The attribute

The attribute is a secondary part of the sentence which denotes the qualities of a person or thing expressed by a noun (or pronoun) in any of its functions in the sentence. The modified part of the sentence may have several attributes of various kinds:

The kitchen was a white-washed room with rafters. (Gals­worthy.) They spoke of their native village in dear old North Wessex... (Hardy.) A whole day’s walk yesterday with no plan; just a long ramble of hour after hour, entirely enjoyable. (Gissing.) ...there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink- flowering thorn. (Galsworthy.)

An attribute may be expressed by:

1. An a d j e с t i v e:

1. An adjective used as an attribute usually precedes the head-noun. If a noun has more than one modifying adjective preceding it, the one most closely connected with it comes next to it:

A little, round clock ticked solemnly. (Galsworthy.) His firm, well-coloured cheeks, with their neat. brown moustaches, and his round, well-opened, clear grey eyes, wore a reassuring appearance of good health. (Galsworthy.) ...the distant trees were lost in the gloom of a starless night. (Collins.)

An adjective denoting nationality or origin is placed before an adjective denoting material:

An English tweed coat. A Japanese silk shawl.

2. Adjectives with suffixes -able, -ible, which are usually derived; from verbs, are also placed in post-position owing to their predicative character:

It is the only thing notable (= which may be noted.) He is the only person reliable (= who may be relied upon.)

He sat looking on, pen in hand, with one of the most loving smiles imaginable. (Dickens.) I feel a solitude unutterable, yet nothing akin to desolation... (Gissing.)

The adjective possible which is not derived from a verb has the same predicative force:

It is the only solution possible (= which is possible.)

Placed before the head-noun these adjectives have no predicative force:

It is a sensible suggestion. She is an unreasonable person.

3. Some adjectives of French origin are placed after the noun which they modify in accordance with the position of the adjective used as an attribute in the French language.

The only people present were Dolton, Lucy, and Lucy’s hus­band... (Galsworthy.) There with Marlow’s signature the letter proper ended. (Conrad.)

The same in: the first person singular, the second person plural,

etc.

4. An adjective used as an attribute to a pronoun always follows it:

I should like to have something interesting to read. You must ask those best informed. Is there anything new in this information? Everyone present turned reproving eyes upon me... (Maurier.) “I was not prepared for anything so beautiful...” (Dickens.)

5. Adjectives with the prefix a- such as alive, awake, asleep, afraid, etc. always follow their hea d-n о u n:

I am the most happy man alive. He spoke like a man afraid. There were few passengers astir. (Dickens.)

2. A participle:

A participle used as an attribute may stand before its lie a d-n bun; but more often it is placed in post-position usually in the function of a detached attribute (see “De­tached Secondary Parts of the Sentence”, p. 386).

I see trees laden with ripening fruit. (В г о n t ё.) The frozen ground was hard as stone. (Dodge.) The fresh morning air, flowing through my open window, cooled and composed me. (Collin s.)

3. A pronoun:

An attributive pronoun is placed before the noun which it modifies:

Her face was close to the window pane... (Galsworthy.) ...a few white clouds floated amid the blue... (Gissing.) Every bough was swinging in the wind, every spring bird calling... (Galsworthy.) “What excuse shall I make?” (Irving.)

4. A numeral:

A numeral is placed before its head-noun.

Two or three days went by. (Maugham.) Nineteen persons were gathered here. (Hardy.) The two white swans came majestically by... (Galsworthy.) Ours was the first boat... (Jerome.)

5. A noun in the possessive case:

In Modern English the possessive case is used only in the func­tion of an attribute. A noun in the possessive case precedes the noun it modifies, thus occupying the usual position of an attribute in Modern English.

They were the sons of Thomas Court, my mother’s youngest brother. (Mazo de la Roche.) There were no words for Caleb’s emotion. (Dickens.) A window in his Uncle’s old home blazed like a jewel in the sun’s last rays between the poplar trees. (Galsworthy.)

6. An adjectivized noun (see “Adjectivized Nouns,” p. 44): An adjectivized noun is placed before the noun which it

m od i f i es.

Down in the little town a few faint points of yellow light twinkled in the mountain wind... (Galsworthy.) The sun had not quite set, and its last smoky radiance slanted into the burnished autumn woods. (Galsworthy.) ...a long white cloud brushed the poplar tops beyond the water. (Galswor­thy.) It was a delicious winter night. (Henry.)

7. A noun (or pronoun) with a preposition (a prep­ositional phrase.) A noun with a preposition used as an attribute follows the noun it modifies:

The bough of an apple-tree below the window was broken. (Galsworthy.) ...no clue to his whereabouts could be found. (Kingsley.) ...a girl in a cotton dress and straw hat ran up to him... (Voynich.) A murmur in the room attracted his attention. (Joyce.) There was sunlight upon the blinds, that pure gold of the earliest beam... (Gissing.)

The preposition of is often dropped with nouns of colour, price, size, age, etc.:

A room the same size as yours was shown to us. In came a little boy the same age as Peter. I need a plank the right width.

