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Well, in this occasion, I will give explanation about Adjective.
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Adjective: Definition & Types
An adjective describes or modifies noun/s and pronoun/s in a sentence. It normally indicates quality, size, shape, duration, feelings, contents, and more about a noun or pronoun.
Adjectives usually provide relevant information about the nouns/pronouns they modify/describe by answering the questions: What kind? How many? Which one? How much? Adjectives enrich your writing by adding precision and originality to it.
Example:
- This is has a dangerous situation. (What kind?)
- Dika and Firda have ten T’shirt. (How many?)
- Rina likes that red car. (Which one?)
- We must earn more money on the internet. (How much?)
However, there are also many adjectives which do not fit into these questions. Adjectives are the most used parts of speech in sentences. There are several types of adjectives according to their uses.
Types of Adjectives
- Descriptive Adjectives
- Quantitative Adjectives
- Proper Adjectives
- Demonstrative Adjectives
- Possessive Adjectives
- Interrogative Adjectives
- Indefinite Adjectives
- Articles
- Compound Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives:
A descriptive adjective is a word which describes nouns and pronouns. Most of the adjectives belong in this type. These adjectives provide information and attribute to the nouns/pronouns they modify or describe. Descriptive adjectives are also called qualitative adjectives.
Participles are also included in this type of adjective when they modify a noun.
Examples:
- She has a fast motorcycle. (The word ‘fast’ is describing an attribute of the car)
- I am hungry. (The word ‘hungry’ is providing information about the subject)
- The hungry dogs are crying.
- We often see a flying Eagle.
Quantitative Adjectives:
A quantitative adjective provides information about the quantity of the nouns/pronouns. This type belongs to the question category of ‘how much’ and ‘how many’.
Examples:
- I have 20 bucks in my wallet. (How much)
- We find three mangoes. (How many)
- We must do the whole task. (How much)
Proper Adjectives:
Proper adjectives are the adjective form of proper nouns. When proper nouns modify or describe other nouns/pronouns, they become proper adjectives. ‘Proper’ means ‘specific’ rather than ‘formal’ or ‘polite.’
A proper adjective allows us to summarize a concept in just one word. Instead of writing/saying ‘a food cooked in Chinese recipe’ you can write/say ‘Chinese food’.
Proper adjectives are usually capitalized as proper nouns are.
Example:
- American singers are very beautiful.
- Chinese people are hard workers.
- I love KFC burgers.
- Marxist philosophers despise capitalism.
Demonstrative Adjectives:
A demonstrative adjective directly refers to something or someone. Demonstrative adjectives include the words: this, that, these, those.
A demonstrative pronoun works alone and does not precede a noun, but a demonstrative adjective always comes before the word it modifies.
Examples:
- That book is very useful. (‘That’ refers to a singular noun far from the speaker)
- This pencil is mine. (‘This’ refers to a singular noun close to the speaker)
- These mangoes are sweet. (‘These’ refers to a plural noun close to the speaker)
- Those flowers are beautiful. (‘Those’ refers to a plural noun far from the speaker)
Possessive Adjectives:
A possessive adjective indicates possession or ownership. It suggests the belongingness of something to someone/something.
Some of the most used possessive adjectives are my, his, her, our, their, your.
All these adjectives always come before a noun. Unlike possessive pronouns, these words demand a noun after them.
Examples:
- My motorcycle is parked outside.
- His child is very handsome.
- Our job is almost done.
- Her performance is beautiful.
Interrogative Adjectives:
An interrogative adjective asks a question. An interrogative adjective must be followed by a noun or a pronoun. The interrogative adjectives are: which, what, whose. These words will not be considered as adjectives if a noun does not follow right after them. ‘Whose’ also belongs to the possessive adjective type.
Examples:
- Which car will you use?
- What game do you want to play?
- Whose car is that?
Indefinite Adjectives:
An indefinite adjective describes or modifies a noun unspecifically. They provide indefinite/unspecific information about the noun. The common indefinite adjectives are few, many, much, most, all, any, each, every, either, nobody, several, some, etc.
Examples:
- I gave some candy to her.
- I want a few moments alone.
- Several writers wrote about the recent incidents.
- Each student will have to submit homework tomorrow.
Articles
Articles also modify the nouns. So, articles are also adjectives. Articles determine the specification of nouns. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are used to refer to an unspecific noun, and ‘the’ is used to refer to a specific noun.
Examples:
- A cat usually eat fish. (Here, the noun ‘cat’ refers to any cat, not specific.)
- The cat is mine. (This cat is a specific cat.)
- An animal can be found in the zoo.
Compound Adjectives:
When compound nouns/combined words modify other nouns, they become a compound adjective. This type of adjective usually combines more than one word into a single lexical unit and modifies a noun. They are often separated by a hyphen or joined together by a quotation mark.
Example:
- I have a broken-down sofa.
- I saw a six-foot-long snake.
- He gave me an “I’m gonna kill you now” look.
The Degree of Adjectives:
There are three degrees of adjectives: Positive, comparative, superlative.
These degrees are applicable only for the descriptive adjectives.
Examples:
Positive degree: He is a good teacher.
Comparative degree: He is better than his brother.
Superlative: She is the best actrees.
What are adjectives?
- An adjective is a word which modifies a noun or a pronoun. In the example below:
She will buy beautiful car
beautiful is an adjective modifying car (it gives more information about the noun car.)
- Adjectives may come before a noun
We found a nice job
- Adjectives may also come after certain verbs like be, feel, seem, look:
She is intelligent
We feel happy
She seems unhappy
They look fantastic
Adjectives versus adverbs
A distinction must be made between adjectives and adverbs.
- An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun.
She lives in a big house.
- An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
She sings well
Her house is very big
She did it really well
Comparatives and superlatives
Adjectives can be used for comparison:
Washington is bigger than Paris.
This is the nicest student in the class.
I think my explanation about the point above is enough. If you have a question about the grammar rule I have just explained just now, you can write a comment in the comment form below. I will feel happy to answer your question or may be if you have suggestion or correction about it, you can also write a comment.
Reference :
https://www.learngrammar.net/english-grammar/adjective
https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-adjectives.php