Adjectives
Unit I
Dr.Shobha
Assistant Professor
PG Dept of English
JSSCACS
ADJECTIVES
An adjective is a describing word. It qualifies or
describes a noun. It adds to the meaning of a noun.
It is a noun-helper.
Eg: Rama is a big boy.
Lazy students fail.
Govinda is poor but honest.
England is a rich country.
Lead is a heavy metal.
The rose is a beautiful flower.
Ahmed is a poor man.
Mary has a little lamb.
Bombay has a fine harbour.
Kinds of adjectives
Adjectives of quality
Adjectives of quantity
Adjectives of number
Demonstrative adjectives
Distributive adjective
Possessive adjective
Interrogative adjective
Adjectives of Quality
It shows the kind or quality of an object or person.
Adjectives of quality answer the question “of what
kind”? Eg: thick forest, old building, wise man, new
clothes, young boy.
I know a funny little man.
Foch was a great soldier.
Bombay is a big city.
I like the little pedlar who has a crooked nose.
Adjective of quantity
Adjectives of quantity refers to the quantity. Yet it is an
indefinite numeral. It answers the question “how
many” or ‘how much’? Eg: some books, many people,
all fools’ day, a few words, a little amount, more
problems.
Eg: Four boys ran down the street.
There are twenty girls in the class.
Shakespeare wrote many plays.
I want some money.
He has much money.
There is little hope in victory.
Demonstrative Adjectives
It is an adjective that points to an object or objects, a
person or persons. Eg: this girl, that pencil, these boys.
those balls.
Come and look at this snake.
look at that tree.
I like these bananas.
I want those mangoes, not the others.
Oh! Do look at that funny kitten
Note: the word ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’, ‘these’ can function
as demonstrative pronouns as well as demonstrative
adjectives
Distributive adjectives
It is an adjective that refers to a person or thing,
one at a time. Eg: each, every, either, neither ,
Each one teach one.
Every girl is a pearl.
Walk along either side.
Give support to neither party.
Possessive adjective
It is an adjective that denotes possession. It is nothing but the
possessive form of the pronoun. Eg. My pen, our school,
your sister, his bag, their house, its tail.
Pronoun Possessive Possessive
adjectives pronooun
I my mine
we our ours
You your yours
he his his
she her hers
it its its
they there theirs
Interrogative adjective
It is an adjective used to frame questions. They are
, of course, the question words(‘what’, ‘which’,
and ‘whose’) preceding a noun in a question.
Eg.: What colour do you like?
Which book is hers?
Which way shall we go?
Note: the interrogative words ‘what’, ‘which’,
and ‘ ‘whose’ function as interrogative
adjective as well as interrogative pronoun.
Degrees of adjectives
Every adjectives has three different degree. They
expressed in three different forms:
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
Positive Comparative Superlative
bold bolder boldest
Short shorter shortest
Tall taller tallest
sweet sweeter sweetest
thick thicker thickest
Young younger youngest
big bigger biggest
hot hotter hottest
Thin thinner thinnest
angry angrier angriest
sad sadder saddest
happy happier happiest
heavy heavier heaviest
Holy holier holiest
pretty prettier prettiest
active More active Most active
faithful More faithful Most faithful
important More important Most faithful
interesting More interesting Most interesting
useful More useful Most useful
Foolish More foolish Most foolish
Bad worse worst
ill worse worst
good better best
little less least
much more most
well better best
