In English texts and everyday communication, the word “like” serves a variety of purposes. It can act as an adjective, a preposition, an adverb, a conjunction, a noun, or a verb.
- Adjective
This word is classified under adjectives if it is used to modify a noun or a pronoun by indicating similarities in qualities or characteristics. For example, in the sentence below:
You’re not talking about like things when you compare football and golf.
The word “like” is used as an adjective that describes the noun “things.”
Definition:
a. having the same or similar qualities
- Example:
- I responded in like manner.
- Preposition
Another common function of the word “like” is as a preposition that also means “for example” or “similar to.” In the sample sentence below:
Their house is like a barn.
The word “like” is used as a preposition that indicates that the “house” is similar to a “barn.”
Definition:
a. having the same characteristics or qualities as
- Example:
- There were other suits like mine in the shop.
b. used to draw attention to the nature of an action or event
- Example:
- We apologize for coming over unannounced like this.
c. such as; for example
- Example:
- They discussed books like 1984 and Animal Farm.
- Adverb
The word ”like” can also be categorized as an adverb if it is used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Take for example, the sentence below:
The distance is more like 750 miles.
In this sentence, the word modifies the adjective “750,” and is therefore considered as an adverb.
Definition:
a. nearly; approximately
- Example:
- It was like 8 feet deep.
b. used in speech as a meaningless filler or to signify the speaker’s uncertainty about an expression just used
- Example:
- There was this funny smell—sort of dusty like.
- Conjunction
There are also some cases wherein the word “like” is used as a conjunction that connects two clauses to form one sentence. For instance, in the sample sentence below:
I hate girls who change boyfriends like they change clothes.
The word “like” serves as a conjunction that links together the clauses “I hate girls who change boyfriends” and “they change clothes.”
Definition:
a. in the same way that; as
- Example:
- They raven down scenery like children do sweetmeats.
b. as though; as if
- Example:
- I felt like I’d been kicked by a horse.
- Noun
Other times, the word “like” is considered as a noun, which refers to something of the same kind. In the example:
Did you ever hear the like?
The word “like” is used as a noun that is used to indicate a thing of the same kind.
Definition:
a. a thing or things of the same kind
- Example:
- We will never see anyone of her like again.
- Verb
The word “like” is also typically used as a verb that indicates a state of being. Take for example, the sentence:
He likes baseball more than anything.
In this sentence, the word suggests the state of being of the pronoun “he,” and is therefore considered as a verb.
Definition:
a. to enjoy (something); to get pleasure from (something)
- Example:
- I like all Dan Brown’s books.
b. wish for; want
- Example:
- Would you like a cup of tea?
For those interested in a little info about this site: it’s a side project that I developed while working on Describing Words and Related Words. Both of those projects are based around words, but have much grander goals. I had an idea for a website that simply explains the word types of the words that you search for — just like a dictionary, but focussed on the part of speech of the words. And since I already had a lot of the infrastructure in place from the other two sites, I figured it wouldn’t be too much more work to get this up and running.
The dictionary is based on the amazing Wiktionary project by wikimedia. I initially started with WordNet, but then realised that it was missing many types of words/lemma (determiners, pronouns, abbreviations, and many more). This caused me to investigate the 1913 edition of Websters Dictionary — which is now in the public domain. However, after a day’s work wrangling it into a database I realised that there were far too many errors (especially with the part-of-speech tagging) for it to be viable for Word Type.
Finally, I went back to Wiktionary — which I already knew about, but had been avoiding because it’s not properly structured for parsing. That’s when I stumbled across the UBY project — an amazing project which needs more recognition. The researchers have parsed the whole of Wiktionary and other sources, and compiled everything into a single unified resource. I simply extracted the Wiktionary entries and threw them into this interface! So it took a little more work than expected, but I’m happy I kept at it after the first couple of blunders.
Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: the UBY project (mentioned above), @mongodb and express.js.
Currently, this is based on a version of wiktionary which is a few years old. I plan to update it to a newer version soon and that update should bring in a bunch of new word senses for many words (or more accurately, lemma).
I don’t know if the word другой is considered an adjective. However it declines like an adjective, and as such I name it an «adjective-like» word.
I know that, when numeral два is either in the nominative or inanimate accusative, the noun it quantifies takes the genitive singular, whereas an adjective accompanying the noun takes the genitive plural.
As such, «два ближнЗК-их друг-а» — two close friends.
But, what if I use the word другие?
