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The ocean’s vastness was so great that it held him spellbound.
Nelson had asked Mary’s father’s consent before proposing.
If the headword is omitted (when the sentence is elliptical) the modifying word should still be considered as
an attribute.
Suppose those postcards are a lunatic’s?
She heard the voice of another man, perhaps it was the water-carrier’s and then a woman’s, shrill and
hysterical.
6. By statives, although these are rarely used as attributes. They usually postmodify the headword, though
may occur as premodifying.
No man alive would ever think of such cruelty.
She gazed at us with an aloof air.
7. By (a) participles I and II and (b) participial phrases, characterizing the
person or non-person through an action, process, or reaction.
a) He made his way down the creaking stairs.
The mild day died in a darkening flush of twilight.
They stood contemplating the suited dummies in the lighted windows of the shop.
They stood at the car being refuelled and watched the meter.
b) Captain Nichols dragged Strickland, bleeding from a wound in his arm, into the street.
There was a tiny smile playing about the corners of his mouth.
Vincent glanced over at Christine knitting by the fire.
Beside her stood a straw basket stuffed with many towels and a pair of beach shoes.
8. By (a) gerunds, (b) gerundial phrases, or (c) gerundial complexes.
Gerunds generally characterize non-persons from the point of view of their function or purpose.
a) Back at the hotel he slipped on a white rowing blazer (the blazer which the members of the boat-club
wore).
Her walking shoes were elegant (shoes which she wore when walking).
(Compare these with attributes expressed by participle I, in the sentences given above (7), which denote an
action, process or reaction sometimes figuratively.)
b) He would not run the risk of being too late.
She showed no sign of having ever known me.
The young man had the most irritating habit of joking at the wrong moment.
c) The silence was interrupted by the sound of a door being banged.
There is no chance of our seeing him again.
9. By (a) infinitives, (b) infinitivel phrases, or (c) complexes, which
characterize a person or non-person through some real or hypothetical action in which this person or non-
person is or may be involved. Owing to the hypothetical nature of the action, an infinitive as attribute often
imparts a modal shade of meaning to the action.
a) You are the one to blame (who is to blame).
I haven’t any time to spare (which I could spare).
b) He looked around for a weapon to strike his insulter with.