Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
ATTRIBUTIVE ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are called attributive when they are adjacent to the noun they modify (red hair, chocolate candy); adjectives are said to be predicate adjectives rather than attributive adjectives when they appear following linking verbs (Her hair is red; the candy was chocolate). Many Standard users object strongly to appositives or predicate nominatives such as president of the largest republic on the Asian rim being turned into attributive modifiers, as in President of the largest republic on the Asian rim General Park arrived in …, as can often be found in journalese. The pronouns my, your, his, her, its, and their can be attributives too, as in my pencil, their car, etc. See also ADJECTIVES (3); NOUN ADJUNCT.
