(grammar, of a word or phrase) Modifying a noun, while in the same phrase as that noun.In "this big house", "big" is attributive, whereas in "this house is big", it is predicative.
1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first courseSince both Attributes and Adjuncts recursively expand N-bar into N-bar, it seems clear that the two have essentially the same function, so that Attributes are simply pronominal Adjuncts (though we shall continue to follow tradition and refer to attributive premodifiers as Attributes rather than Adjuncts).
(grammar) An attributive word or phrase (see above), contrasted withpredicative.In "this big house," "big" is an attributive, while in "this house is big," it is a predicative.In "this tiger is a man-eater," "man" is an attributive noun.
