Adjectives

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a part of speech that can be used to describe or provide more information about a noun or pronoun that acts as the subject in a sentence. Adjectives are found after the verb or before the noun it modifies.

Adjective Examples

In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:

1. They live in a big, beautiful
2. Since it’s a hot day, Lisa is wearing a sleeveless
3. The mountaintops are covered in sparkling
4. On her birthday, Brenda received an antique vase filled with fragrant

Types of Adjectives

Adjectives can be divided into different categories based on their functions when used in a sentence. The different types of adjectives are:

• Possessive Adjectives
• Interrogative Adjectives
• Demonstrative Adjectives
• Compound Adjectives

Possessive Adjectives:

These adjectives, like possessive pronouns, are used to show or represent possession of a quality. For example: my, your, his, her, their, its, whose, etc.

Interrogative Adjectives:

An adjective that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun by asking a question is called an interrogative adjective. There are only a few adjectives that can be termed as interrogative adjectives. They are whose, what and which.

Demonstrative Adjectives:

Demonstrative adjectives are mainly used to describe the position of a subject (a noun or pronoun) in space or time. This, that, these and those are the demonstrative adjectives in English.

Compound Adjectives:

Compound adjectives consist of two or more adjectives that are combined together to form an adjective that can be used to modify the subject. Some examples of compound adjectives are cotton-tailed, curly-haired, absent-minded, happy-go-lucky, etc

How to Use Adjectives in Sentences?

Adjectives are known to give your writing and speech a very flowery look. It aids in making it descriptive and also in giving your readers and listeners a visual treat. However, stuffing it with too many adjectives can make it look or sound vague and unclear. This would only lead to misunderstanding of your content. Knowing when, where and how to use adjectives is a skill that you should master.

Any piece of writing should be clear and precise. Find out if there is a word that specifically means whatever you are trying to convey. For example: quick, swift, hasty, fleet, etc. are all adjectives that mean ‘very fast’. Likewise, contented, cheerful, merry, joyful, ecstatic, delighted, etc. are all words that describe different degrees of happiness. There is also another concept that you should know. There is a particular order in which you should place adjectives when you are using two or more adjectives to describe the same subject or object. Check out the order of adjectives to learn more.

Examples of Adjectives

If you are wondering what part of speech a colour or a number belongs to, do not waste any more time thinking about it. All colours and numbers are classified as adjectives. Adjectives are words that modify nouns but in most cases, they can be seen to be doing much more than that. Given below are the various ways in which adjectives can function and be used.

Adjectives as Complements

Adjectives can act as complements that modify nouns that act as subjects and objects. When the adjective describes the object in a sentence, it is called an object complement and when it is used to describe the subject in a sentence, it is referred to as a subject complement. They are seen to be used in sentences which are seen to use the following patterns:

• SVC – Tahir is good.

In the above example, the adjective is ‘good’ and it is used to describe the subject ‘Aaron’ and so it is called a subject complement.

• SVOC – The movie made Akash sleepy.

Here, the adjective ‘sleepy’ describes the object ‘Karthik’ and so comes under the category of object complements.

Adjectives as Coordinates

When two or more adjectives are used to describe the same noun in a sentence, they are called coordinate adjectives. Coordinate adjectives are often separated by a comma or the conjunction ‘and’.

For example:

• The mobile phone is easy to use and handy.
• My cousin is tall and thin.

Multifunctional Adjectives

Adjectives can be made to function like or take the role of nouns in a sentence, and sometimes, a noun, when used to describe or provide more information about another noun, can perform the role of an adjective.

For example:

• I like my English teacher.

In the above example, the word ‘English’ is generally considered a noun as it represents a language and it is a proper noun. But here, it is used to describe the noun ‘teacher’ which makes it an adjective.

• It is our duty to tend to the poor and the oppressed.

In this sentence, the words ‘the poor’ and ‘the oppressed’ pass off as nouns as it refers to ‘poor people’ and ‘oppressed people’. So, when adjectives are preceded by the article ‘the’, it often refers to a category of people which makes the adjective a noun.

Adjective Exercises

Find the adjective or adjectives that fit in each of the blanks best.

1. We visited the museum, where we saw ____________ artifacts.
   1. A lot of
   2. Ancient
   3. John’s
   4. A room filled with
2. I received ______________ awards at the ceremony today.
   1. The manager’s
   2. Two
   3. Information about
   4. Motivation at the
3. Please get me a bag of ____________ apples.
   1. Interesting
   2. Ripe red
   3. Oranges and
   4. Real
4. The president sat in a _______________ chair.
   1. Important
   2. Barber’s
   3. Funny
   4. Leather
5. ________________ weather is the norm in San Francisco.
   1. Blue
   2. Big
   3. Foggy
   4. The best

Answer Key:

1. A – We visited the museum, where we saw ancient artifacts.
2. B – I received two awards at the ceremony today.
3. B – Please get me a bag of ripe red apples.
4. D – The president sat in a leather chair.
5. C – Foggy weather is the norm in San Francisco.