3 Attributive use of the Adjective The angel has the attribute of being first; the book has the attribute of being black, and John has the attribute of being little. Thus the adjectives are said to be “attributive.” 4 Substantive use of the Adjective Because the spelling of a Greek adjective includes gender, a single word can replace two English words. For example, instead of “little man” (μικρὸς [little] adjective + ἄνθρωπος [man] noun), Greek might just have μικρὸς intending to convey both