What is a word describing an adjective

What is an adjective describing word?

Simply put, an adjective is a word you use to describe a person, place, or thing. An adjective modifies nouns or pronouns. Without adjectives, we wouldn’t know if you had a serene vacation or a disastrous vacation.

In which two ways should descriptive adjectives match the words they describe?

Since adjectives describe nouns, they need to match or agree with the nouns that they describe in two ways: number and gender.

How do you list adjectives in a sentence?

Order of adjectives

  1. Quantity or number.
  2. Quality or opinion.
  3. Size.
  4. Age.
  5. Shape.
  6. Color.
  7. Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
  8. Purpose or qualifier.

How do you arrange multiple adjectives in a sentence?

When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. It is correct to write, “I have a small red car”, but it is not correct to write, “I have a red small car”. When you use two adjectives together, you sometimes use “and” between them and you sometimes don’t.

What is the correct order for adjectives?

And they have different punctuation rules. The order of cumulative adjectives is as follows: quantity, opinion, size, age, color, shape, origin, material and purpose.

What are the order of adjectives and examples?

Order of adjectives

order relating to examples
1 opinion unusual, lovely, beautiful
2 size big, small, tall
3 physical quality thin, rough, untidy
4 shape round, square, rectangular

What is meant by order of adjectives?

The order of adjectives is the sequence used when there is more than one adjective to describe a noun. This order helps the sentence makes sense when you read it. The correct order is: number, opinion, size, shape, condition, age, color, pattern, origin, materials, and purpose.

How do you use adjectives correctly?

Adjectives don’t have a singular and plural form OR a masculine, feminine and neutral form. Adjectives are always the same! Never add a final –s to an adjective. Adjectives can also be placed at the end of a sentence if they describe the subject of a sentence.

What are some examples of adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.

Can we use pretty for a boy?

Pretty can certainly be used to describe a man but it’s a particular type of masculine beauty. The chances of you hearing a man describe another man as ‘pretty’ are virtually zero and I really wouldn’t recommend you use it to a man’s face: he probably wouldn’t like it. Pretty man ~ actor Orlando Bloom.

What is another word for pretty good?

What is another word for pretty good?

acceptable satisfactory
good respectable
agreeable average
presentable serviceable
alright comfortable

What are different ways to say beautiful?

beautiful

  • alluring.
  • cute.
  • dazzling.
  • fascinating.
  • fine.
  • graceful.
  • magnificent.
  • marvelous.

How do you call a girl cute without saying cute?

  1. When they show you baby photos say “Awh you were so cute.
  2. Say “nohomo or anything but I would pipe you”
  3. Write it down on a piece of paper.
  4. Say it in Morse code.
  5. Wink at em.
  6. Go to a place with a nice view, wait for them to say “what a pretty view” and say “I know” as you look them in the eyes.

How do you tease a girl with sweet words?

Keep it to a couple light and non-sexual teases unless you take her on an instant date right then and there.

  1. Give her a silly nickname.
  2. Point out something embarrassing or nerdy about her.
  3. Mimic or mock her.
  4. Challenge her.
  5. Treat her like a child.
  6. Roleplay with her.
  7. Stereotype her in a humorous way.

What words make a girl feel special?

Here are 9 nice sweet things to say to a girl:

  • I wish you were a coin.
  • If my days started with a kiss from you then I would never drink coffee.
  • You brighten up my day every time I see you.
  • I want to make time stand still when I’m with you but time always finds a way to fly past.

How do you describe someone in one word?

You can talk to him easily, and he’s very friendly:

  • Affable — He’s easy to talk to.
  • Agreeable — He’s enjoyable to talk to.
  • Amiable — He’s friendly and nice.
  • Charming — He has a “magic” effect that makes people like him.
  • Polite — He’s good at saying “please,” “thank you,” etc.
  • Likeable — He’s easy to like.

How do you describe a girl in 5 words?

  • accepting.
  • active.
  • adorable.
  • adventurous.
  • affectionate.
  • agreeable.
  • all-American.
  • alluring.

How do you describe a beautiful girlfriend?

Your cute smile, your sweet laugh, your innocence and your kind heart make me love you. Even if you do not believe that you are beautiful, look into my eyes and you’ll be surprised by your pretty reflection. I love every moment spent with you, your love has touched my heart.

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What is an adjective?

Blue is an adjective.
Cold is an adjective.
Happy is an adjective.

An adjective is a describing word. An adjective gives more information about something.
An adjective generally describes a noun. A noun is a person, a thing, or a place.

The monster

Monster is the name of a thing. Monster is a noun.

There is no description of the monster. Describe the monster in the video.

How is the monster? Green.
Green is a colour.
Green is a description of the monster.
Green is an adjective.

What is the position of the adjective?

Where do we put the adjective?
Do we say… The green monster OR The monster green?

