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    3.3.5.Adjectival phrases
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    This section consists of two parts: the first deals with appositively used “true” adjectives, whereas the second is concerned with appositively used past and present participles. Although, strictly speaking, the modal infinitives should also be discussed in the second part, this will not be done, since they are already discussed in Section 3.3.3, sub IVB. This section on adjectival postmodification will be brief since the attributive use of adjectival and participle phrases are more extensively dealt with in Chapter A5 and Chapter A9.

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    [+]  I.  Adjective phrases

    Although adjectival modifiers typically appear in prenominal position in Dutch, they can occasionally also occur in postnominal position, where they can be interpreted either as restrictive, as in (550a), or as non-restrictive, as in (550b&c). In contrast to the prenominal ones, postnominal adjectival modifiers are not inflected.

    550
    a. ? Een olifant hongerig en kwaad kan veel schade aanrichten.
      an elephant  hungry and angry  can  much harm  prt.-cause
      'An elephant hungry and angry can do a lot of harm.'
    b. Jan, jaloers op zijn zusje, scheurde het boek kapot.
      Jan  jealous on his sister  tore  the book  into pieces
      'Jan, jealous of his sister, tore the book up.'
    c. De jongen, rood van schaamte , durfde haar niet aan te kijken.
      the boy  red with shame  dared  her  not  prt.  to look
      'The boy, scarlet with shame, didnʼt dare look at her.'

          Restrictive adjectival postmodification is less common and normally restricted to indefinite noun phrases; only in emphatic and contrastive contexts like (551) can definite noun phrases or proper nouns be used. Since individual-level predicates like intelligent are not likely to be emphatically or contrastively stressed, it does not come as a surprise that the examples in (551) do not accept this adjective.

    551
    a. Deze jongen jaloers/*intelligent is tot alles in staat.
    emphatic
      this boy  jealous/intelligent  is to  everything  capable
      'This boy jealous is capable of everything.'
    b. Jan kwaad/*intelligent is te verkiezen boven Jan verdrietig.
    contrastive
      Jan angry/intelligent  is to prefer  above  Jan sad
      'Jan angry is preferable to Jan sad.'

          Non-restrictive postnominal APs, on the other hand, are quite common and accept all kinds of antecedents. Since the modifier does not serve to restrict or identify the antecedent, the antecedent can be either definite or indefinite, or even a proper noun. Moreover, the adjectives in question can be either stage-level or individual-level, and need not be modified in any particular way, although more or less heavy APs are usually preferred. Some examples are given in (552).

    552
    a. Jan veegde zijn gezicht, nog nat ??(van het zweet), met zijn zakdoek af.
      Jan wiped  his face  still wet of the sweat  with his handkerchief  prt.
      'Jan wiped his face, still wet with perspiration, with his handkerchief.'
    b. Haar hoofd, zo rood als een biet, steekt scherp af bij haar witte blouse.
      her head  as red as a beet  contrasts  sharply  prt.  with her white blouse
      'Her head, as red as a beet, contrasts sharply with her white blouse.'
    c. Jan, jaloers op zijn zusje, scheurde het boek kapot.
      Jan  jealous on his sister  tore  the book  into pieces
      'Jan, jealous of his sister, tore the book up.'

          If we are dealing with a simple AP, the construction can be paraphrased with the adjective in prenominal position, as shown in the (a)-examples in (553). This requires, however, that the prenominal adjective can be given a non-restrictive interpretation, which implies that such paraphrases are restricted to constructions with definite antecedents. The indefinite example in (553b'), although perfectly acceptable, is therefore not a paraphrase of (553b): whereas in (553b) the presupposition is that all elephants are big and heavy, and that all members of this species can therefore cause a great deal of damage, example (553b') rather expresses that only a subset of elephants is big and heavy, and that the members of this subset can cause a great deal of damage.

    553
    a. De atleet, uitgeput, haalde de finish niet.
      the athlete  exhausted  made  the finish  not
      'The athlete, exhausted, didnʼt make it to the finish.'
    a'. De uitgeputte atleet haalde de finish niet.
      the exhausted athlete  made  the finish  not
      'The exhausted athlete didnʼt make it to the finish.'
    b. Olifanten, groot en zwaar, kunnen veel schade aanrichten.
      elephants  big and heavy  can  much damage  prt.-cause
      'Elephants, big and heavy, can do a lot of harm.'
    b'. # Grote en zware olifanten kunnen veel schade aanbrengen.
    [+]  II.  Participle phrases

    Attributively used past and present participle phrases are normally found in prenominal attributive position. Given the fact that these pronominal modifiers have attributive inflection in this position, it is safe to assume that participle phrases of this type are in fact adjectival phrases; see Chapter Chapter A9 for extensive discussion. In this subsection, we will focus on the postnominal use of these phrases.

    [+]  A.  Present participle phrases

    Postnominal present participle phrases may occur with the same verb types as the prenominal attributive ones. This is illustrated in (554) for non-restrictive postnominal phrases. The modified noun is interpreted as the implied agent of the participle if the verb is intransitive, transitive, or if the verb takes a PP-complement, or as the implied theme, if the verb is unaccusative.

    554
    Non-restrictive present participle phrases
    a. Mijn voor Philips werkende broer is programmeur.
    intransitive
      my  for Philips  working  brother  is programmer
      'My brother who works for Philips is a computer programmer.'
    a'. Mijn broer, werkend voor Philips, is programmeur.
    b. De een vrolijk deuntje fluitende jongen fietste voorbij.
    transitive
      the  a cheerful tune  whistling  boy  cycled  past
      'The boy who was cheerfully whistling a tune, cycled past.'
    b'. De jongen, een vrolijk deuntje fluitend, fietste voorbij.
    c. De van spoor 2 vertrekkende trein is vertraagd.
    unaccusative
      the  from platform 2  departing  train  is delayed
      'The train to Tilburg that is leaving from platform 2, has a delay.'
    c'. De trein naar Tilburg, vertrekkend van spoor 2, is vertraagd.
    d. Het op de trein wachtende meisje stampte met haar voeten.
    PP-complement
      the on the train  waiting  girl  stamped with her feet
      'The girl who was waiting for the train stamped her feet.'
    d'. Het meisje, wachtend op de trein, zag er koud en eenzaam uit.

