[link]

Linguists today distinguish determiners from adjectives, considering them to be two separate parts of speech (or lexical categories), but formerly determiners were considered to be adjectives in some of their uses. In English dictionaries, which typically still do not treat determiners as their own part of speech, determiners are often recognizable by being listed both as adjectives and as pronouns. Determiners are words that are neither nouns nor pronouns, yet reference a thing already in context. Determiners generally do this by indicating definiteness (as in a vs. the), quantity (as in one vs. some vs. many), or another such property.

Form[link]

A given occurrence of an adjective can generally be classified into one of four kinds of uses:

1. Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify; for example, happy is an attributive adjective in "happy people". In some languages, attributive adjectives precede their nouns; in others, they follow their nouns; and in yet others, it depends on the adjective, or on the exact relationship of the adjective to the noun. In English, attributive adjectives usually precede their nouns in simple phrases, but often follow their nouns when the adjective is modified or qualified by a phrase acting as an adverb. For example: "I saw three happy kids", and "I saw three kids happy enough to jump up and down with glee." See also Postpositive adjective.
2. Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula or other linking mechanism to the noun or pronoun they modify; for example, happy is a predicate adjective in "they are happy" and in "that made me happy." (See also: Predicative expression, Subject complement.)
3. Absolute adjectives do not belong to a larger construction (aside from a larger adjective phrase), and typically modify either the subject of a sentence or whatever noun or pronoun they are closest to; for example, happy is an absolute adjective in "The boy, happy with his lollipop, did not look where he was going."
4. Nominal adjectives act almost as nouns. One way this can happen is if a noun is elided and an attributive adjective is left behind. In the sentence, "I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy", happy is a nominal adjective, short for "happy one" or "happy book". Another way this can happen is in phrases like "out with the old, in with the new", where "the old" means, "that which is old" or "all that is old", and similarly with "the new". In such cases, the adjective functions either as a mass noun (as in the preceding example) or as a plural count noun, as in "The meek shall inherit the Earth", where "the meek" means "those who are meek" or "all who are meek".

Adjectival phrases[link]

An adjective acts as the head of an adjectival phrase. In the simplest case, an adjectival phrase consists solely of the adjective; more complex adjectival phrases may contain one or more adverbs modifying the adjective ("very strong"), or one or more complements (such as "worth several dollars", "full of toys", or "eager to please"). In English, attributive adjectival phrases that include complements typically follow their subject ("an evildoer devoid of redeeming qualities").

Other noun modifiers[link]

In many languages, including English, it is possible for nouns to modify other nouns. Unlike adjectives, nouns acting as modifiers (called attributive nouns or noun adjuncts) are not predicative; a beautiful park is beautiful, but a car park is not "car". In plain English, the modifier often indicates origin ("Virginia reel"), purpose ("work clothes"), or semantic patient ("man eater"). However, it can generally indicate almost any semantic relationship. It is also common for adjectives to be derived from nouns, as in boyish, birdlike, behavioral, famous, manly, angelic, and so on.

Many languages have special verbal forms called participles that can act as noun modifiers. In some languages, including English, there is a strong tendency for participles to evolve into adjectives. English examples of this include relieved (the past participle of the verb relieve, used as an adjective in sentences such as "I am so relieved to see you"), spoken (as in "the spoken word"), and going (the present participle of the verb go, used as an adjective in sentences such as "Ten dollars per hour is the going rate").

Other constructs that often modify nouns include prepositional phrases (as in "a rebel without a cause"), relative clauses (as in "the man who wasn't there"), other adjective clauses (as in "the bookstore where he worked"), and infinitive phrases (as in "a cake to die for").

In relation, many nouns take complements such as content clauses (as in "the idea that I would do that"); these are not commonly considered modifiers, however.

