Adjectives

Introduction

Adjectives are important parts of speech that refer to the quality, quantity and numbers of nouns or pronouns. Different types of adjectives show different kinds of uses in the sentences. We are going to know about adjectives in this tutorial.

The importance of adjectives is vast in the English language. So, let's understand what an adjective is.

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What is an Adjective?

An adjective defines the state, quality and even quantity of the noun or pronoun, and it modifies nouns or pronouns.

Example:

They have an amazing mansion.

We can get answers from adjectives in sentences by asking questions:

• How much

• How many

• Which one

• What type of

• Whose

Example:

Pooja wore a beautiful hat.

In the above sentence, beautiful is an adjective that modifies the noun hat. If we ask 'what type of hat is Pooja wearing?' then the answer should be a 'beautiful' hat.

Types of Adjectives and Their Uses

The primary classification of adjectives:

• Adjectives of quality denote the quality of the nouns, e.g. Bangalore is a famous city.

• Adjectives of quantity indicate the quantity of the nouns, e.g. Mr Trivedi has enough money.

• Adjectives of number refer to the number of nouns, e.g., Most schools are closed now.

Apart from the primary classifications of adjectives, more types of adjectives are present in the English language.

These are the following:

Descriptive adjectives

One of the most commonly found adjectives is descriptive adjectives. It modifies a noun or pronoun and expresses the attributes of the same.

Examples:

He sat next to the short man.

The children in the park were loud.

In the above sentences, short and loud are descriptive adjectives that describe the attributes of nouns. These adjectives modify nouns to make readers understand the quality and features of the nouns.

Coordinate adjectives

Coordinate adjectives are a group of multiple adjectives that show the quality of nouns. Such adjectives are separated with 'and' or 'commas' in sentences. These adjectives modify the same noun in sentences while working together.

Examples:

He wore a white and blue shirt that day.

It is a fresh and sunny morning.

She is a fit and healthy player.

Compound adjectives

Compound adjectives are a combination of multiple words that function as adjectives. Such compound words modify a single noun. Generally, we use hyphens to combine the words to avoid any confusion.

Examples:

He is an old-fashioned man.

He has joined a full-time job.

This is a nine-hour-long journey.

Proper adjectives

Proper adjectives are derived from proper nouns. So while writing in a sentence, it needs to be capitalised. And these adjectives describe the attributes of the proper nouns from where they originated.

Examples:

I love to read Shakespearean tragedies.

The American President visited our country last month.

The adjectives Shakespearean and American are derived from Shakespeare and America, respectively. So, these are called Proper adjectives.

Demonstrative adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives specify nouns and refer to particular nouns to indicate them in sentences. Such adjectives sit just before the nouns and relate time and location majorly

Types of demonstrative adjectives we find in the English language are the following:

• This

• That

• These

• Those

Examples:

This diary is mine.

Those days were memorable.

That house used to be ours.

Numeral adjectives

Numeral Adjectives refer to the numbers of the nouns, e.g. Today is the first day of the month.

Definite numeral adjectives

Indefinite numeral adjectives indicate the indefinite numbers of the nouns, e.g. I have a few queries.

Distributive numeral adjectives

Distributive adjectives refer to the associate of the group individually. It refers to separate things or people in a group preferably.

A list of distributive adjectives looks like the following:

• Every

• Each

• Any

• Either

• Neither

Examples in sentences:

I love every flower in the garden.

Each of them received a welcome letter.

Either of the shirts looks good on you.

Indefinite adjectives

Indefinite adjectives describe nouns non-specifically. Such adjectives indicate a kind of uncertainty of the nouns. Examples are many, few, any, some, several and most.

Example in sentence:

I love some food in the lunch box.

Interrogative adjectives

Interrogative adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Such adjectives sit at the first of interrogative questions to modify nouns or pronouns. Examples are which, what and whose.

Example in sentence:

Which dress do you want to buy?

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives denote the nouns identifying the corresponding owners.

Some of the examples are:

• Your

• Her

• His

• Our

• Their

• Whose

• Its

• My

Examples in sentences:

Do not touch my phone.

This is her bicycle.

Whose book is this?

Degrees of Adjectives

There are three degrees of comparison or degrees of adjectives in the English language.

These are:

Positive degree of adjectives

This form of adjectives does not indicate any comparison.

For example, He is a good student.

Comparative degree of adjectives

Such adjectives set a comparison between two nouns or pronouns.

For example, Ramesh is a better student than Suraj. (comparison between Ramesh and Suraj).

Superlative degree of adjectives

Such adjectives show the highest degree of a noun while comparing.

For example, Ramesh is the best student in the class (comparing Ramesh to the other students in the class).

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Emphasising adjective

Emphasising adjectives emphasises nouns.

For example, This is my own house.

Exclamatory adjective

Generally, 'what' is used as an exclamatory adjective.

For example, What a surprise!

Predicative adjective

A predicative adjective modifies the subject.

For example, Preeti is beautiful.

Conclusion

The importance of adjectives in sentences is remarkable. Adjectives are essential elements of sentences. It helps to create specified meaning in sentences by modifying nouns and pronouns. Thus, the reader gets a vivid idea from the sentence.

FAQs

Q1. What is an adjective?

Ans. An adjective is one of the parts of speech that modifies nouns and pronouns. Examples: Today is a rainy day.

Q2. What is the function of an adjective in a sentence?

Ans. Adjective works as a modifier in a sentence to provide a broader meaning for the nouns and pronouns. It denotes quality, quantity and numbers.

Q3. State the main difference between comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives.

Ans. The comparative degree of adjective sets a comparison between two nouns. In contrast, the superlative degree of an adjective refers to the highest degree of a noun. Like 'worse' is the comparative degree, whereas 'worst' is the superlative degree.

Q4. What is a descriptive adjective?

Ans. A descriptive adjective describes the attributes of the noun or pronoun.

Q5. What are the degrees of comparison?

There are three degrees of comparison in the English language: positive, comparative and superlative degrees of comparison. These are also known as degrees of adjectives.