Adjectives Definition
Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They make a noun more specific and describe a noun’s size, color, shape, or other characteristics. For example, the adjective “big” describe nouns such as a house, an animal, or a person. In this article, you will learn all about adjectives and types of adjectives.
Some adjectives are positive (e.g. beautiful, good, kind) while others are negative (e.g. ugly, bad, Cruel). There is a wide range of adjectives, so it is important to be able to use them correctly.
Examples of Adjectives
- happy
She was happy to see her friends.
The town was happy to have the parade.
The party was happy to have him as the guest of honor.
- sad
He was sad to hear the news.
She was sad to see the house being torn down.
The party was sad to have to end early.
- angry
She was angry when she got home and found that her house was burglarized.
The protesters were angry when the police refused to intervene.
The wedding was angry and chaotic.
Adjectives Used to Describe a Person:
- Intelligent
- Skilled
- Talented
- handsome
- gorgeous
Adjectives Used to Describe things:
- chunky
- adorable
- clean
- bent
- rough
Types of Adjectives
Each adjective describes a different type of thing. For example, the adjective “happy” describes someone who is happy, whereas the adjective “sad” describes someone who is sad. The adjective “big” describes something that is large, whereas the adjective “small” describes something that is small.
There are 10 types of adjectives in the English language: Descriptive, Possessive, Demonstrative, Comparative, Superlative, Coordinate, Numbers, Indefinite, Attributive, and Interrogative.
Descriptive Adjectives
One of the most important aspects of writing is describing your characters and their surroundings in a way that will keep your readers intrigued. In order to do this, you need to use descriptive adjectives.
Descriptive adjectives describe a noun or a thing in general. They typically describe the noun in terms of its color, size, shape, or other observable characteristics. Some examples of descriptive adjectives are big, small, old, and new.
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives are adjectives that show ownership or control over something. They describe people, things, or both. for instance, my car is big. This means that the speaker owns a car that is large. Another example is John’s book is old. This means that John owns or is in control of a book that is old.
Some examples of possessive adjectives are my, your, hers, ours, its, and their.
Here are some examples of how to use possessive adjectives:
- John’s computer is broken.
- The dog’s toys are scattered all over the room.
- The teacher’s desk is cluttered with textbooks.
Demonstrative Adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives are words that show how much one thing differs from another. They describe things that are nearby or close to the speaker. There are many different demonstrative adjectives, and they can be very confusing to use.
One common use of demonstrative adjectives is to distinguish between two people. For example, a speaker might say “That is your father,” to indicate that the person to the speaker’s left is the father. Another use of demonstrative adjectives is to distinguish between things that are similar. For example, a speaker might say “That is a flower,” to indicate that the flower in front of the speaker is similar to the flower that the speaker has in their hand.
Here are some examples of demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, those.
- These books belong to that
- This is a pen.
- This movie is my favorite.
Comparative Adjectives
Comparative adjectives show a comparison between two nouns or things. They typically compare the size, color, or other observable characteristics of the two things. Some examples of comparative adjectives are bigger, smaller, older, and newer.
When comparing two things that are different, the comparative adjective will always be the word “less”. When comparing two things that are identical, the comparative adjective will be the word “more”.
Here are a few examples of how to use comparative adjectives:
The flowers are more beautiful than the
Superlative Adjectives
Superlative adjectives are adjectives that describe something in an extremely positive way. They often describe things that are extraordinary or impressive. for instance, amazing, incredible, fantastic, and terrific
Some common superlative adjectives are:
- Amazing
- Great
- Best
- Super
- Incredible
- Unbelievable
- Extraordinary
- Outstanding
- Phenomenal
Superlative Adjectives and Comparative Adjectives
Superlative adjectives are words that describe something in a very positive way. They describe things that are especially good or impressive.
Examples of superlative adjectives are magnificent, splendid, and incomparable. These adjectives all describe something as being very impressive or good.
Another type of superlative adjective is the comparative adjective. Comparative adjectives compare two things and identify which one is better. Some examples of comparative adjectives are less impressive, less glorious, and less magnificent. When you use a superlative adjective, it is important to be specific about what you are describing.
Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are adjectives that describe two things that are positioned together in space or time. For instance, “The flowers are in the vase.” This sentence means that the flowers are located in the vase, and they are positioned together in space. In the sentence, “The students are noisy.” the students are acting noisy together, and they are related in some way.
When describing a location or object, Coordinate adjectives are used to describe it in either objects or locations. For example, “The house is in the middle of the block.”
Numbers Adjectives
Numbers adjectives are adjectives that describe numbers. There are a few different types of numbers adjectives, and each one has its special meaning.
- Ordinal numbers describe the order of something. For example, “first,” “second,” and “third” are ordinal numbers.
- Cardinal numbers describe the quantity of something. For example, “a few,” “a lot,” and “a million” are cardinal numbers.
- Interval numbers describe the distance between two points. For example, “a quarter,” “halfway,” and “three-fourths” are interval numbers.
Indefinite Adjectives
Indefinite adjectives are adjectives that do not have a specific, definite form. They are usually used to describe things that are not clearly defined or that are continuing.
Examples of indefinite adjectives are “undetermined,” “unclear,” “ambiguous,” and “unfinished.”
There are a few types of indefinite adjectives. One type is when an adjective is not defined but is still used to describe someone or something. For example, “She is beautiful.” This means that there is no specific person that is beautiful, but it is generally agreed that all women are beautiful.
Another type of indefinite adjective is when a word is not actually an adjective but is used as one. For example, “He is tall.” This means that the person is tall, but the word “tall” can also be used to describe something else, like a building.
Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives are adjectives that describe a noun by saying something about the noun itself. For example, the attributive adjective big describes the noun big dog as being large. There are a few different types of attributive adjectives, and they all have different meanings. Here are a few examples:
- biggest
- smallest
- oldest
- most
- perfect
Interrogative Adjectives
When we ask a question, we use interrogative adjectives. interrogative adjectives are words that show how we are asking a question.
Some interrogative adjectives are who, what, where, when, why, and how.
- Who are you talking to?
- What are you doing?
- Where are you going?