Adjective order[link]

In many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific order. In general, the adjective order in English is:

1. quantity or number
2. quality or opinion
3. size
4. age
5. shape
6. color
7. proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
8. purpose or qualifier

So, in English, adjectives pertaining to size precede adjectives pertaining to age ("little old", not "old little"), which in turn generally precede adjectives pertaining to color ("old white", not "white old"). So, we would say "A nice (opinion) little (size) old (age) white (color) brick (material) house."

This order may be more rigid in some languages than others; in some, like Spanish, it may only be a default (unmarked) word order, with other orders being permissible.

Due partially to borrowings from French, English has some adjectives that follow the noun as postmodifiers, called postpositive adjectives, such as time immemorial. Adjectives may even change meaning depending on whether they precede or follow, as in proper: They live in a proper town (a real town, not a village) vs. They live in the town proper (in the town itself, not in the suburbs). All adjectives can follow nouns in certain constructions, such as tell me something new.

Comparison of adjectives[link]

In many languages, adjectives can be compared. In English, for example, we can say that a car is big, that it is bigger than another is, or that it is the biggest car of all. Not all adjectives lend themselves to comparison, however; for example, the English adjective extinct is not considered comparable, in that it does not make sense to describe one species as "more extinct" than another. However, even most non-comparable English adjectives are still sometimes compared; for example, one might say that a language about which nothing is known is "more extinct" than a well-documented language with surviving literature but no speakers. This is not a comparison of the degree of intensity of the adjective, but rather the degree to which the object fits the adjective's definition.

Comparable adjectives are also known as "gradable" adjectives, because they tend to allow grading adverbs such as very, rather, and so on.

Among languages that allow adjectives to be compared in this way, different approaches are used. Indeed, even within English, two different approaches are used: the suffixes -er and -est, and the words more and most. (In English, the general tendency is for shorter adjectives and adjectives from Anglo-Saxon to use -er and -est, and for longer adjectives and adjectives from French, Latin, Greek, and other languages to use more and most.) By either approach, English adjectives therefore have positive forms (big), comparative forms (bigger), and superlative forms (biggest). However, many other languages do not distinguish comparative from superlative forms.

Restrictiveness[link]

Attributive adjectives, and other noun modifiers, may be used either restrictively (helping to identify the noun's referent, hence "restricting" its reference) or non-restrictively (helping to describe an already-identified noun). For example:

"He was a lazy sort, who would avoid a difficult task and fill his working hours with easy ones."

"difficult" is restrictive - it tells us which tasks he avoids, distinguishing these from the easy ones: "Only those tasks that are difficult".

"She had the job of sorting out the mess left by her predecessor, and she performed this difficult task with great acumen."

"difficult" is non-restrictive - we already know which task it was, but the adjective describes it more fully: "The aforementioned task, which (by the way) is difficult"

In some languages, such as Spanish, restrictiveness is consistently marked; for example, in Spanish la tarea difícil means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task that is difficult" (restrictive), whereas la difícil tarea means "the difficult task" in the sense of "the task, which is difficult" (non-restrictive). In English, restrictiveness is not marked on adjectives, but is marked on relative clauses (the difference between "the man who recognized me was there" and "the man, who recognized me, was there" being one of restrictiveness).

Agreement[link]

In some languages, adjectives alter their form to reflect the gender, case and number of the noun that they describe. This is called agreement or concord. Usually it takes the form of inflections at the end of the word, as in Latin:

puella bona		(good girl, feminine)
puellam bonam		(good girl, feminine accusative/object case)
puer bonus		(good boy, masculine)
pueri boni		(good boys, masculine plural)

In the Celtic languages, however, initial consonant lenition marks the adjective with a feminine noun, as in Irish:

buachaill maith		(good boy, masculine)
girseach mhaith		(good girl, feminine)

Often a distinction is made here between attributive and predicative usage. Whereas English is an example of a language in which adjectives never agree and French of a language in which they always agree, in German they agree only when used attributively, and in Hungarian only when used predicatively.

The good (Ø) boys.		The boys are good (Ø).
Les bons garçons.		Les garçons sont bons.
Die braven Jungen.		Die Jungen sind brav (Ø).
A jó (Ø) fiúk.		A fiúk jók.