The correct order is….

  • The green monster.

The order is: Adjective + noun

Green is an adjective, Monster is a noun.
Green is a description of the monster. Green is an adjective.

We do not say the monster green. No, the adjective is before the noun… The green monster.

We can also use the verb To Be + Adjective. For example…

  • The monster is green.

IS is a form of the verb To Be. The monster IS.
After IS we put the adjective… IS GREEN.

  • The monster is green.

What is another description of the monster?

Is the monster happy? No, the monster is SAD.
Sad is an adjective.

We can say:

  • The sad monster. (adjective + noun) OR
  • The monster is sad. (To Be + Adjective)

Sad is an adjective.

The girl

Another example: Describe the girl in the video.

Is the girl sad? No, she is happy.
We can say…

  • The happy girl.

Happy is an adjective … girl is a noun.
We can also say…

  • The girl is happy.

To Be + the adjective HAPPY.

Adjectives in English have one form.

For example the adjective red.

  • One red car.

Red is an adjective. It gives us more information about the car. We describe the car. The car is red.
When there is more than one car, for example two cars, the adjective RED does not change.
We say:

  • Two red cars.

Red is used with one car and Red is used for two cars.
We do not say two reds cars. No. (There is no S at the end of red)

Practice Exercise

Which word is an adjective in each of these?

  • The yellow bus.
  • The boy is dirty.
  • She is nervous.
  • The relaxed woman.
  • The smelly shoe.
  • The man is cold.
  • The fast horse.
  • The doors are closed.

The answers appear in our video.

What is an adjective? – Summary Chart

What is an adjective? Basic English Grammar

Lesson tags: Adjectives, Grammar, Nouns, Parts of Speech, To Be, Word Order
Back to: English Course > Descriptions in English

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ADJECTIVES

We have the following:

,

— Notes and Videos

— Exercises with Answers

NOTES

 

The Definitions of Adjective

— An
adjective is a word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its
referent.

— Adjective
is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun

— Adjective
is a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or technical.

— Adjective is
a word that tells us more about a noun. It «describes» or
«modifies» a noun 

— Adjectives are
words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns.

— Adjective
is a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous
languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of
the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as
distinct from something else. 

NOTES 1

Adjective «describes» or «modifies» a noun (The big dog was hungry). In these examples, the adjective is in bold and the noun that it modifies is in italics.

An adjective often comes BEFORE a noun:

  • a green car
  • a dark sky
  • an interesting story

And sometimes an adjective comes AFTER a verb:

  • My car is green.
  • The sky became dark.
  • His story seemed interesting.

But adjectives can also modify pronouns (She is beautiful). Look at these examples:

  • They were empty.
  • I thought it seemed strange.
  • Those are not expensive.

Note that we can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady / it is black and white).

Adjective Form

Some adjectives have particular endings, for example:

  • -able/-ible: washable, credible
  • -ish/-like: childish, childlike
  • -ful/-less: careful, careless
  • -ous: dangerous, harmonious
  • -y: dirty, pretty

However, many adjectives have no obvious form.

Comparative, Superlative

Most adjectives can be comparative or superlative, for example:

  • big, bigger, biggest
  • good, better, best
  • beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful

NOTES 2

What
is an adjective?


Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, making your writing
and speaking much more specific, and a whole lot more interesting. Words like
small, blue, and sharp are descriptive, and they are all examples of
adjectives.

Because adjectives are used to identify or quantify individual
people and unique things, they are usually positioned before the noun or
pronoun that they modify. Some sentences contain multiple adjectives.

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

Remember that adjectives can modify as well as describe other words, and you’ll find it much easier to identify different types of adjectives when you see them.

Articles

There are only three articles, and all of them are adjectives: a, an, and the. Because they are used to discuss non-specific things and people, a and an are called indefinite articles. For example:

  • I’d like a
  • Let’s go on an

Neither one of these sentences names a specific banana or a certain adventure. Without more clarification, any banana or adventure will do.

The word the is called the definite article. It’s the only definite article, and it is used to indicate very specific people or things:

  • Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.
  • Let’s go on an adventure. The Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!

Possessive Adjectives

As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:

  • My
  • Your
  • His
  • Her
  • Its
  • Our
  • Their

Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific people, animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.

  • These books belong on that
  • This movie is my favorite.
  • Please put those cookies on the blue plate.

Coordinate Adjectives

Coordinate adjectives are separated with commas or the word and, and appear one after another to modify the same noun. The adjectives in the phrase bright, sunny day and long and dark night are coordinate adjectives. In phrases with more than two coordinate adjectives, the word and always appears before the last one; for example: The sign had big, bold, and bright letters.

