In the sentence: "So amazed he cannot speak", is "amazed" an adjective?

closed as not constructive by J.R., FumbleFingers, kiamlaluno, Robusto, tchrist Aug 8 '12 at 2:58


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    this isn't a full sentence. it's a fragment. it lacks a verb (likely "to be" as in "He was so amazed..."). – Charles Jul 30 '12 at 20:55

Yes, X has to be an adjective in the predicate construction

  • be so X that S

where S is any tensed clause (in this case, S = he cannot speak).

If it were a noun phrase, one would use such (a) instead of so

  • be such (a(n)) X that S


  • He was so mean that she slapped him.
  • He was such a jerk that she slapped him.

Both of these mean that the degree of X is high enough to bring about S.


Yes amazed is an adjective. It describes he.


Per the comments, if the sentence was expanded to He was so amazed... the word amazed would be a predicate adjective describing he.
