adjectival phrases in English

[Edith A Moravcsik]

In English, the ordering of adjectival phrases within the noun phrase
seems to vary with the composition of the adjectival phrase.

First, the order of the adjectival phrase and the indefinite article
varies:

 (1) INDEF.ARTICLE + ADJECT.PHRASE:
     (a)  Peter ate a big apple.
     (b)  Peter ate a very big apple.
     (c) *Peter ate a too big apple.
     (d) *Peter ate a this big apple.

 (2) ADJECT.PHRASE + INDEF.ARTICLE:
     (a) *Peter ate big an apple.
     (b) *Peter ate very big an apple.
     (c)  Peter ate too big an apple.
     (d)  Peter ate this big an apple.

In other words, "ADJ" and "very + ADJ" follow the indefinite article
while "too + ADJ" and "this + ADJ" precede it.

Second, the order of the adjectival phrase and the noun itself also
varies: "this big" can follow the noun while neither "big" nor "very
big" or "too big" can:

  (3) (a) *Peter ate an apple big.
      (b) *Peter ate an apple very big.
      (c) *Peter ate an apple too big.
      (d)  Peter ate an apple this big.

What is the explanation of this order variation? A cursory check of Quirk
and Greenbaum's "A concise grammar of Contemporary English" did not yield
anything.

   ************************************************************************
                         Edith A. Moravcsik
                         Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
                         University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
                         Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
                         USA

                         E-mail: edith at uwm.edu
                         Telephone: (414) 229-6794 /office/
                                    (414) 332-0141 /home/
                         Fax: (414) 229-2741