Be careful, because some adjectives that appear in a series are not coordinate. In the phrase green delivery truck, the words green and delivery are not separated by a comma because green modifies the phrase delivery truck. To eliminate confusion when determining whether a pair or group of adjectives is coordinate, just insert the word and between them. If and works, then the adjectives are coordinate and need to be separated with a comma.

Numbers Adjectives

When they’re used in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a number is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”

  • The stagecoach was pulled by a team of six
  • He ate 23 hotdogs during the contest, and was sick afterwards.

Interrogative Adjectives

There are three interrogative adjectives: which, what, and whose. Like all other types of adjectives, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. As you probably know, all three of these words are used to ask questions.

  • Which option sounds best to you?
  • What time should we go?
  • Whose socks are those?

 Indefinite Adjectives

Like the articles a and an, indefinite adjectives are used to discuss non-specific things. You might recognize them, since they’re formed from indefinite pronouns. The most common indefinite adjectives are any, many, no, several, and few.

  • Do we have any peanut butter?
  • Grandfather has been retired for many
  • There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
  • I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
  • We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.

Attributive Adjectives

Attributive adjectives talk about specific traits, qualities, or features – in other words, they are used to discuss attributes. There are different kinds of attributive adjectives:

  • Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting, beautiful or cheapest can indicate value or talk about subjective measures.
  • Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities including specific physical properties. Some examples include small, large, square, round, poor, wealthy, slow and
  • Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general ages. Examples are old, young, new, five-year-old, and
  • Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that indicate color. Examples include pink, yellow, blue, and
  • Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person, place, animal or thing. Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican, French.
  • Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples include cotton, gold, wool, and
  • Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more specific; examples include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.

MORE
EXAMPLES OF ADJECTIVES

Typical adjective endings

  1. They live in a beautiful house.
  2. Lisa is wearing a sleeveless shirt today. This soup is not edible.
  3. She wore a beautiful dress.
  4. He writes meaningless letters.
  5. This shop is much nicer.
  6. She wore a beautiful dress.
  7. Ben is an adorable baby.
  8. Linda’s hair is gorgeous.
  9. This glass is breakable.
  10. I met a homeless person in NY.

Denominal adjective examples

  1. A mathematical puzzle.
  2. A biological experiment.
  3. A wooden boat.
  4. I married an American woman.
  5. The Jewish community in NY is very big.
  6. Mary has a collection of expensive Russian dolls.
  7. In the winter you must wear heavy woollen clothes.
  8. The polar bear is listed as threatened.

Order of adjective examples

  1. I love that really big old green antique car that is always parked at the end of the street. [quality – size – age – color – qualifier]
  2. My sister has a beautiful big white bulldog. [quality – size – color]
  3. A wonderful old Italian clock. [opinion – age – origin]
  4. A big square blue box. [size – shape – color]
  5. A disgusting pink plastic ornament. [opinion – color – material]
  6. Some new slim French trousers. [age – shape – origin]
  7. My small new red sleeping bag. [size – age – color – purposee]
  8. I bought a pair of black leather shoes. [color – material]

Comparing adjective examples

  1. This house is bigger than that one.
  2. This flower is more beautiful than that.
  3. He is taller than Mr. Hulas.
  4. He is more intelligent than this boy.
  5. Jonathan is the most handsome man on campus.
  6. This is the prettiest dress in the window.
  7. I lost my most comfortable shoes.
  8. My job is worse than yours.

Compound adjectives examples

  1. This is a four-foot table.
  2. Daniella is a part-time worker.
  3. This is an all-too-common error.
  4. Beware of the green-eyed monster.
  5. He is a cold-blooded man.
  6. We saw a man-eating shark!
  7. Danny’s dog is well-behaved.
  8. You have to be open-minded about things.

Adjectival phrase examples

  1. Susan is really clever.
  2. The doctor is very late.
  3. My sister is fond of animals.
  4. I am happy to meet you.
  5. The kids are ready to go.
  6. Don’t be afraid of the dark.
  7. Tony lost his dark brown briefcase.
  8. He’s an extraordinary looking man.

VIDEOS

Watch the following Videos:

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Источник

Main Adjectives Takeaways:

  • An adjective is a word that describes or modifies nouns or pronouns.
  • They can describe quantity, color, size, condition, origin, appearance, personality, and time.
  • They can provide degrees of comparison.
  • Attributive adjectives precede the noun they’re describing.
  • Predicate adjectives follow verbs such as become, look, or seem.
  • In certain situations, adjectives can become nouns, and vice versa.
  • Don’t rely on adjectives just to make prose prettier or shore up weak nouns.

Adjectives are words that describe, identify, or quantify nouns and pronouns. They provide details and answer questions such aswhose, how many, what type, and which one.

Understanding when and how to use this part of speech gives you an effective way to add color and clarity to your writing. And, to avoid using them incorrectly.