Care should be taken not to consider every prepositional phrase following a noun as an attribute to that noun because the prepo­sitional group may be connected with the predicate in the function of a prepositional object or adverbial modifier:

The letter from my brother gave me much pleasure (attrib­ute.) I have received a letter from my brother (prepositional object.) He wrote me a letter from Leningrad (adverbial modi­fier.)

8. An attributive group of words:

An attributive group of words precedes the noun it modifies:

John was of the look-before-you leap, the think-before-you- speak sort. (VacheJl.) “The never-to-be-forgotten Johnny?” asked Mr. Brown. (Joyce.) ...a very small and not-over-par- ticularly-taken-care-of boy. (Dickens.) He went on in a more- matter-of-fact tone... (Chesterton.) He could see the soft blue-grey-balloon-shaped oaks. (Galsworthy.) Such an ag­gressive, cock-sure, you-be-damned fellow. (Kipling.) Amidst the general hum of mirth and conversation..., there was a little man with a puffy say-nothing-to-me,-or-Pll-contradict-you sort of countenance, who remained very quiet... (Dickens.)

9. An infinitive:

An infinitive used as an attribute follows its head-noun: “O,” replied Lally offhandedly, “I’ve a lot of things to see to...” (Coppard.) “There is only one thing to be done. (Cro­nin.) “I have no time to lose.” (Вгоп1ё.) There were few sounds to hear, for it was early in January and the college was empty and quiet. (Snow.)

10. A gerund with a preposition:

A gerund with a preposition used as an attribute follows the noun it modifies:

The pleasure of seeing her again was intensified extraordi­nary by the welcome in her eyes... (Cronin.) The rain showed no sign of stopping... (Maugham.) Hand in hand with reading, he had developed the habit of making notes... (Lon­don.) I gave him minute directions for finding the residence of Mr. Barkis... (Dickens.)

11. An adverb:

An adverb used as an attribute follows its head-noun (or noun-pronoun):

Presently there came the sound of a motor-car in the little street below. (Galsworthy.) ...birds were chirping in the trees outside. (Cusack.) ...a big detached cloud floated dark and still, casting a slaty shadow on the water beneath... (Con­rad.) ...all without was quiet. All within was quiet also... (Greenwood.)

A whole syntactical w о r d-c о m b i n a t i о n:

...a girl with cheeks like poppies... comes out and stands in the doorway. (Galsworthy.) (a girl with cheeks has no sense.) He was a young man of middle height... (Galswor­thy.) He was a man with a round white face... (Galswor­thy.)

12. A Complex Attribute. An attribute may be expressed by an infinitival, or gerundial complex, or a complex introduced by with:

He spread a rug for his wife to sit on. (Galsworthy.) It was a long story for Jacob to tell, and he stopped to rest. (Dodge.) The day soon came for our going. (Dickens.) I wrote again: there was a chance of my first letter having missed. (ВгопТё.) He... gave up wine and cigars, . drank a special kind of coffee with no coffee in it. (Galsworthy.)

The Apposition

The apposition is a special kind of attribute expressed by a noun (sometimes a pronoun) which denotes the same person or thing as the head-noun.

There are two kinds of appositions:

1. a detached (loose) apposition and b) an un de­tached (close) apposition.

1. A detached (loose) apposition (обособленное при­ложение). A detached (loose) apposition follows the head- noun in a rather loose connection and has the force of a descriptive attribute. It may modify a common noun, a proper noun and sometimes a pronoun:

All over the wall below his window white jessamine was in flower — stars, not only in the sky. (Galsworthy.) She was dressed in grey, the colour of a pigeon’s feathers... (Gals­worthy.) An aeroplane droned its way over to the north, a high, silvery, smail, noisy shape. (Galsworthy.) Below the window the river in spring flood rushed down the valley, a stream of molten bronze. (Galsworthy.)

2. An undetached (close) apposition (необособленное приложение) An undetached (close) apposition enters into such close relation with its head-noun that they form a group with one stress.

The head-noun is often a proper noun, the name of a person; the apposition denotes r a n k, profession, relation­ship, etc.

The undetached (close) apposition precedes the head-noun, except in some phraseological combinations where the apposition fool lows the head-noun (William the Conquerer, Richard the Lion Hearted.) The stress is, on the head-noun.

“I am afraid Aunt Augusta won’t quite approve of your being here.” (Wilde.) Major Sarson looked at his watch impatiently. (Wilson.) Nurse Lloyd was openly and bitterly his enemy. (Cronin.)

In geographical names the apposition follows the head- noun. The stress is on the apposition:

The River Thames. Lake Leman. Mount Everest.

A path leads me by the winding of the river Ouse. (G i s- sing.)

The apposition follows its head-noun also in some other cases:

The opera “Ivan Susanin”. The poem “Ode to the Sky-lark”.

The steamer “Sedov”. The newspaper “Pravda”.

A special case present those instances when the head-noun — a common noun such as. city, town, isle, lake, straits, etc...— is followed by an appositive noun — a geographical proper name — preceded by the preposition of: the City of London, the isle of Man, the Straits of Dover:

He talked about his native town of Dublin. (Snow.)