Noun Premodification with Adjectives and Participles
Adjectives
Adjectives give us information about the qualities or attributes of something (descriptors), for example good chance. They also act as classifiers, giving information about a particular group, section, rank, affiliation or subject area to which a noun belongs, for example igneousclassificational adjective (as opposed to sedimentary or metamorphic rocks) rock.
Descriptors
The following animations show evaluative (poor, important) and size/amount/frequency (regular) descriptors. They describe, rather than classify.
Classifiers
The following animations show topical classifiers. They define a particular subject area or group. They are restrictive in the sense that they exclude other areas of the head noun. For example medical science restricts the noun "science" to one particular area, that of medicine.
The following animation shows a relational classifier and an affiliative classifier (belonging to a national, ethnic or religious group).
Participles
Participles have the same function as adjectives and are derived from verbs. There are two forms, the -ing form and the -ed from, for example: manufacturing processes, relaxed state.