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives describe, or modify, nouns and pronouns. Essentially, they provide the details that make nouns and pronouns more specific. An adjective describes the quality or state of being of a noun. This part of speech also describe the quantity or number.

A boy looking curiously at the word ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives are words that describe, identify, or quantify nouns and pronouns.

Each of these descriptive words typically fall into one of the following categories:

  • General appearance (pretty, bold, unattractive)
  • Shape and size (circular, narrow, deep)
  • Color (auburn, inky, clear)
  • Condition (damaged, pristine, frozen)
  • Quantity (plentiful, countless, few)
  • Personality (quirky, funny, heroic)
  • Time (yearly, prehistoric, concurrent)
  • Sense (ear-splitting, tasty, prickly)

What Are 10 Adjectives Examples ?

As words that provide details about a noun or program, there are almost limitless examples of adjectives. They often answer questions such as whose, how many, what type, and which one.

What Are the 8 Types Of Adjectives?

There are eight types of adjectives. And, each adjective falls into one of these categories.

Which category depends on its placement and relation with other parts of speech in a sentence.

For instance, these types include descriptive, distributive, interrogative, possessive, proper, quantitative, sequence, or indefinite.

1. Descriptive

Descriptive adjectives are usually the first kind that come to mind when think about this part of speech.

However, these words assign a quality or attribute to a noun or pronoun. This helps you define your subject clearly and exactly.

2. Distributive

Distributive adjectives point out or draw attention to a particular noun in a crowd. Place these before the noun they’re modifying. The noun they modify is usually singular.

Distributive adjectives: Any, Each, Every, Either, Neither

3. Interrogative

These are descriptive words that ask a question when paired with a noun or pronoun.

Interrogative adjectives: Whose, Which, What

A cute girl, a tall man, a thin boy, and an elderly woman.

Common examples of adjectives. How will you describe the person next to you?

4. Possessive

This kind of descriptive word shows ownership.

Possessive Adjectives: his, her, its, their, our, my, your, whose

5. Proper

We derive proper adjectives from proper nouns. This means that they stand for proper nouns. As a result, you need to capitalize the first letter of these descriptive words.

They identify a specific place, person, or thing. They may be hyphenated.

6. Quantitative

On the other hand, Quantitative adjectives describe how much or how many noun or pronoun they’re modifying.

7. Sequence

Although sequence adjectives are similar to quantitative in that they assign numbers to a noun or pronoun, there’s one significant difference. The former use ordinal numbers to imply order.

8. Indefinite

Adjectives generally add specificity to nouns or pronouns. But, they can also point out nonspecific items.

Indefinite adjectives: few, any, no, several, many

What Are Positive Adjectives?

Positive adjectives are words that you use to describe emotions about people, events, places, ideas, or objects that made you feel good. By using positive adjectives, you’ll be able to express your happy thoughts effectively, helping people better understand your feelings or disposition. Here are some examples:

As you may have noticed, the adjectives we used let you have a mental image of the positive emotions we’ve described.

What Are Negative Adjectives?

Besides positive adjectives, there are also negative adjectives. In contrast, negative adjectives describe bad emotions. And although these two function the same way, it’s important that you choose your negative adjectives carefully. Otherwise, you might end up offending someone or evoking unintended feelings from others. The following are examples of negative adjectives.

Unlike positive adjectives, negative adjectives are often used by people in arguments to insult or berate others. Again, try to use these words sparingly to avoid conflict or upsetting others.

Two boys wearing placards labeled as adjective and noun. The boy wearing the adjective placard is pointing to the boy wearing the noun placard while saying "you're one stylish noun!"

One of the most common functions of adjectives is to describe nouns and pronouns.

What Are the Degrees Of Comparison Of Adjectives?

You can also use adjectives to define something to a certain degree. They come in three-degree levels: positive, comparative, and superlative.

1. Positive

Also known as absolute, you may use the positive degree when you’re referring to a single noun.

2. Comparative

This is your go-to adjective type when you’re comparing two of something.

  • Typically, adding -er to an adjective creates the comparative form (e.g., smarter, taller, narrower).
  • Other descriptive words become comparatives by adding the word more in front of them (e.g., more beautiful).
  • All comparatives should be paired with the word than.
  • If the adjective ends in “y,” the “y” should be changed to an “i” before adding -er (e.g., pretty becomes prettier).

3. Superlative

When comparing three or more things, the superlative degree is the one to use.

  • It’s typically created by adding -est to the adjective (smartest, tallest, narrowest) or pairing the adjective with the word most (most beautiful).
  • If the adjective ends in “y,” the “y” should be changed to an “i” before adding -est (e.g., pretty becomes prettiest).

The Three Cs of Multipart Adjectives: Coordinate, Cumulative, and Compound

Sometimes you just need a second adjective to complete the job.