See also[link]

• Attributive verb
• Flat adverb
• List of eponymous adjectives in English
• List of irregular English adjectives
• Noun adjunct
• Postpositive adjective
• Proper adjective

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Dixon, R. M. W. (1977). "Where have all the adjectives gone?". Studies in Language 1: 19–80. DOI:10.1075/sl.1.1.04dix. 
• Dixon, R. M. W.; R. E. Asher (Editor) (1993). The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (1st ed.). Pergamon Press Inc. pp. 29–35. ISBN 0-08-035943-4. 
• Dixon, R. M. W. (1999). Adjectives. In K. Brown & T. Miller (Eds.), Concise encyclopedia of grammatical categories (pp. 1–8). Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-08-043164-X.
• Warren, Beatrice. (1984). Classifying adjectives. Gothenburg studies in English (No. 56). Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ISBN 91-7346-133-4.
• Wierzbicka, Anna (1986). "What's in a noun? (or: How do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?)". Studies in Language 10 (2): 353–389. DOI:10.1075/sl.10.2.05wie. 

External links[link]

Look up predicative adjective in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up adjective in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Adjective article on HyperGrammar
• Pratheep Raveendrabathan - List of Adjectives
• Adjectives at the Internet Guide to Grammar and Writing
• Adjectives - The Qualifiers that Add Emphasis to Your Words

Rachel Maddow
Maddow hosting KPTK's "Changing the Media, Changing America" event in Seattle
Born	Rachel Anne Maddow (1973-04-01) April 1, 1973 (age 39) Castro Valley, California, U.S.
Education	B.A., Stanford University D.Phil, University of Oxford
Occupation	News anchor Political commentator Television host
Notable credit(s)	The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC) The Rachel Maddow Show (Air America Radio)
Website
www.rachelmaddow.com

Rachel Anne Maddow (pronounced /ˈmædoʊ/; born April 1, 1973) is an American television host, political commentator, and author.^[1][2] Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC.^[3] Her syndicated talk radio program of the same name aired on Air America Radio. Maddow is the first openly gay anchor of a prime-time news program in the United States.^[4][5][6][7]

Asked about her political views by the Valley Advocate, Maddow replied, "I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform."^[8]

Early life and education[link]

Maddow was born in Castro Valley, California. Her father, Robert B. "Bob" Maddow, is a former United States Air Force captain who resigned his commission the year before her birth and found civilian work as a lawyer for the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Her mother, Elaine Maddow (née Gosse), is a school program administrator from Newfoundland, Canada.^[9][10][11] She has one older brother, David. Her father is of Russian and Dutch descent and her mother is of English and Irish ancestry.^[11] Maddow's mother was raised a strict Roman Catholic, and Maddow herself grew up in a community that her mother has described as "very conservative."^[12][13] Maddow was a competitive athlete and played three sports in high school.^[14] Referencing John Hughes films, she describes herself in high school as "a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl."^[13]

A graduate of Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, California, she attended Stanford University. While a freshman, she was outed by the college newspaper when an interview with her was published by the student newspaper before she could tell her parents.^[15] Maddow earned a degree in public policy from Stanford in 1994.^[16] At graduation she was awarded the John Gardner Fellowship.^[17] She was also the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship and began her postgraduate study in 1995 at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 2001, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University.^[18] Her thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons (supervisor: Dr Lucia Zedner). She was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.^[19][20]

Radio career[link]

