Inherent and Non-Inherent Adjectives

Most adjectives denote an attribute of the noun that they modify. In the phrase a blue car, an attribute of the car is that it is blue. Such adjectives are called inherent adjectives.

However, not all adjectives are related to the noun in the same manner. For example, a small businessman does not denote an attribute of the businessman. It cannot be rephrased as a businessman who is small. In fact, it refers to a businessman whose business is small.

Here are examples to illustrate the contrast between inherent and non-inherent adjectives:

Inherent                                         Non-Inherent

distant hills                                   distant relatives

old woman                                    old friend

complete chapter                         complete fool

heavy box                                     heavy smoker

new book                                      new friend

Inherent adjectives describe an intrinsic quality of the noun they modify. In the phrase heavy box, the box is heavy. In the phrase new book, the book is new, but in the phrase new friend, the word new simply indicates that two people have been friends for a short period of time. The phrase does not specify the age of the friends. The phrase late president is non-inherent because it means that the president is dead. However, the phrase late train is inherent because it denotes a train that runs late.