This is where coordinate and cumulative adjectives come into play. They are words that you can combine to provide additional meaning to a single noun or pronoun.

1. Coordinate Adjectives

Both words in a coordinate adjective are equally important. But, a comma should separate them.

2. Cumulative Adjectives

Next, Cumulative adjectives are multiple words that build on one another to create meaning. However, they must maintain a particular order to make sense. They’re easy to recognize because they can’t be reversed and won’t make sense if you use and between them.

3. Compound Adjectives

Finally, Compound adjectives contain more than one word. They are typically linked together by a hyphen.

A boy looking at sunflower. He's thinking of what adjective to use to describe it. Is it beautiful, spectacular, or radiant?

Positive degree is the normal form of an adjective. Meaning, these adjectives don’t make comparisons.

The Placement of Adjectives

Adjectives may be broken down into types based on their placement in a sentence and their relationship to other parts of speech.

1. Attributive

These are words that are placed immediately before the noun that they’re describing.

2. Predicate

These descriptive words typically appear after a linking verb.

Predicate adjectives: is, are, am, was, were, seemed, looked

3. Postpositive

Postpositive adjectives are descriptors that immediately follow a noun or pronoun.

What Are Gradable and Non Gradable Adjectives?

Almost all adjectives are gradable, letting their meaning be altered by strategic placement of adverbs such as:

  • fairly
  • rather
  • very
  • extremely
  • dreadfully
  • slightly
  • reasonably

By pairing gradable adjectives with these adverbs, their meaning can increase or decrease in intensity.

What Is the Difference Between Adjectives And Adverbs With Examples?

Due to their similar sound and appearance, these two parts of speech often get mixed up. Thankfully, there are easy ways to distinguish between the two.

It’s all in the Name

To distinguish between adjectives and adverbs, all you have to do is look at the name: adverbs. As its name implies, adverbs are used to modify verbs, whereas adjectives are used to modify nouns or pronouns.

Look for the -LY

Many adverbs end in -ly, making them easy to identify.

I Feel Bad vs. I Feel Badly: A Brief Comparison

It’s helpful to examine individual sentences when trying to understand the difference between adjectives and adverbs.

For example, in the sentence, “Bob feels bad,” bad is an adjective. Essentially, in this sentence, Bob feels under the weather.

On the other hand, in the sentence, “Bob feels badly,” badly is an adverb (note the -ly!). In this case, feeling badly refers to a poor sense of touch and Bob’s inability to experience tactile sensations.

Abracadabra! When Nouns Become Adjectives and Vice Versa

Here’s where things get tricky: sometimes the parts of speech can masquerade as other parts of speech.

In certain circumstances, nouns modify or clarify other nouns. This effectively turns them into adjectives.

These converted nouns are known as noun modifiers or adjectival nouns.

On the flip side, adjectives can also function as nouns.

In certain circumstances, adjectives can become nouns, and vice versa

In certain circumstances, adjectives can become nouns, and vice versa

This happens when they describe groups of people. In these circumstances, the noun being modified drops away. As a result, the adjective takes the place of the noun.

Note: These adjectives-turned-nouns must always be placed immediately after the definite the.

From Clunky to Clear: Choosing Good Adjectives

Adjectives can add specificity. But unfortunately, they can also be clunky and contribute to flowery, overwritten prose, and an unsavory concoction known commonly as adjective soup.

Descriptive words are also one of the most overused parts of speech, particularly in creative writing. That’s why it’s so important to choose the right ones for your sentences—if you need any at all.

Ultimately, a good adjective is one that adds meaning to your sentence. It should quantify, clarify, and enhance. What it shouldn’t do is shore up a weak noun or exist solely to add prettiness to your prose.

After all, that big house may really be an estate—and that loud, booming shout? Well, it’s really just a shout after all, plain and simple.

Adjective infographic
INK Adjectives Infographic

List of Common Adjectives

Color

bleak
bright
cool
dark
earthy
fluorescent
glowing
glossy
hazy
intense
iridescent
light
lustrous
matte
monochromatic
natural
neutral
opaque
pale
pastel
solid
translucent
vibrant
warm

Quantity

all
countless
each
enormous
even
every
few
finite
first
huge
immense
indefinite
infinite
last
many
most
odd
one
several
some
three
two
unlimited
varying

Taste

acidic
awful
bad
bitter
bittersweet
bland
citrusy
cold
earthy
fresh
fruity
good
hot
pleasant
refreshing
rich
salty
smoky
sour
spicy
sweet
tangy
warm
zesty

Weather

beautiful
bright
calm
clear
cold
dry
fair
favorable
harsh
hot
lovely
mild
nice
pleasant
rainy
seasonable
serene
stormy
sunny
superb
terrible
unseasonable
wet
windy
wintry

