6.2. Adjectives and nouns

| Chapter 6: Descriptions |

| 6.2. Adjectives and nouns

Descriptions can contain a noun, but need not, and can contain any number of adjectives:

> supporter = the noun supporter
> closed = the adjective closed
> the open wine cask = the adjective open + the noun wine cask
> something portable = (some) + the noun thing + the adjective portable

Note that we are not allowed to have more than one noun in the same description (something English occasionally does allow as a coded form of emphasis, as in "the man Jenkins" or "the harlot Helen").

Nouns are simple enough, referring either to kinds or specific things. The noun "something" means "some thing", so is actually a reference to the kind "thing". Inform treats this as having the same meaning as "anything", and all told there are eight special nouns of this kind, but with only three different meanings between them:

> something = anything
> someone = anyone = somebody = anybody
> somewhere = anywhere

So for instance "anybody male" or "somewhere dark" are valid descriptions. These eight nouns are unusual in being allowed to come at the front of a description: nouns are usually expected to be at the end. (Inform also understands "nothing", "nowhere", "nobody", "no-one" and even "no one", which in a sense are opposites of "something" and the like, but for now we'll look at descriptions of things which do exist rather than don't.)

Previous | Contents | Next