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ADJECTIVES
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NOTES
The Definitions of Adjective
- An
adjective is a word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its
referent.
- Adjective
is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun
- Adjective
is a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or technical.
- Adjective is
a word that tells us more about a noun. It "describes" or
"modifies" a noun
- Adjectives are
words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns.
- Adjective is a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else.
NOTES 1
Adjective "describes" or "modifies" a noun (The big dog was hungry). In these examples, the adjective is in bold and the noun that it modifies is in italics.
An adjective often comes BEFORE a noun:
- a green car
- a dark sky
- an interesting story
And sometimes an adjective comes AFTER a verb:
- My car is green.
- The sky became dark.
- His story seemed interesting.
But adjectives can also modify pronouns (She is beautiful). Look at these examples:
- They were empty.
- I thought it seemed strange.
- Those are not expensive.
Note that we can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady / it is black and white).
Adjective Form
Some adjectives have particular endings, for example:
- -able/-ible: washable, credible
- -ish/-like: childish, childlike
- -ful/-less: careful, careless
- -ous: dangerous, harmonious
- -y: dirty, pretty
However, many adjectives have no obvious form.
Comparative, Superlative
Most adjectives can be comparative or superlative, for example:
- big, bigger, biggest
- good, better, best
- beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful
NOTES 2
What
is an adjective?
Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, making your 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.
Adjective Examples
In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:
- They live in a big, beautiful
- Since it’s a hot day, Lisa is wearing a sleeveless
- The mountaintops are covered in sparkling
- On her birthday, Brenda received an antique vase filled with fragrant
Types of Adjectives
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.
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
- Let’s go on an
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!
Possessive Adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:
- My
- Your
- His
- Her
- Its
- Our
- Their
Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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EXAMPLES OF ADJECTIVES
Typical adjective endings
- They live in a beautiful house.
- Lisa is wearing a sleeveless shirt today. This soup is not edible.
- She wore a beautiful dress.
- He writes meaningless letters.
- This shop is much nicer.
- She wore a beautiful dress.
- Ben is an adorable baby.
- Linda’s hair is gorgeous.
- This glass is breakable.
- I met a homeless person in NY.
Denominal adjective examples
- A mathematical puzzle.
- A biological experiment.
- A wooden boat.
- I married an American woman.
- The Jewish community in NY is very big.
- Mary has a collection of expensive Russian dolls.
- In the winter you must wear heavy woollen clothes.
- The polar bear is listed as threatened.
Order of adjective examples
- I love that really big old green antique car that is always parked at the end of the street. [quality – size – age – color – qualifier]
- My sister has a beautiful big white bulldog. [quality – size – color]
- A wonderful old Italian clock. [opinion – age – origin]
- A big square blue box. [size – shape – color]
- A disgusting pink plastic ornament. [opinion – color – material]
- Some new slim French trousers. [age – shape – origin]
- My small new red sleeping bag. [size – age – color – purposee]
- I bought a pair of black leather shoes. [color – material]
Comparing adjective examples
- This house is bigger than that one.
- This flower is more beautiful than that.
- He is taller than Mr. Hulas.
- He is more intelligent than this boy.
- Jonathan is the most handsome man on campus.
- This is the prettiest dress in the window.
- I lost my most comfortable shoes.
- My job is worse than yours.
Compound adjectives examples
- This is a four-foot table.
- Daniella is a part-time worker.
- This is an all-too-common error.
- Beware of the green-eyed monster.
- He is a cold-blooded man.
- We saw a man-eating shark!
- Danny’s dog is well-behaved.
- You have to be open-minded about things.
Adjectival phrase examples
- Susan is really clever.
- The doctor is very late.
- My sister is fond of animals.
- I am happy to meet you.
- The kids are ready to go.
- Don’t be afraid of the dark.
- Tony lost his dark brown briefcase.
- He’s an extraordinary looking man.
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