Size

colossal
considerable
enormous
exact
extra small
gigantic
huge
ideal
immense
large
massive
maximum
medium
moderate
monstrous
ordinary
small
standard
thick
thin
unequal
unusual
varying
vast

Time

ancient
appropriate
better
brief
certain
considerable
desired
future
given
happiest
hard
later
lost
modern
nice
past
precious
prehistoric
present
quiet
real
short
spare
usual
valuable

Shape

angular
broad
circular
crooked
cylindrical
flat
narrow
oval
perfect
rectangular
round
skinny
slender
slim
square
tapered
three-dimensional
triangular
two-dimensional
wide

Sound

earsplitting
faint
gentle
harsh
husky
loud
low
low-pitched
melodic
muffled
noisy
quiet
raspy
screaming
screech
shrill
silent
soft
squeaky
squeal
thunderous
velvety

Behavior

acceptable
amusing
callous
cautious
dignified
emotional
gentle
haughty
irresponsible
lax
mysterious
obnoxious
odd
polite
proper
scandalous
selfish
sly
strange
unassuming
unconventional
weird

Situations

awkward
critical
deplorable
desperate
embarrassing
financial
happy
horrible
imaginary
interesting
make-believe
miserable
peculiar
perilous
present
pretend
real
romantic
strange
temporary
terrible
uncomfortable
undesirable
unhappy
unpleasant

Feelings

angry
annoyed
apprehensive
bitter
deep
emotional
happy
heartfelt
helpless
infectious
overpowering
pent-up
profound
quiet
raw
sad
sentimental
uneasy

Texture

airy
bumpy
chalky
chewy
creamy
crispy
crumbly
crunchy
crusty
delicate
dry
flaky
fluffy
fuzzy
gooey
greasy
hard
mushy
powdery
prickly
rough
rubbery
silky
slimy
smooth

Just a Quick Adjectives Quiz to Help You Master Your new Skills

Adjective Question #1

Correct!
Wrong!

The answer is FALSE. Adjectives can only describe or modify nouns and pronouns.

Adjective Question #2

Correct!
Wrong!

The answer is DELICIOUS. Delicious is a descriptive adjective — it describes food’s taste.

Adjective Question #3

Please select 2 correct answers

Correct!
Wrong!

The answers are HER and LITTLE. Her is a possessive adjective, while little is a quantitative adjective that describes the brother’s size.

Adjective Question #4

Please select 3 correct answers

Correct!
Wrong!

The answers are FIVE, MANY, and FEW. Quantitative adjectives describe the exact or approximate amount of a noun (think quantity).

Adjective Question #5

A. James wears a pair of grey rubber, gloves when he is working.

B. James wears a pair of grey, rubber gloves when he is working.

C. James wears a pair of grey rubber gloves when he is working.

Correct!
Wrong!

The answer is B. Separate the two words in a coordinate adjective with a comma.

Adjective Question #6

Correct!
Wrong!

The answer is FALSE. The comparative form of an adjective usually ends in -er. For example, She is taller than her brother.

Adjectives Quiz Result

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Read More: Adjectives Starting With A

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In English, words are grouped into word classes based on their function in a sentence. There are nine main word classes in English; nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections. This explanation is all about adjectives.

Adjective meaning

An adjective is a word usually used to modify and provide more information about a noun or pronoun. Adjectives are often called ‘describing words’ as they describe a feature or quality of the noun, such as colour, size, quantity etc. Therefore, adjectives can be used to add depth and more meaning to a sentence.

Adjective examples

There are many adjectives in the English language that can be used to tell us more information about a noun.

In the examples below, the adjectives and nouns have been highlighted:

  • A beautiful forest

  • A meaningful gift

  • An old car

  • The baby’s first word

  • A red book

  • A relaxed outfit

  • He was happier than her

  • The tallest boy in the class

  • My car

  • That tree over there

  • American football

The order of adjectives

When we use more than one adjective, there is a certain order we put them in.

Take a look at this sentence:

The blue old big car drove down the lane.

It really doesn’t sound right, does it? This is because adjectives are arranged in a regular order.

Take a look at this corrected sentence:

The big old blue car drove down the lane.

This sentence just ‘feels’ better as the adjectives are placed in a recognisable way.

For native English language speakers, putting adjectives in the correct order tends to come naturally, we can just feel it in our bones. However, for non-native speakers, remembering the order of adjectives can be a tricky process.

When there is a sequence of multiple adjectives, their order can be arranged as follows:

  1. Quantity (‘three bottles of rum’)

  2. Opinion or Observation (‘It’s a lovely shirt’ / ‘It’s a ripped shirt’)

  3. Size (‘It’s a tiny shirt’)

  4. Shape (‘It’s a square shirt’)

  5. Age (‘It’s a new shirt’)

  6. Color (‘It’s a pink shirt’)

  7. Origin (‘It’s an American shirt’)

  8. Material (‘It’s a cotton shirt’)

  9. Purpose (‘It’s a business shirt’)

If we used all of these adjectives in the correct order to describe the shirt, the sentence would look like this, ‘Three, lovely, tiny, square, new, pink, American, cotton business shirts.’