Let’s take the three hosts of the Fifa World Cup 2026 as an example. USA, Canada and Mexico. But the title of that competition will be «United 26».
I want to say the following: «The title United 26 shows a bias in favor of the USA, as though the other two hosts were secondary».
Название «United 26» проявляет предвзятость к
в пользу/отдает предпочтениеСША, как будто другие
два организатора — второстепенны.
If I say «два других организатора» I would be telling «two other hosts«, not «THE two other hosts«, right?
Likewise, what if I use a personal pronoun (which declines as an adjective) instead of a typical adjective?
- Два моих друга — two of my friends
- Мои два друга — my two friends
- Два других друга — two other friends
- Другие два друга — the two other friends
Maybe the adjective/pronoun takes the genitive plural after the numeral when expressing «some out of many», whereas it takes the nominative plural before the numeral when the numeral refers to the total quantity?
.
A noun can go before another noun to describe it in an adjective-like way
RECOGNIZING NOUNS USED AS ADJECTIVES
It is very common in academic and professional writing for a noun to be described by one or more other nouns placed before it. Such combinations lack separating commas, and their nouns do not refer to the same thing (for information about paired nouns that do, see 77. Apposition).
Nouns used like this can be hard to distinguish from adjectives. Compare:
Adjectives Describing Nouns
HIGH PRICES, LEARNED PROFESSORS, THE OPEN DOOR, A DAILY STRUGGLE, NUMEROUS DIFFICULT PROBLEMS
.
Nouns Describing Nouns
FUEL PRICES, UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS, THE CAR DOOR, A FREEDOM STRUGGLE, WORD DEFINITION PROBLEMS
As the last example here shows, there can be more than one adjectival noun before another noun.
One difference between nouns and adjectives used in this way is that nouns always indicate a subclass of the noun idea after them, whereas adjectives only sometimes do (see 283. Lesser-Known Facts about Adjectives, #4).
The best way to discover whether a word before a noun is an adjective or adjectival noun is to reverse the two words and see if their meaning can be kept by placing a preposition between them. This is possible with adjectival nouns (prices of fuel, professors at universities, the door of a car, a struggle for freedom and problems with the definition of words), but not adjectives, which need who or which after them instead (prices which are high, professors who are learned, etc.).
Note the variability of the prepositions involved. For a fuller survey of the possibilities, see 136. Types of Description by Nouns. Note also that the reverse process – reordering nouns so as to lose a preposition – is a useful option for making writing more concise (see 265. Grammar Tools for Better Writing, #3), or for just changing the way it is worded (see 205. Paraphrasing Prepositions with Words of Other Kinds).
The preposition test even works with noun-describing words that could be either a noun or an adjective, like English or male. If, for example, it is known that an English teacher is naming what the teacher teaches rather than his/her nationality, then “a teacher of English” will make sense, establishing English as a noun; whereas if a nationality is being named, then “a teacher who is English” will make sense, establishing English as an adjective.
In writing, the right interpretation is usually guided by context; but in speech, pronunciation can be a clue, since the noun use before another noun is often said more strongly more than the adjective use (an ENGlish teacher).
A similar situation exists with -ing verbs directly before a noun, since they can be either a noun-like “gerund” or an adjective-like “participle”. Thus walking, which commonly occurs in walking wounded, walking stick and walking tours, is a participle in the first, a gerund in the second (sticks do not walk!) and probably a participle in the third (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). The gerund use would again have more spoken emphasis (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #4).
.
PROBLEMS IN THE USE OF ADJECTIVAL NOUNS
1. Misreading Adjectival Nouns
During reading, there is a slight danger of taking an adjectival noun to be an ordinary one. This might happen when a reader is expecting an ordinary noun, for example an object after a recent object-needing verb. An adjectival noun is in danger of being understood as an expected ordinary one because it will be met first, before the ordinary noun that it is describing. For more, see 2. Interrupted Structures and 15. Half-Read Sentences.
.
2. Using the Wrong Article with Adjectival Nouns
When two nouns are paired together, which one determines whether the article before is the or a or nothing? What should the article be in this sentence?
(a) … world wealth has greatly increased.
The rule is that the article goes with the last noun in a group, in this case wealth. Since wealth is uncountable, the article cannot be a. Since wealth has general meaning, the is also ruled out: uncountable general-meaning nouns need a “zero” article (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”).
