Adjectives
1. Defintion:
An adjective is a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to
a noun to modify or describe it, making our writing and speaking much more specific, and
a whole lot more interesting. Words like small, blue, and sharp are descriptive, and they
are all examples of adjectives. Because adjectives are used to identify or quantify
individual people and unique things, they are usually positioned before
the noun or pronoun that they modify. Some sentences contain multiple adjectives. For
example: They live in a big, beautiful house.
Remember that adjectives can modify as well as describe other words, and you’ll find it
much easier to identify different types of adjectives when you see them.
2. Types of adjectives
2.1. Articles
There are only three articles, and all of them are adjectives: a, an, and the. Because they
are used to discuss non-specific things and people, a and an are called indefinite articles.
For example: I’d like a bike.
Neither one of these sentences names a specific banana or a certain adventure. Without
more clarification, any banana or adventure will do.
The word the is called the definite article. It’s the only definite article, and it is used to
indicate very specific people or things:
- Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.
- Let’s go on an adventure. The Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!
2.2. Possessive adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:
My, Your, His, Her, Its, Our, Their
2.3. Demonstrative adjectives
Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific
people, animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.
- These books belong on that
- This movie is my favorite.
- Please put those cookies on the blue plate.
2.4. Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are separated with commas or the word and, and appear one after
another to modify the same noun. The adjectives in the phrase bright, sunny day
and long and dark night are coordinate adjectives. In phrases with more than two
coordinate adjectives, the word and always appears before the last one; for example: The
sign had big, bold, and bright letters.
Be careful, because some adjectives that appear in a series are not coordinate. In the
phrase green delivery truck, the words green and delivery are not separated by a comma
because green modifies the phrase delivery truck. To eliminate confusion when
determining whether a pair or group of adjectives is coordinate, just insert the
word and between them. If and works, then the adjectives are coordinate and need to be
separated with a comma.
2.5.Numbers Adjectives
When they’re used in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a
number is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”
- The stagecoach was pulled by a team of six
- He ate 23 hotdogs during the contest, and was sick afterwards.
2.6. Interrogative Adjectives
There are three interrogative adjectives: which, what, and whose. Like all other types of
adjectives, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. As you probably know, all three of these
words are used to ask questions.
- Which option sounds best to you?
- What time should we go?
- Whose socks are those?
2.7. Indefinite Adjectives
Like the articles a and an, indefinite adjectives are used to discuss non-specific things. You
might recognize them, since they’re formed from indefinite pronouns. The most common
indefinite adjectives are any, many, no, several, and few.
- Do we have any peanut butter?
- Grandfather has been retired for many
- There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
- I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
- We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.
2.8. Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives talk about specific traits, qualities, or features – in other words, they
are used to discuss attributes. There are different kinds of attributive adjectives:
- Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting,
beautiful or cheapest can indicate value or talk about subjective measures.
- Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities including
specific physical properties. Some examples include small, large, square, round,
poor, wealthy, slow and
- Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general
ages. Examples are old, young, new, five-year-old, and
- Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that indicate
color. Examples include pink, yellow, blue, and
- Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person, place,
animal or thing. Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican, French.
- Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples
include cotton, gold, wool, and
- Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more
specific; examples include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.