Maddow's first radio hosting job was at WRNX (100.9 FM) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, after she entered and won a contest the station held to find a new on-air personality.^[21] She was hired to co-host WRNX's morning show, The Dave in the Morning Show. She went on to host Big Breakfast on WRSI, in Northampton, Massachusetts, for two years. She left the show in March 2004 to join the new Air America.^[18] There she hosted Unfiltered along with Chuck D (of the hip hop group Public Enemy) and Lizz Winstead (co-creator of The Daily Show), until its cancellation in March 2005.^[22] Two weeks after the cancellation of Unfiltered in April 2005, Maddow's weekday two-hour radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, began airing; in March 2008 it gained an hour, broadcasting from 6 to 9 p.m. EST with David Bender filling in the third hour for the call-in section, when Maddow was on TV assignment. In September 2008, the show's length returned to two hours when Maddow began a nightly MSNBC television program. In February 2009, after renewing her contract with Air America, Maddow returned to the 5 am hour-long slot.^[23] Her last Air America show was on January 21, 2010, two weeks before its owners filed for bankruptcy.^[24]

Television career[link]

In June 2005, Maddow became a regular panelist on MSNBC's Tucker.^[25] During and after the November 2006 election, she was a frequent guest on CNN's Paula Zahn Now. In January 2008, Maddow became a MSNBC political analyst and was a regular panelist on MSNBC's Race for the White House with David Gregory and MSNBC's election coverage,^[26] as well as a frequent contributor on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.^[18]

In April 2008, Maddow was the substitute host for Countdown with Keith Olbermann, her first time hosting a program on MSNBC. Maddow described herself on air as "nervous." Keith Olbermann complimented her work, and she was brought back to host Countdown the next month. The show she hosted was the highest rated news program among people ages 25 to 54, a key demographic in ratings.^[27] For her success, the next Monday, Olbermann ranked Maddow third in his show's segment "World's Best Persons".^[28] In July 2008, while Olbermann was on vacation, Maddow filled in again for several broadcasts and, on July 21, for half the show.^[29] Maddow also filled in for David Gregory as host of Race for the White House.^[18]

[edit] The Rachel Maddow Show

In August 2008, MSNBC announced The Rachel Maddow Show would replace Verdict with Dan Abrams in the network's 9 p.m. slot the following month.^[30][31] Following its debut, the show topped Countdown as the highest rated show on MSNBC on several occasions.^[32][33] After being on air for more than a month, Maddow's program doubled the audience that hour.^[34]

Early reviews for her show were mostly positive. The Los Angeles Times writer Matea Gold stated Maddow "finds the right formula on MSNBC,"^[35] and The Guardian writes Maddow has become the "star of America's cable news."^[20] Associated Press columnist David Bauder said she's "[Keith] Olbermann's political soul mate" and the Olbermann-Maddow shows are a "liberal two-hour block."^[36]

Public image and publicity[link]

Maddow has been profiled in People,^[37] the Guardian,^[38] and the New York Observer,^[39] has appeared on “The View” and “Charlie Rose”^[40]

Keith Olbermann played a pivotal role in Maddow's hiring at MSNBC. Olbermann was able to pressure Phil Griffin to give Maddow Dan Abram's slot. A fan of Maddow's, Olbermann was able to use his influence, which had become greater as his ratings rose.^[41]

A 2011 Hollywood Reporter profile of Maddow said that she was able to deliver news "with agenda, but not hysteria.”^[42] A Newsweek profile noted that “At her best, Maddow debates ideological opponents with civility and persistence...But for all her eloquence, she can get so wound up ripping Republicans that she sounds like another smug cable partisan.". Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik has accused Maddow of acting like 'a lockstep party member.'”^[43]

A Time profile called her a “whip-smart, button-cute leftie.” It said that she radiates an essential decency and suggested that her career rise might signify that “nice is the new nasty.”^[44]

Political views[link]

Distinguishing herself from others on the left, Maddow said she's a "national security liberal" and in a different interview that she's not "a partisan."^[45][46] The New York Times called her a "defense policy wonk" who is writing a book on the role of the military in postwar American politics.^[35][45] (The book, titled Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power, was published in 2012.) During the 2008 presidential election, Maddow did not formally support any candidate. Concerning Barack Obama's candidacy, Maddow said during the primaries, "I have never and still don't think of myself as an Obama supporter, either professionally or actually."^[47]