The problem that many learners of English have is being influenced by the first noun, here world. Since this is a countable noun that nearly always has the (see 89. Using “the” with General Meaning), there is a temptation to write the even when the noun is adjectival. For more on article usage before adjectival nouns, see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns and 138. Test Your Command of Grammar 1, #2.
.
3. Confusing Adjectival Nouns and Nouns with an Apostrophe Ending
Nouns used like adjectives do not have an apostrophe ending, but sometimes they are very similar to nouns that do. This is the case, for example, with customer accounts, which could also be written with -s’ (customers’ accounts). The problem is that the choice is not always so free: sometimes it involves a significant meaning difference, sometimes an apostrophe ending is not possible at all, and sometimes it is the only possibility. An example of where a difference exists is with weekend work and a weekend’s work, the first meaning “work for weekends”, the second “work lasting a weekend”.
For errors to be avoided in this area, there is a need for a good knowledge of how apostrophe endings work. This is, unfortunately, a complex area, but within this blog some advice is available in 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings.
.
4. Using an Adjective Instead of an Adjectival Noun
Some past students of mine described their place of study as a “Philosophical Centre” when its correct name was “Philosophy Centre”. The difference is that the former, with an adjective, means that the centre itself is “philosophical” (just as the adjective English before teacher tells us what the teacher is), while the latter, with an adjectival noun, means that the centre is for Philosophy (in the same way as the noun English suggests a teacher of English).
Other examples of wrongly-used adjectives are healthy advice, industrial spokesperson, photographic workshop and advanced warning (for the difference between advance and advanced, see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #2). Sometimes, however, there is a practically free choice between an adjective and an adjectival noun, e.g. autumn/autumnal colours, grammar/grammatical rules and manager/managerial vacancy.
.
5. Placing an Adjective before an Adjectival Noun
It is not an error to place an adjective before an adjectival noun, but there is a need to appreciate that such adjectives are capable of being linked with either of the two nouns after them, and might thus be understood as going with the wrong one (see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1). In many cases, the right interpretation is clear (e.g. in undesirable police accidents the adjective surely goes with the second noun), but sometimes it is less so (e.g. important customer accounts).
.
6. Making Adjectival Nouns Plural
Most adjectival nouns are singular in form even when their meaning is plural. This was clear among the earlier examples, where engine in engine oil became plural engines in the non-adjectival oil for engines, and word in word definition problems became plural words in problems with the definition of words. This trend holds even when an adjectival noun has a number before it, as in a two-hour meeting or a six-page essay.
However, not all adjectival nouns are singular. Examples where plurals occur are Beatles records, the Roads Minister, materials design, mathematics departments, solutions groups, sales performance, careers advisers, the arms race and a measles epidemic. The rest of this discussion focuses on this problem.
.
WHEN SHOULD ADJECTIVAL NOUNS BE PLURAL?
There seems to be no single rule in answer to this question, but rather a list of rules. An easy one to remember involves nouns that have no singular form, such as those in mathematics departments (and other combinations with an –ics subject name, like economics), measles epidemics and customs officers. If these have no singular, their adjectival forms have to be plural.
The other main reason for making an adjectival noun plural rather than singular seems to be a need to avoid ambiguity. One type is simple singular/plural ambiguity. Consider the phrase Beatles records. If we said Beatle records instead, we might be misunderstood as referring to records by individual Beatles, such as John Lennon or Paul McCartney, who made many records by themselves as well as with the other three Beatles. Thus there is the option of using the plural adjectival form in order to make it clear that all of the Beatles are meant. In the same way, we might prefer to say a solutions group instead of a solution group in order to make it clear that the group was concerned with solutions to many problems and not just one.
A slightly different type of ambiguity that using a plural adjectival noun can overcome involves nouns with variable countable and uncountable meanings, such as material. Uncountably this word means something that can be used to create something else, such as wood used for making doors or photographs used to tell a story. Used countably as a plural, however, it often means “written explanations and exercises for learning”. If this word was always used in the singular form when adjectival, we would not always be able to tell whether the countable or uncountable usage was intended, since the main indicators of countability (article a, plural –s ending) are both normally disallowed with adjectival nouns. If it was important to clarify that a countable meaning was intended, the use of the plural form would be one way to do it, as in materials design.
Numerous other nouns can vary like material (see 23. Noun Countability Clues 3). Adjectival uses that similarly include -s include languages department (signalling many languages are studied, rather than language in general) and metals extraction (emphasising that more than a single type of metal is extracted).
