Predicate-Argument Structure of English Adjectives

This paper will argue the following points. 1) What is a semantic status of prepositional phrases in such sentences as "Tom is good at tennis," "It is wise of Tom to go there," "This book is easy for John to read. "? 2) What is the semantic status of to infinitive (henceforth, to VP) in the following sentences : "He is honest to bring back the money," "He is sure to win." 3) Is there a semantic difference in such sentences as "It is wise of Peter to go home", "Peter is wise to go home?" If there is any, what is it? 4) What is the predicateargument structure of a sentence containing a predicate adjective like "John is easy for Mary to please?" Is it one-place, two place or three-place-structure? 5) By introducing the notion of a predicate modifier we can solve these problems. 6) We conclude that adjectives are simply a one place predicate. 1. The Semantic Structure of Adjectives 1.1 Three Dimensions In English as well as in Japanese there is a group of what is called degree adjectives whose interpretation is heavily dependent on contexts, pragmatic or linguistic. One of such contextual factor is termed THEMATIC DIMENSION by Bartsch [1]. In addition to this dimension it was proposed in Ikeya [4] that it is necessary to recognize two other such dimensions, which are termed COMPARATIVE DIMENSION and DEGREE DIMENSION. It is only after these three vectors are specified, is it possible to determine the truth condition of a sentence which contains a degree adjective. When we say he is good, this sentence has to be specified in what respect he is good, as compared to what he is good, and to what degree he is good For example, in He is very good at basketball for a short Japanese all these dimensions are expressed: at basketball is what we call THEMATIC DIMENSION (TD), for a short Japanese is a so called CD, and very is our DEGREE DIMENSION (DD). 1.2 TD in English Adjectives In English TDs have the following varieties. (1) a. John is good at tennis. b. John is fine in terms of health. c. John is blind of one eye. d. John is quick at words. e. John is cautious with respect to the standard theory. As these examples show, in English TDs are expressed by such expressions like in terms of as regards, or other prepositional phrases headed by of at, about, off in and the like. All these expressions give a semantic specification to adjectives in what respect John is good, fine or quick. It should be noticed that all these expressions grammatically correspond to adverbials. It should be remarked that TD is not obligatory. In such sentence as the business is very slow no TD is expressed.