Inglise keele struktuur
[`a friend of old, a long-standing friend'], old is restricted to attributive position and cannot
be related to My friend is old. In this case, old is the opposite of new [recently acquired]. The
person referred to is not being identified as old; it is his friendship that is old.
When adjectives characterize the referent of the noun directly (that old man, My friend is old)
they are termed INHERENT, when they do no (an old friend of mine) they are termed
NONINHERINT.
Intensifying adjectives: Some adjectives have a heightened effect on the noun they modify, or
the reverse, a lowering effect. At least three semantic subclasses of intensifying adjectives can
be distinguished:
a) Emphasizers: have a general heightening effect and are generally attributive only, eg:
a true scholar plain nonsense
a clear failure the simple truth
pure (`sheer') fabrication an outright lie
a real (`undoubted') hero sheer arrogance
annaabi.ee 
