037 USE OF ADJECTIVE 'BAD' AND ITS OBJECTS

Adjectives, we can classify, into three types.
1. Attributive Adjectives:- We have to place these adjectives in front of the objects they describe/modify.
e.g. the phrase: white paper. White is the attribute. Paper is the object.
e.g.2: strong boy.

2. Complementary Adjectives:- Adjectives which complete the meaning of a sentence, when used at the end of sentences, are complementary adjectives. This happens when verbs are of incomplete predication, i.e. they do not complete the meaning of a sentence. The Oxford Advance Learner's Dictionary gives a good example for this type of adjective:
"It is a country where corruption is rife ."
We may not be able to use the phrase 'rife corruption'.

3. Adjectives which can be used in both the ways:-
The strong boy came here. (attributive usage).
The boy is strong. (complementary usage).
He has a bald head. (attributive).
His head is bald. (complementary).

I suggest that, for the sake of a sort of uniformity, we should, as far as possible, try to use attributive adjectives.

4. A noun can have any number of adjectives, both attributive and complementary.

Example: See this usage by the poet Rabindranath Tagore in his Gitanjali:

My house is all dark and lonesome--lend me your light!.

Note: 'My' is attributive adjective. It is also a possessive adjective, because it indicates ownership. 'Dark house, lonesome house' become attributive adjectives. The poet used them as complementary adjectives.

Note: The Readers may not find the above classification in some grammar books/ web sites. There are other classifications too.

The word 'bad' is an adjective, which can be used both before its object and elsewhere in the sentence. Here is a small quiz based on the objects* of 'bad'.

*Objects = nouns which the adjective 'bad' describes.

Transitive verbs have their objects. Prepositions have their objects. Adjectives describe and modify nouns. I do not find it senseless to call the nouns described by adjectives, as objects of adjectives.

Please fill in the blanks selecting appropriate words from the Choice Box.

The sentences used in the Sentences Box are proverbs used in the English language. You can make following observations from the proverbs:

1. Two words are contrasted. The objects of the adjective 'bad' are opposite in meaning to the subject or the other keyword in the sentence.

2. You can also see how proverbs evolve out of conflicts between two extremes in human lives.

CHOICE BOX
1. thief. 2. counsellor. 3. good. 4. master. 5. son. 6. calf. 7. supper. 8. lenders. 9. company. 10. wives.

SENTENCE BOX
1: All are good lasses, but whence come the BAD ____ ?
2: Better be alone than in BAD ____.
3: Great spenders are BAD ____.
4: He that spares the BAD injures the ___ .
5: Hope is a good breakfast, but a BAD ____ .
6: Many a good cow has a BAD ____.
7: Many a good father has but a BAD ____ .
8: Money is a good servant but a BAD ____ .
9: Nothing so BAD, as not to be ___ for something.
10: Self is a BAD ____ .
11: The receiver is as BAD as the ___ .

SUGGESTED ANSWERS: 1. wives; 2. company. 3. lenders. 4. supper. 5. calf. 6. son. 7. master. 8. good. 9. counsellor. 10. thief.