How do Chinese English learners use adjectives? Can they understand and use them correctly? In Chinese English teaching, students learn new vocabulary with English --- Chinese translations word by word. Learners can hardly realize the limitations in adjectives use. They do not have grammar teaching in this field. For instance, there are some adjectives can only be used as predicative adjective while they may put them before nouns because it works in Chinese in literal meaning. Actually in dictionaries these words are showed with an explanatory note --- only after noun. Learners have little knowledge about these mistakes they make unless some familiar adjectives were improperly used. It is because they are so frequently used in certain sentences and people always use them in the fixed usages:

(1) She is an afraid girl. (×) 

(2) He is a well boy. (×) 

The English learners can feel these two adjectives are improperly used, but they do not have the notion about the reason. The only explanation may be that they have never seen or heard sentences like these. When the two sentences are compared with the next two, which share the same meanings:

(1) The girl is afraid.

(2) The boy is well.

Another case of predicative adjectives such as asleep, which also cannot be put before a noun but has its correspondent attributive adjective:

(1) The asleep boy (×)

(2) The sleepy boy

The English learners can only tell which sentence is right because they have never seen the two adjectives be used before nouns. But they have no idea about the exact reasons.

In Chinese grammar, adjectives are able to be used both before a noun and after a noun in specific sentence patterns. However in English there are two different adjectives, one of them is attributive adjective and another is predicative adjective. Some adjectives can be used as both attributive adjective and predicative adjective while some can be used only one way. Therefore, how do Chinese English learners use these two kinds of adjectives properly? Can they distinguish them? If not, why? Scholars have been discussing on these two types of adjectives for a long history but they did not mention the English learners’ use of these two types of adjectives. Even the learners have no idea about the differences between them and cannot avoid using them in a wrong way. This thesis is going to answer these questions with two surveys.

1.2 Research Purpose and Significance

In this thesis, the main research purpose is to explore the Chinese EFL learners’ use of attributive adjective and predicative adjective. And the thesis is going to research about the differences and connections between attributive adjective and predicative adjective use. In Chinese textbooks, educators seldom explain the notions of attributive adjective and predicative adjective to students and they only know the use of adjectives they have learned and have no idea about the new words. Without the notions of attributive adjective and predicative adjective, students may use predicative adjectives as attributive adjectives when the adjective can only be used as predicative adjective. Therefore, students should know the two different uses of adjectives so that they can use them correctly. To realize the goal, we need to make clear the current state that how learners use the two types of adjectives. What will they do when they meet a predicative adjective, will they persist in using it as an attributive adjective? As we introduce the “a-adjective”, will learners form the consciousness that an adjective begin with “a” should be put behind nouns? 

1.3 Literature Review

In our country, we do distinguish the two types of adjectives and some scholars write some paper about the differences and connections between attributive adjective and predicative adjective or give some further researches to attributive adjective and predicative adjective. Li Gang writes a short passage about attributive adjectives and predicative adjectives in English. He gives the classifications of attributive adjectives and predicative adjectives to help learners make clear distinction about the two kinds of adjectives. He emphasizes that the part of speech of an adjective is very complicated. It may have different use in different situation and even changes its meaning when it is used in different part of speech (李刚, 1985). Lü Daoli writes an article to discuss about a branch of special adjectives in predicative adjectives named “a-adjective”. He talks about the constructions, grammatical functions and clarifications of “a-adjectives”. He gives the establishment of “a-adjectives”. Also, he introduces some new changes in the use of “a-adjective” (吕道利, 2004). Cao Wutang analyzes the construction of a-adjectives and discusses its characteristics (曹务堂, 1994). However, they overlooked the English learners’ use of them and did not clarify the reason why students have improper use of attributive adjective and predicative adjective. Zhang Lifei makes a detailed analysis of the typical characteristics of Chinese learners’ use of “afraid” in an attempt to show that apparent non- nativeness exists in Chinese learners (张立飞, 2003).