In March 2010, Republican Scott Brown, the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts, speculated that Maddow was going to run against him for his seat in 2012. He used this premise for a fundraising email that read "...The Massachusetts political machine is looking for someone to run against me. And you're not going to believe who they are supposedly trying to recruit — liberal MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow." Maddow said Brown's speculation was false. On her March 23, 2010, TV program, Maddow said, "I have the best job in the world. I am not running for office. Scott Brown didn't ask me if I was running or planning to run for office, before he wrote a fundraising letter with my name. No, it's completely made up by him." Despite her comments, the next day Brown continued along the same line, telling a Boston radio station, "Bring her on." To help put an end to the matter, Maddow ran a full-page advertisement in the Boston Globe confirming she was not running, and separately demanded Brown's apology. She added that despite repeated invitations over the months, Brown had refused to appear on her TV program.^{[48][49][50][51]}

Personal life[link]

Maddow lives in Manhattan and western Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.^[52][53] The couple met in 1999, when Mikula hired Maddow to do yard work at her home. Maddow was working on her doctoral dissertation at the time.^[52] Their first date was at a National Rifle Association "Ladies' Day on the Range" event.^[54] Although Massachusetts and New York recognize same-sex marriage, as of 2009 Maddow and Mikula had no plans to marry.^[13]

Honors and awards[link]

• Emmy Award in the Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis category for "The Rachel Maddow Show" episode "Good Morning Landlocked Central Asia!"
• Maddow was named in Out magazine's "Out 100" list of the "gay men and women who moved culture" in 2008.^[55]
• Maddow was voted "Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year (American)" in AfterEllen's 2008 Visibility Awards.^[56]
• Maddow won a Gracie Award in 2009, presented by the American Women in Radio and Television.^[57]
• In 2009, Maddow was nominated for GLAAD's 20th Annual Media Awards for a segment of her MSNBC show, "Rick Warren, Change To Believe In?", in the Outstanding TV Journalism Segment category.^[58]
• On March 28, 2009, Maddow received a Proclamation of Honor from the California State Senate, presented in San Francisco by California State Senator Mark Leno.^[59]
• In April 2009, she was listed at number four in Out magazine's Annual Power 50 List.^[60]
• Maddow placed sixth in the "2009 AfterEllen.com Hot 100" list (May 11, 2009)^[61] and third in its "2009 Hot 100: Out Women" version.^[62]
• Maddow was included on a list of openly gay media professionals in The Advocate's "Forty under 40" issue of June/July 2009.^[63]
• In 1994, Maddow was an Honorable Mention in the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Prize in Ethics.^[64]
• In June 2009, Maddow's MSNBC show was the only cable news show nominated for a Television Critics Association award in the Outstanding Achievement in News and Information category.^[65]
• In March 2010, Maddow won at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards in the category, Outstanding TV Journalism- Newsmagazine for her segment, "Uganda Be Kidding Me".^[66]
• Maddow was the 2010 commencement speaker and was given an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree at Smith College in Northampton, MA in May 2010.^[67]
• In July 2010, Maddow was presented with a Maggie Award for her ongoing reporting of healthcare reform, the murder of Dr. George Tiller, and the anti-abortion movement.^[68]
• In August 2010, Maddow won the Walter Cronkite Faith & Freedom Award, which was presented by The Interfaith Alliance.^[69] Past honorees included Larry King, Tom Brokaw, and the late Peter Jennings.^[69]
• In November 2011, she was included on the list of "Over-Rated Thinkers" by the editors of The New Republic.^[70]
• In February 2012, Maddow was presented the John Steinbeck Award by the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.^[71]

Bibliography[link]

• Maddow, Rachel (2012). Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power. Crown. ISBN 978-0-307-46098-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rachel Maddow

• Rachel Maddow on Twitter
• Official website
• Profile and show at MSNBC
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Rachel Maddow on Charlie Rose
• Rachel Maddow at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Rachel Maddow in libraries (WorldCat catalog)