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Adjectival Phrase
What Is an Adjectival Phrase?
An adjectival phrase is a group of words that describes a noun or a pronoun. An adjectival phrase is not headed by an adjective, which is how adjectival phrases differ from adjective phrases. For example:- the book in the corner (The phrase "in the corner" describes "the book." Note that "in the corner" is not headed by an adjective. This is why it is an "adjectival phrase" not an "adjective phrase.")
Table of Contents
- Interactive Examples of Adjectival Phrases
- Easy Examples of Adjectival Phrases
- Adjectival Phrase vs Adjective Phrase
- Real-Life Examples of Adjectival Phrases
- More about Multi-word Adjectives
- Why Adjectival Phrases Are Important
- Printable Test

Interactive Examples of Adjectival Phrases
Here are some interactive examples to help explain the difference between single-word adjectives, adjective phrases, adjectival phrases, and adjective clauses.(1) There is no adjective in an adjectival phrase.
(2) There is an adjective in an adjective phrase.
(In each adjective phrase, the head adjective is shown in bold.)
(3) There is a subject and a verb in an adjective clause.
(In each adjective clause, the subject is blue, and the verb is green.)
Easy Examples of Adjectival Phrases
In each example below, the adjectival phrase is shaded, and the noun being modified is bold.- Is that your dog with the bone? (This adjectival phrase describes "your dog." Notice that there is no adjective in "with the bone.")
- I am looking for a house near the river. (This adjectival phrase describes "a house." Notice that there is no adjective in "near the river.")
- She wants a book to read on holiday. (This adjectival phrase describes "a book." Notice that there is no adjective in "to read on holiday.")
Adjectival Phrase vs Adjective Phrase
This distinction between adjectival phrase and adjective phrase is not universally agreed. The two terms are often used interchangeably to refer to any multi-word adjective. Of note, linguistics experts tend to use the term "phrasal attributive" to refer to a multi-word adjective that does not contain an adjective.In summary, an "adjectival phrase" (as we call it) is sometimes referred to as a "phrasal attributive" by linguistics specialists or as an "adjective phrase" by other grammarians.
Real-Life Examples of Adjectival Phrases
Here are some real-life examples of adjectival phrases. (In these examples, the adjectival phrases are highlighted and the modified nouns are shown in bold.)- The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions. (Indian philosopher Chanakya) (Here, the adjectival phrases are all prepositional phrases. They are all headed by the preposition "of.")
- The best defence against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off. (The 1949 British Army Journal) (Here, the adjectival phrase is a prepositional phrase. It is headed by the preposition "against.")
- Capitalism is an organized system to guarantee that greed becomes the primary force of our economic system. (Author Michael Moore) (In this example, the adjectival phrase is an infinitive phrase. It is headed by the infinitive verb "to guarantee.")
- The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive those who have wronged us. (Author Marianne Williamson) (This example has two types of adjectival phrase. The first adjectival phrase is a prepositional phrase headed by the preposition "in." The second adjectival phrase is an infinitive phrase headed by the infinitive verb "to forgive.")
More about Multi-word Adjectives
Another common type of multi-word adjective is the adjective clause. Like all clauses, an adjective clause includes a subject and a verb.- The boy who stole my bike has been caught. (The clause "who stole my bike" is a multi-word adjective describing "The boy." It has a subject ("who") and a verb ("stole"). It is an adjective clause (also called a relative clause).)
(Reason 1) Don't treat the noun in a prepositional phrase as the subject of your verb.
Be careful when a prepositional phrase precedes a verb.- A belt of bullets were buried in the garden.
- A belt of bullets
werewas buried in the garden.
- A combination of factors were the cause of the crash.
- A combination of factors
werewas the cause of the crash.
(Reason 2) Avoid ambiguity when placing your adjectival phrase.
Sometimes, it is unclear whether your phrase is an adjectival phrase (modifying a noun) or an adverbial phrase (modifying a verb). Look at this example:- Simon fed the shark in the cage.
- Simon was in the cage when he fed the shark.
- Simon fed the shark that was in the cage.
- I need a weapon to kill a ghost.
- I need a weapon that can kill a ghost.
- I need a weapon in order to kill a ghost.
- The noun in a prepositional phrase does not govern the verb.
- A list of names have been handed to the authorities.
- A list of names has been handed to the authorities.
- Be careful with adjectival phrases because they can be ambiguous. If there's genuine ambiguity, reword your sentence.
- Toni struck the robber with the bat.
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