The phrase a careers adviser is perhaps associated with yet another type of ambiguity. It would appear that using a singular adjectival noun (a career adviser) changes the preposition link between the two nouns. Instead of meaning “a person who gives advice about careers”, it seems to mean “a person who gives advice by career”. The reason why this interpretation is more natural could be because the noun career is actually quite often used in this singular adjectival sense to mean “by career”. Examples are career writers, career footballers and career lawyers. Alternative implied prepositions are quite common (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns). They will not always match the choice between a singular and a plural adjectival noun, but they will sometimes.
Thus, adjectival nouns are fraught with pitfalls, and do not fail to produce errors in the writing of advanced learners of English. Studying their various properties is hence likely to be well worth the effort.
The Adjective is one of the parts of speech that describes some extra information about the noun or a pronoun in a sentence.
The adjective may be present single or multiple in a sentence that presents before a noun or a pronoun. Some articles like (a, an, the) are also called adjectives.
Many adjectives come before nouns or come along with linking verbs like feel, seen, appear, etc. Some adjectives never come before the noun, while some are placed just after the noun.
An adjective also improvises a noun or a pronoun. Some sentences contain more than one adjective. They must be assigned with commas.
Types of adjectives:
There are eight types of an adjective, depending on the place of an adjective in a sentence, meaning, and other illustrations,
- Descriptive Adjective
- Demonstrative Adjective
- Distributive adjective
- Interrogative Adjective
- Numeral Adjective
- Quantitative Adjective
- Proper Adjective
- Possessive Adjective
Descriptive Adjective:
A descriptive adjective is used to illustrate or to give some description of the qualities of a noun or pronoun of a sentence.
The list of adjectives contains more descriptive adjectives, which are also known as qualitative adjectives.
Examples:
- Harley Davidson bikes are stylish, fast, and expensive.
- Here, the words stylish, fast, and expensive provide extra details of the bike, called descriptive adjectives.
- Daniel bought a beautiful flower bouquet to present her gorgeous girlfriend.
- She is very hungry.
- Oxford University has an attractive auditorium.
- He came into the party with an ugly hairstyle.
Demonstrative Adjective:
The demonstrative adjective is used to demonstrate certain things, people, or animals.
This adjective is also telling the position of the noun and comes before other adjectives in the phrase of a sentence to which it is going to modify.
This, these, that, and those are demonstrative adjectives.
Where this and these are used to assign singular and plural nouns that are close to us.
And that and those are used to assign singular and plural nouns that are far from us.
Examples,
- Those pictures were just awesome when we looked at the exhibition.
- Here, the word “those” demonstrates the pictures and tells us that they are far away from their reach.
- Watching these kinds of movies is nothing but wasting time.
- These all are my office colleagues.
- Collect all the fruits and put them on that table.
- These cookies are nicer baked than yesterday’s cookies.
Distributive Adjective:
Distributive Adjectives are generally used to point to a particular group or individual and are used with singular nouns. It is used to modify nouns.
It contains E-type adjectives that are accompanied by nouns or pronouns in a sentence.
- Each, every, neither, and either are four distributive Adjectives.
Examples,
- Each student has to take part in cultural events.
- Here, the word “each” is used to distribute them into single ones.
- There were two washing machines, but neither worked properly.
- I will be happy with either decision.
- Every bogie of a train is filled with coal.
- The monkey divides the piece of bread and gives them to each cat.
Interrogative Adjective:
Interrogative adjectives are adjectives that tend to ask questions or to interrogate nouns or pronouns and to modify them as well in a sentence.
There are three interrogative adjectives, “what, which, and whose,” respectively.
These adjectives no longer function like adjectives if the noun or a pronoun does not present just after these words in a sentence.
Other wh- type or question words can not be considered adjectives because they don’t modify the nouns or pronouns, respectively.
Examples,
- Which bracelets do you like the most?
- Here, “which” becomes an interrogative adjective because it asks to specify the noun “bracelet”.
- What location type are you looking to go to?
- In this question statement, the noun “location” comes after the word “what,” which makes this word an adjective.
- What is the exact location?
- But in this question statement, the noun is absent after the word “what,” which does not make this word an adjective.
- Whose ambition is to become an astronaut?
Numeral Adjective:
A numeral adjective determines the number of nouns present in any sentence.
Numeral Adjectives are of three types:
- Definite Numeral Adjectives(cardinal and ordinal):
- Definite numeral adjectives contain two types, Cardinal numeral adjectives, and ordinal numeral adjectives.
