 In (3.11), very functions as a predicate modifier, in particular a subsective modifier, since the set of things that are very(P) is a subset of the things that are P.  Do we need such modifiers in our logical forms? We could avoid use of a modifier in this case by supposing that smart has a tacit argument for the degree of smartness, where smart(x, d) means that x is smart to degree d; adding that d &gt; T for some threshold T would signify that x is very smart. Other degree adjectives could be handled similarly. However, such a strategy is unavailable for international celebrity in (3.12). International is again subsective (and not intersective—an international celebrity is not something that is both international and a celebrity), and while one can imagine definitions of the particular combination, international celebrity, in an ordinary FOL framework, requiring such definitions to be available for constructing initial logical forms could create formidable barriers to broad-coverage interpretation. (3.13) illustrates a third type of predicate modification, namely VP-modification by an adverb. Note that the modifier cannot plausibly be treated as an implicit predication utter(E) about a Davidsonian event argument of fail.  Taken together, the examples indicate the desirability of allowing for monadic-predicate modifiers in a semantic representation. Corroborative evidence is provided in the immediately following discussion.