英、汉形容词的主要语法功能之一都是作名词的定语，它们用作定语时都可以直接置于名词中心语之前，这是两种语言的无标记用法。然而因为形容词语义特征的不同，特别是形容词短语结构复杂程度的变化，两种语言都采用了相应的标记手段：汉语用结构助词“的”来标记，英语则用语序变换加以标记。对于英、汉形容词作定语的有无标记使用规律的探讨，不仅有助于对两种语言语法特点的深入理解，而且对汉语或者英语作为第二语言教学或者习得也会有所裨益。

As it is known, both English and Chinese Adjectives mainly function to modify a nominal head. As for their marked and unmarked constructions, it reveals that an attributive adjective simply precedes a head noun without any overt markers. With the semantic features of adjective, especially of the complexity of adjective phrases, however, both Chinese and English have to take some ways to mark the adjectival attributives. In general, Chinese marks those adjectival attributives by use of the constructional particle ‘de’, and English marks them by means of different word orders. Both quantification and complexity of construction constitute the major motivations for their markedness. The present research is helpful for a better understanding of the grammars of the two languages and also significant for second language learning or teaching.