- A cardinal numeral adjective is used to count anything in numbers. (one, two, three, four, etc.)
- The ordinal numeral adjective is used to mention the order or position of anything. (first, second, third, etc.)
- Indefinite Numeral Adjectives:
- Indefinite numeral adjectives are words that witness the presence or absence of anything like some, few, more, many, all, no, etc.
- Distributive Numeral Adjectives:
- The distributive numeral adjectives are such adjectives that are used to distribute like each, neither, either, every, etc.
Examples,
- Mark purchased five Bugatti cars from the showroom. (Cardinal)
- Here, five tells us about the number of cars present.
- The second part of this movie is mind-blowing. (Ordinal)
- Some people can never understand french. (Quantitative)
- All the money you have can never buy happiness. (Indefinite)
- Every living thing needs energy. (distributive)
Quantitative Adjective:
The quantitative adjective is used to explain the noun ( person or thing )and its quantity in a sentence. Sometimes a numeral adjective is also called a quantitative adjective though it specifies the numbers.
The quantitative type of adjective belongs to the question statement category like “how much or how many,” respectively.
- Little, more, much, few, all, large, small, tall, thirty, fifty, etc. are quantitative adjectives.
Examples,
- I want many chocolates to eat. (how much)
- Here, “many” indicates the number of chocolates.
- Among all, some of them are Spanish, a few are Turkish, and the rest are Afrikans. (how many)
- He played the guitar for the very first time. (how many)
- There are 206 bones in a human skeleton. (how many)
- Two boys are seriously injured in an accident. (how many)
Proper Adjective:
A proper adjective is an adjective that gives extra information related to a proper noun of a person, thing, animal, or object.
Though it refers to a particular person of existence and hence needs to be capitalized.
Examples,
- Australian kangaroos are very healthy.
- Here, the word “Australian” represents Australia, which is a proper noun.
- People called them Astronomers who study Astronomy.
- African people are very hard workers.
- I tasted different types of food, but Indian food has the best taste.
- The highest currency in the world is the Kuwaiti Dinar.
Possessive Adjective:
A possessive adjective is an adjective that shows the possessive nature of the noun of a person or place in any sentence.
Possessive adjectives also function like possessive pronouns.
- First-person: My, ours.
- Second-person: Yours.
- Third-person: His, hers, its, their, whose.
Examples,
- My computer is working in better condition.
- Here, “my” belongs to me shows some possession quality.
- Their black Mercedes Benz car looks more attractive than this one.
- Whose father is an Ex-Army man?
- Is this band yours?
- Both sisters have their own cupboards for clothes.
Degrees of Adjectives:
In the English language, An adjective has three degrees to give some extra and detailed information about some nouns or pronouns like person, place, things, objects, or even ideas, respectively.
These degrees are only applicable to descriptive adjectives as it has a tendency to illustrate the qualities of nouns or pronouns.
The three degrees of Adjectives are,
- Positive degree.
- Comparative degree and
- Superlative degree.
For example,
- Hard, harder, hardest.
- Much, more, most.
- Good, better, best.
- Large, larger, largest.
- Beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.
- Bad, worse, worst.
- Tall, taller, tallest.
- Thin, thinner, thinnest, etc.
Positive degree:
A positive degree shows a correlation between the adjectives and the adverbs in a normal adjective form.
There is no comparison shown between adjectives and adverbs that are called a positive degree.
Examples,
- She looks pretty in this dress.
- He bought a phone which is thin in size.
- She ordered a large bucket of KFC for the treat.
- The climate is hot today.
- This metal sheet is hard enough to withstand the load we expected.
Comparative degree:
A comparative degree is a degree of adjective that applies to compare two things, either they are of the same origin or different.
It also compares one noun with another noun in a sentence.
Comparative degrees have a suffix -er.
Examples,
- Their goals are faster than our team’s.
- She is more beautiful than her elder sister.
- Today she looks happier than on other days.
- Your handwriting is better than mine.
- This swimming pool is deeper than that one.
Superlative degree:
The superlative degree is an adjective that compares the quality or quantity of any person, place, thing, or object among three or more to show either the least quality or highest degree.
The superlative degree has a suffix -est.
Examples,
- Seedan is one of the bravest men in his battalion.
- Usain Bolt made a world record for the fastest athlete in the Olympics.
- She is the most beautiful girl on our campus.