Adjectivepredicative

Adjectivepredicative, usually referred to as a predicative adjective, is an adjective that functions as the predicate of a clause, describing a property of the subject through a linking (copular) verb. In this role, the adjective completes the meaning of the subject rather than modifying a noun directly within a noun phrase.

In English, many adjectives can be used both attributively and predicatively. Attributive use occurs inside a noun phrase (a blue car), while predicative use follows a linking verb (The car is blue). Common predicative verbs include be, seem, become, look, feel, taste, sound, appear, turn, stay, remain, and grow. Examples: The sky is blue. The soup tastes salty. The boy grew tall. The water turned cold. Predicative adjectives describe states or changes in state, and they may be modified by degree words (very, somewhat, extremely): The room is very quiet.

Syntactically, predicative adjectives form part of the predicate and function as subject complements or predicative complements. Their use is not tied to a noun and does not take agreement in English, but many other languages exhibit subject-verb or noun-adjective agreement in predicative position. Some languages allow a wider range of adjectives in predicative slots, while others constrain which adjectives can appear predicatively.

Overall, adjectivepredicative is a central concept in understanding how adjectives convey properties of subjects through linking verbs, distinguishing predicative description from attributive modification. See also predicative complement, subject complement, and adjective.