Adjectives
Adjectives are words that are
used to describe (what kind of?) nouns and pronouns and to quantify (how much
of?) and identify (which one?) them. In a nutshell, Adjectives are what define
nouns and give them characteristics to differentiate them from other nouns. For
example:
He was wearing a blue shirt.
Here ‘blue’ is an adjective
as it is describing the noun ‘shirt’ by answering the question ‘what kind of
shirt?’
There are seven rooms in the
house.
Here ‘Seven’ is also an
adjective as it’s telling the quantity/the number of the noun ‘rooms’,
answering the question ‘how many rooms?’.
There are different types of
adjectives based upon their effect on a noun and what do they tell about the
noun. There are five categories of adjectives
1. Adjectives of Quality -
These adjectives are used to describe the nature of a noun. They give an idea
about the characteristics of the noun by answering the question ‘what
kind’.
o
Honest, Kind, Large, Bulky, Beautiful, Ugly etc.
New
Delhi is a large city with many historical monuments.
Sheila
is a beautiful woman.
2. Adjectives of Quantity - These adjectives help to show the amount or the
approximate amount of the noun or pronoun. These adjectives do not provide
exact numbers; rather they tell us the amount of the noun in relative or whole
terms.
o
All, Half, Many, Few, Little, No, Enough, Great etc.
They
have finished most of the rice.
Many people came to visit the fair.
3. Adjectives of Number - These adjectives are used to show the number of nouns and
their place in an order. There are three different sections within
adjectives of number; they are -
o
Definite Numeral Adjective - Those which clearly denote an exact number of
nouns or the order of the noun.
One,
Two, Twenty, Thirty-Three etc. also known as Cardinals.
First,
Second, Third, Seventh etc. also known as Ordinals.
o
Indefinite Numeral Adjective - Those adjectives that do not give an exact
numerical amount but just give a general idea of the amount.
Some,
Many, Few, Any, Several, All etc.
E.g.:
There were many people present at the meeting.
o
Distributive Numeral Adjective -Those adjectives that are used to refer to
individual nouns within the whole amount.
Either,
Neither, Each, Another, Other etc.
Taxes
have to be paid by every employed citizen.
4. Demonstrative Adjectives - These adjectives are used to point out or indicate a
particular noun or pronoun using the adjectives - This, That, These
and Those.
o
That bag belongs to Neil.
o
Try using this paintbrush in art class.
o
I really like those shoes.
o
These flowers are lovely.
5. Interrogative Adjectives
- These adjectives are used to ask questions about nouns or in relation to
nouns, they are - Where, What, Which and Whose.
o
Where did he say he was going?
o
What assignment did I miss out on?
o
Which is your favorite author?
o
Whose pen is this?
In some instances, we find
that we need to use more than one adjective to describe a noun in a
satisfactory manner. In these cases, commas are used to separate the adjectives
but some series of adjectives do not require a comma. Therefore, we need to
know the difference between Coordinate and Non-coordinate Adjectives -
Coordinate Adjectives -
Are those words which can be re-arranged in the series easily and are still
grammatically sound. This kind of series makes use of commas. This series can
also insert ‘and’ between them and still be correct.
She was a kind, generous, loving
human being.She was a generous, loving, kind human being.
She was a loving, kind and generous
human being.
Here we can see that all three
sentences are grammatically correct. In this case, the adjectives only need to
be separated by commas.
Non-coordinate Adjectives
- These are those adjectives which cannot be rearranged in the series. These do
not use commas to separate the adjectives. Also, this kind of series do
not make sense if we insert ‘and’ between them.
She has two energetic
playful dogs. She has playful two
energetic dogs. She has energetic and
playful and two dogs.
Here we see that only the
first sentence makes sense and is grammatically correct. The second and third
ones are incorrect. Hence, the sentence uses non-coordinate adjectives and does
not need commas.