    Like the postnominal adjectives discussed in Subsection I, the postnominal participles in the primed examples of (554d) are normally not inflected. It should be noted, however, that in formal language, it is sometimes possible for the present participle to have the ending -e. An example can be found in (555).

    555
    De verdachte, wonende in Amsterdam, werd gisteren gearresteerd.
      the suspect,  living in Amsterdam,  was yesterday  arrested
    'The suspect, living in Amsterdam, was arrested yesterday.'

          Postnominal restrictive present participle phrases, which are never inflected, are less common than non-restrictive ones, and occur under more or less the same conditions as the postnominal adjectives. The examples in (556) show that they may occur with intransitive and unaccusative verbs as well as with verbs taking a PP-complement, but that the result is degraded if the verb is transitive. The reason for the degraded status of (556b) may be related to the fact that the antecedent and the present participle are not adjacent (as with all non-finite verbs, the object cannot follow the participle either). It should be noted, however, that this gives rise to a less severe result in examples such as (556d'), which seems more or less acceptable (but marked compared to (556d) where the noun and the participle are adjacent).

    556
    Restrictive present participle phrases
    a. Mensen werkend voor hem zijn niet zeker van hun baan.
    intransitive
      people  working for him  are  not  certain  of their job
    b. * Een jongen een vrolijk deuntje fluitend, fietste voorbij.
    transitive
      a boy  a cheerful tune whistling  cycled  past
    c. De trein vertrekkend van spoor 2 is vertraagd.
    unaccusative
      the train  leaving from platform 2  is delayed
      'The train leaving from platform 2 has a ten-minute delay.'
    d. Reizigers wachtend op deze trein krijgen vertraging.
    PP-complement
      travelers  waiting  for this train  get  delay
      'Travelers waiting for this train will get a delay.'
    d'. ? Reizigers op de trein naar Breda wachtend krijgen vertraging.

          Another difference between non-restrictive and restrictive present participle phrases is that the former but not the latter allow a copular verb. Postnominal restrictive participle phrases pattern with the attributive construction in this respect.

    557
    a. Mijn vriend, architect zijnde, weet veel van dat soort dingen.
      my friend  architect  being  knows  much  of that kind of things
      'My friend, being an architect, knows much about those things.'
    b. * Een vriend/Iemand architect zijnde weet veel van dat soort dingen.
      a friend/someone  architect being  knows  much  of that kind of things
    b'. * Mijn architect zijnde vriend weet veel van dat soort dingen.
    [+]  B.  Past/passive participle phrases

    Just like attributively used past/passive participle phrases in the primeless examples of (558), the non-restrictive postnominal ones in the primed examples are only acceptable with a transitive or an unaccusative participle: the noun modified is interpreted as the implied theme of the participle, that is, the direct object of the corresponding transitive verb or the subject of the corresponding unaccusative verb; see Section V2.1.2 and Section A9.2 for discussion.

    558
    Non-restrictive past/passive participle phrases
    a. * Deze voor hem gewerkte man is niet zeker van zijn baan.
    intransitive
      this  for him  worked  man  is not certain  of his job
    a'. * Deze man, gewerkt voor Philips, is niet zeker van zijn baan.
    b. Deze in Japan gemaakte auto is aanzienlijk goedkoper.
    transitive
      this  in Japan made  car  is considerably cheaper
    b'. Deze auto, gemaakt in Japan, is aanzienlijk goedkoper.
    c. De bij Breda ontspoorde trein gaf veel vertraging.
    unaccusative
      the  near Breda  derailed train  gave  much delay
    c'. De trein, ontspoord tussen Tilburg en Breda, gaf veel vertraging.

    Example (559a) shows that the modified noun phrase cannot be interpreted as the nominal part of a PP-complement, and (559b) that, in contrast to the present participle, the past participle cannot be a copular. The latter might be surprising given that the copular verb is a kind of unaccusative verb.

    559
    a. * De door het meisje op gewachte trein kwam te laat.
    PP-complement
      the  by the girl  for  waited  train  came  too late
    a'. * De trein, <op> gewacht <op> door het meisje, kwam te laat.
    b. * Mijn vriend, architect geweest, weet veel van dat soort dingen.
    copular
      my friend  architect been  knows  much about that sort of things

          Postnominal restrictive past participle phrases are less common than the non-restrictive ones, and occur under more or less the same conditions as the postnominal adjectives. Again, the participle must be transitive or unaccusative and the modified noun phrase cannot be interpreted as the nominal part of a PP-complement, and the participle cannot be a copular, but this will go unillustrated here.

    560
    Restrictive past/passive participle phrases
    a. * Mensen gewerkt voor hem zijn niet zeker van hun baan.
    intransitive
      people  worked  for him  are  not certain  of their job
    b. Autoʼs gemaakt in Japan zijn aanzienlijk goedkoper.
    transitive
      cars  made  in Japan are  considerably cheaper
    c. De trein ontspoord bij Breda veroorzaakte veel vertraging.
    unaccusative
      the train derailed near Breda  caused  much delay
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      About this article
      Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer
      Category: Dutch Syntax
      Keywords: AttributivePast ParticiplePresent ParticiplePassive ParticipleCopular VerbModificationNounProper NounVerb
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
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      1.0 Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer December 2015
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