Adjective Order of adjectives StudySmarterFig 1. A big, old, blue car

The positioning of adjectives

Adjectives can be placed in several different positions within a sentence. These positions include:

  • Before a noun (pre-modification)

  • After a noun (post-modification)

  • On its own as a complement

Pre-modification adjectives

Pre-modification is when an adjective is placed before a noun to add information. For example:

  • The red car

  • The ugly man

  • The happy hamster

  • A loud noise

Adjectives that pre-modify a noun are traditionally called attributive adjectives.

It is important to note that pre-modification is a term that can be applied to any information added before a noun. Other word classes pre-modify a noun, for example, determiners (‘the’ dog) and adverbs (the ‘very’ big dog). Whole phrases and clauses may also pre-modify a noun. By adding these different bits of information you create a noun phrase.

Post-modification adjectives

Post-modification is when an adjective is placed after a noun to add information. For example:

  • The car will be red

  • The man was ugly

  • The hamster is happy

  • The noise was loud

These are traditionally called predicative adjectives. The adjective is not used immediately after the noun, instead, it follows an auxiliary verb that links the sentence such as ‘is’, ‘was’, or ‘seems’.

Adjectives as a complement

Adjectives can also be used as a complement to ‘complete the sentence’. This is a form of post-modification however, in this case, the adjective is used with a pronoun rather than a noun. Here are some examples:

  • It will be red

  • He was ugly

  • She is happy

  • It was loud

As you can see, the adjective is used to modify the pronouns (‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’). It describes a quality about the person or thing, however, it does not specifically state what is being described. Complements usually follow the forms of the verb ‘to be’ such as ‘is’, ‘was’, and ‘will be’.

Most adjectives can be used as a pre-modification, post-modification, or a complement. For example:

The adjective ‘happy’ can pre modify a verb (‘the happy hamster’), post-modify a verb (‘the hamster is happy’), or be used as a complement to a pronoun (‘it was happy’).

There are only a few adjectives that are restricted to one position. For example:

The adjective ‘main’ can be used to post-modify a noun (‘the main reason’) but can not be used to pre-modify a noun (‘the reason is main’).

This is the opposite for the adjective ‘alone’ which can be used to post-modify a noun (‘the child is alone’) but can not be used to pre-modify a noun (‘the alone child’).

Adjective Happy hamster example StudySmarterFig 2. A happy hamster

Types of adjectives

There are many different types of adjectives, which are categorised based on the functions they perform in a sentence.

The main adjectives are:

  • Descriptive adjectives

  • Evaluative adjectives

  • Quantitative adjectives

  • Interrogative adjectives

  • Proper adjectives

  • Demonstrative and indefinite adjectives

  • Possessive adjectives

  • Compound adjectives

  • Degree of comparison adjectives (positive, comparative, and superlative).

Descriptive adjectives

Descriptive adjectives, sometimes called qualitative adjectives, are used to describe a feature or quality of a thing, person, or object. They add extra information about a noun or a pronoun. For example, in this sentence ‘the red car’, red is the descriptive adjective as it describes the colour of the car.

Evaluative adjectives

Evaluative adjectives give someone’s opinion about a noun. For example, ‘The exam was difficult‘ or ‘The cake was delicious’. It can’t be proved that the cake was delicious, therefore, it is an opinion (though who doesn’t find cake delicious?).

Quantitative adjectives

Quantitative adjectives provide information on the, you guessed it, quantity of the noun. Generally, quantitative adjectives answer the questions how much? and how many?. E.g. ‘I have three bags’ or ‘It took some time.’

Interrogative adjectives

Interrogative adjectives are words that ask a question. They are whose, which, and what. Interrogative adjectives must come before a noun or pronoun to be considered an adjective. E.g. ‘Whose drink is this?’

Proper adjectives

Proper adjectives are simply proper nouns acting as an adjective in a sentence. A proper noun is a specific or unique noun, such as a country, a famous person, or a brand. When a proper noun is used to describe another noun, e.g. ‘An American shirt’, it is considered a proper adjective. Further examples include Indian food and Nike trainers.

Demonstrative and indefinite adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives modify nouns by showing a direct reference to something or someone, e.g. I like that house.‘ The demonstrative adjectives are; this, that, those, and these. Demonstrative adjectives must go before a noun, otherwise, they are considered demonstrative pronouns.

Indefinite adjectives work in the opposite way to demonstrative adjectives in that they modify the noun in a non-specific way. Indefinite adjectives provide unspecific information about a noun, e.g. ‘ I gave him some work to do.’ Examples of indefinite adjectives are; some, any, many, few, most, and much.