There are certain rules
regarding the placement of different kinds of adjectives in a sentence. The
general order followed is -
1. Determiners – These
are the various articles (the, a, an), demonstratives (this, that, these,
those), possessives (my, mine, your, yours, -‘s), quantifiers (all, many
etc.), numerals (one, twenty, thirty-seven etc.) and distributives (each,
every, neither, either)
2. Observations/Quantity
and Opinion - Then come the adjectives that give a quantity (also known as
post-determiners) and subjective opinion to the noun, telling ‘how much’ and
‘how was’ the noun.
Few, Most, One, Three/ Beautiful,
Ugly, Difficult etc. The
beautiful house.
3. Size - The position
after Observations is for the adjectives that tell about the size of the noun,
they can be used for an object as well as living thing.
Huge, Little, Bulky, Thin, Vast,
Tiny, Lean etc The beautiful
little house.
4. Age -Then is
the turn of the Adjectives that tell about the age of a noun either by itself
or in relation to another noun.
Young, Old, Teenage, Mature, Recent,
Bygone etc. The beautiful little old
house.
5. Shape - Next are the
adjectives that tell about the shape or appearance of the noun.
Circular, Crooked, Triangular, Oval,
Wavy, Straights etc. The beautiful
little old square house.
6. Colour - After that
are the adjectives that tell the shade and hue of a noun.
Pastel, Red, Blue, Metallic,
Colourless, Translucent etc. The
beautiful square blue coloured house.
7. Origin - Next are the
adjectives that show the different geographical locations associated with a
noun.
Southern, Northern, Lunar, Mexican,
French etc. The beautiful
blue coloured Mexican house.
8. Material - Next are
the adjectives that talk about the raw material or texture of the objects or
the behaviour of the living nouns.
Wooden, Plastic, Steely, Metallic,
Cottony etc. The beautiful
Mexican limestone house.
9. Qualifier – Lastly,
the qualifier or the grammatical modifier comes, which is an additional word or
phrase provided to change the meaning of the noun in a sentence.
Pink + eye, Royal + treatment, Hot +
fudge etc. The beautiful
Mexican limestone doll house.
TYPES OF ADJECTIVE
DEFINITION: Adjective
is the word which is used to modify noun or pronoun. There are five kinds of
adjective as follow.
1) Possessive Adjective 2) Descriptive Adjective 3) Numeral Adjective 4)
Demonstrative Adjective 5)
Interrogative Adjective
1)
Possessive Adjective
DEFINITION:
Possessive Adjective is the adjective which is used to point out the noun that
belongs to someone and there are seven Possessive Adjectives. They are My, Your, Our, Their, His, Her and Its.
Example: - This is my book. - Your car is outside. - His girl fried is waiting
2)
Descriptive Adjective
DEFINITION:
Descriptive Adjective is the adjective that is used to tell the sorts of noun
or quality.
Example:
- He is a tall man.
- They are good students.
- She is a beautiful girl.
3)
Numeral Adjective
DEFINITION:
Numeral Adjective is the adjective which is used to show the number of noun.
There are three types of Numeral Adjective as follow.
a) Definite Numeral Adjective
b) Indefinite Numeral Adjective
c) Distributive Numeral Adjective
a) Definite Numeral
Adjective
DEFINITION:
Definitive Numeral Adjective is the adjective that is used to denote an exact
number of noun as first, second, third or one, two,
three….
Example:
- Ankor Wat is the seventh wonders of the world.
- Ankor temple has got five towers.
b) Indefinite Numeral
Adjective
DEFINITION:
Indefinite Numeral Adjective is the adjective which is used to denote an
inexact number of nouns as some, any, much, many,
little, a few….
Example:
- I have some friends here.
- She has a few pictures.
- He has got much money.
b) Distributive Numeral Adjective
DEFINITION: Descriptive Adjective is the adjective that is
used to cache one noun. They are every, each, another,
other...
Example:
- Each student is very friendly.
- They speak to another person.
4)
Demonstrative Adjective
DEFINITION: Demonstrative
Adjective is the adjective which is used to point out the noun. They are this, these, that, and those.
Example:
- That man is very handsome.
- These girls are good-looking.
5)
Interrogative Adjective
DEFINITION: Interrogative
Adjective is the adjective that is used to ask the question. They are where, what, which….
Example:
- Which animal do you like?
- Where doctor is he?
- What food do you prefer?
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