Adjective

 

What is an Adjective?

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. Adjectives give more information about an object's size, shape, age, colour, origin, or material.

Example:
She wore a beautiful dress.
(Beautiful describes the noun dress.)

Functions of Adjectives

1. Describing Quality:
   He is a clever boy.
   (Clever tells us the quality of the boy.)
2. Indicating Quantity:
   She has three dogs.
   (Three tells us how many dogs.)
3. Showing Size or Shape:
   They live in a small house.
   (Small tells us the size of the house.)
   The round table is in the corner.
   (Round describes the shape of the table.)
4. Expressing Age:
   I have an old car.
   (Old tells the age of the car.)
5. Denoting Color:
   He wore a blue shirt.
   (Blue tells us the color.)
6. Indicating Origin or Material:
   She bought an Italian handbag.
   (Italian describes where the handbag is from.)
   He built a wooden chair.
   (Wooden tells us what the chair is made of.)

Types of Adjectives

• Descriptive Adjectives: Describe qualities of a noun.
  Example: cold weather, delicious cake
• Quantitative Adjectives: Show the quantity.
  Example: some milk, much excitement, little time
• Demonstrative Adjectives: Point out which noun is referred.
  Example: this book, those shoes
• Possessive Adjectives: Show possession.
  Example: my pen, her bag
• Interrogative Adjectives: Ask questions.
  Example: Which movie, what time
• Distributive Adjectives: Refer to members of a group individually.
  Example: each student, every child, either road, neither answer

Placement of Adjectives

• Before Noun (Attributive position):
  • She has a red car.
• After Verb (Predicative position):
  • The car is red.

Multiple Adjectives

More than one adjective can be used to describe a noun. When using several adjectives, follow the general order: Quantity, Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose

Example: She bought three beautiful small old round blue Italian wooden dining tables.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Adjectives can show comparisons:

• Comparative: bigger, more beautiful
• Superlative: biggest, most beautiful

Examples:
My house is bigger than yours.
She is the tallest girl in the class.

Summary Table

Function	Example
Quality	honest man, bright sun
Quantity	few apples, many students
Number	five bottles, several friends
Demonstrative	that car, these shoes

She wore a red dress.

What type of adjective is "red"?

Those apples are ripe.

What type of adjective is "those"?

I have three cats.

What type of adjective is "three"?

His car is very expensive.

What type of adjective is "his"?

Which route should we take?

What type of adjective is "which"?

Each student received a certificate.

What type of adjective is "each"?

The Italian chef cooked our dinner.

What type of adjective is "Italian"?

She has little patience left.

What type of adjective is "little"?

This is the tallest building in the city.

What type of adjective is "tallest"?

The delicious cake was eaten quickly.

What type of adjective is "delicious"?