Category: 3. Adjective

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 boy. Comparative degree: He is better than any other boy. Superlative: He is the best boy.

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…

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 is always afraid of water. (Here, the noun ‘cat’ refers to any cat, not specific.) The cat…

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.

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 car is parked outside. His cat is very cute. Our job is almost…

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 building is so gorgeously decorated. (‘That’ refers to a singular noun far from the speaker) This car is mine.…

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’.…

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) They have three children. (How many) You should have completed the whole task. (How much) Definition of Quantitative Adjective: A word that modifies a noun by indicating a…

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: I have a fast car.…

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:…