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are used to show that a noun belongs to someone, e.g. his, hers, our, my, their. Possessive adjectives must go before a noun, otherwise, they are considered possessive pronouns. For example, ‘That’s my bike.’

Compound adjectives

A compound adjective is when more than one word is used to describe a noun, and these words are joined together in some way. Usually, compound adjectives are joined with a hyphen or are separated from the rest of the sentence with quotation marks. For example, ‘The ten-foot-high pole.’ and ‘He gave her his best ‘be quiet’ eyes.’

Degrees of comparison

When comparing two or more nouns, adjectives can give further information about the extent of the comparison. We can compare nouns using three types of adjectives, positive, comparative, and superlative.

The initial adjective is the positive degree adjective — it is the basic, unchanged form of the adjective (e.g. fast, slow, big). We then modify the positive degree adjectives to create comparative and superlative adjectives which show a comparison.

Comparative adjectives

A comparative adjective, as the name suggests, compares two or more nouns. This can be:

  • To a lesser degree, for example, smaller or less heavy. These adjectives can be made by adding the suffix ‘-er’ or the word ‘less’.

  • To the same degree, for example, ‘as big as’.

  • To a higher degree, for example, bigger or more powerful. These adjectives can be made by adding the suffix ‘-er’ or the word ‘more’.

Superlative adjectives

This is the highest or lowest possible form of the adjective. For example, ‘highest’, ‘tallest’, ‘most handsome’. Superlative adjectives can often be made by adding the suffix ‘-est‘ or the word ‘most’.

Adjective Comparative adjective Superlative adjective StudySmarterFig 3. Comparative and superlative adjectives

You may also hear the term ‘grading‘, which simply means that an adjective can have more or less of the quality that they refer to. Comparative and superlative adjectives are both examples of grading.

Adjectives with irregular forms

There are some adjectives that, when made into comparative or superlative forms, become irregular. A good example of this is the adjective good. When changed into a comparative adjective good becomes better. When changed into a superlative adjective it becomes best.

Adjective Irregular adjectives comparative adjective superlative adjective StudySmarterFig 4. Irregular comparative and superlative adjectives

Something similar also happens for the word bad.

Initial positive adjective — bad

Comparative adjective — worse

Superlative adjective — worst

Absolute adjectives

Absolute adjectives are qualitative adjectives that can’t be graded, intensified, or compared to anything else. In other words, they are in their ‘ultimate’ form. Some examples of absolute adjectives include:

  • Perfect

  • Empty

  • Infinite

  • Supreme

A thing can not be more ‘perfect’ or ‘more infinite’ than another. Therefore it is in its absolute form.

  • British

  • Northern

  • Annual

  • Rural

It is not possible to have a ‘more annual fair’ and it is not grammatically correct to say ‘more northern’. That is because each of these adjectives describes a group or category.

Adjective phrases

An adjective phrase is a simple phrase (group of words) that is headed by an adjective. The adjective phrase acts as the adjective in a sentence.

These flowers are more beautiful than the others.

In this example, the adjective phrase is ‘more beautiful than the others’. The main adjective is beautiful; however, the whole phrase is needed to fully describe the flowers.

Adjectives and suffixes

Some words exist independently as adjectives and do not exist in any other word class, for example:

  • Good
  • Bad
  • Ugly

Other adjectives are formed from nouns by adding a suffix, for example:

  • home → homeless
  • hope → hopeful

Adjectives may also be formed from verbs by adding a suffix, for example:

read → readable

create → creative

The suffix at the end of a word can often indicate the class that a word belongs to.

Here is a list of suffixes that are common for adjectives:

Suffix Examples
-ible, -able Gullible, comfortable
-ful Beautiful, skilful
-y Funny, dirty, sunny
-less Powerless, homeless
-ous Dangerous, nervous
-some Tiresome, wholesome
-ive Sensitive, supportive
-ish Foolish, selfish
-al Social, accidental

Adjective — key takeaways

  • An adjective is a word usually used to provide more information about a noun. Adjectives are often called ‘describing words’ as they describe a feature or quality of the noun such as color, size, quantity, etc.
  • An adjective can be placed either before a noun (pre-modification), after a noun (post-modification), or on its own as a complement.
  • The main adjectives are:

    • Descriptive adjectives

    • Evaluative adjectives

    • Quantitative adjectives

    • Interrogative adjectives

    • Proper adjectives

    • Demonstrative and indefinite adjectives

    • Possessive adjectives

    • Compound adjectives

    • Degree of comparison adjectives (positive, comparative, and superlative).

  • An adjective phrase is a phrase built around the adjective that acts as the adjective in a sentence. For example, ‘This flower is nicer than the others’.
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