ADJECTIVES

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, like 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.
Adjectives making your writing or speaking much more specifik.
Adjectives Modify Nouns
Most students learn that adjectives are words that modify (describe) nouns.
Adjectives do not modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives.
EXAMPLE
1. Margot wore a beautiful hat to the pie-eating contest.
2. Furry dogs may overheat in the summertime.
3. My cake should have sixteen candles.
4. The scariest villain of all time is Darth Vader.
In the sentences above, the adjectives are easy to spot because they come
immediately before the nouns they modify. But adjectives can do more than
just modify nouns. They can also act as a complement to linking verbs or the
verb to be. A linking verb is a verb like to feel, to seem, or to taste that
describes a state of being or a sensory experience.
EXAMPLE
1. That cow sure is happy.
2. It smells gross in the locker room.
3. Driving is faster than walking.
The technical term for an adjective used this way is predicate adjective.
Degrees of Comparison
Adjectives come in three forms: absolute, comparative, and superlative.
Absolute adjectives describe something in its own right.
EXAMPLE
1. A cool guy
2. A messy desk
3. A mischievous cat
4. Garrulous squirrels

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 Comparative adjectives, unsurprisingly, make a comparison between two or
more things. For most one-syllable adjectives, the comparative is formed by
adding the suffix -er (or just -r if the adjective already ends with an e). For two-
syllable adjectives ending in -y, replace -y with -ier. For multi-syllable adjectives,
add the word more.
EXAMPLE
1. A cooler guy
2. A messier desk
3. A more mischievous cat
4. More garrulous squirrels
Superlative adjectives indicate that something has the highest degree of the
quality in question. One-syllable adjectives become superlatives by adding the
suffix -est (or just -st for adjectives that already end in e). Two-syllable adjectives
ending in -y replace -y with -iest. Multi-syllable adjectives add the word most.
When you use an article with a superlative adjective, it will almost always be the
definite article (the) rather than a or an. Using a superlative inherently indicates
that you are talking about a specific item or items.
EXAMPLE
1. The coolest guy
2. The messiest desk
3. The most mischievous cat
4. The most garrulous squirrel

Adjectives vs. Adverbs

As mentioned above, many of us learned in school that adjectives modify
nouns and that adverbs modify verbs. But as we’ve seen, adjectives can also act as
complements for linking verbs. This leads to a common type of error: incorrectly
substituting an adverb in place of a predicate adjective.

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 An example you’ve probably heard before is:
EX : I feel badly about what happened.
Because “feel” is a verb, it seems to call for an adverb rather than an adjective.
But “feel” isn’t just any verb; it’s a linking verb. An adverb would
describe how you perform the action of feeling—an adjective describes what you
feel. “I feel badly” means that you are bad at feeling things. If you’re trying to
read Braille through thick leather gloves, then it might make sense for you to say
“I feel badly.” But if you’re trying to say that you are experiencing negative
emotions, “I feel bad” is the phrase you want.
It’s easier to see this distinction with a different linking verb. Consider the
difference between these two sentences:
EX : Goober smells badly.
Goober smells bad.
“Goober smells badly” means that Goober, the poor thing, has a weak sense of
smell. “Goober smells bad” means Goober stinks—poor us.

When Nouns Become Adjectives and Adjectives Become Nouns

One more thing you should know about adjectives is that, sometimes, a
word that is normally used as a noun can function as an adjective, depending on
its placement. For example:
Never try to pet someone’s guide dog without asking permission first.
Guide is a noun. But in this sentence, it modifies dog. It works the other way, too.
Some words that are normally adjectives can function as nouns:
Candice is working on a fundraiser to help the homeless.
In the context of this sentence, homeless is functioning as a noun. It can be hard to
wrap your head around this if you think of adjectives and nouns only as particular
classes of words. But the terms “adjective” and “noun” aren’t just about a word’s
form—they’re also about its function.

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 KIND OF ADJECTIVES

1. Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives should be separated by a comma or
thword and.Adjectives are said to be coordinate if they modify the same noun
in a sentence.
EXAMPLE
1. This is going to be a long, cold winter.
2. Isobel’s dedicated and tireless efforts made all the difference.
But just the fact that two adjectives appear next to each other doesn’t
automatically mean they are coordinate. Sometimes, an adjective and a noun
form a single semantic unit, which is then modified by another adjective. In this
case, the adjectives are not coordinate and should not be separated by a comma.
EXAMPLE
1. My cat, Goober, loves sleeping on this tattered woolen sweater.
2. No one could open the old silver locket.
In some cases, it’s pretty hard to decide whether two adjectives are
coordinate or not. But there are a couple of ways you can test them. Try
inserting the word and between the adjectives to see if the phrase still seems
natural. In the first sentence, “this tattered and woolen sweater” doesn’t sound
right because you really aren’t talking about a sweater that is both tattered and
woolen. It’s a woolen sweater that is tattered. Woolen sweater forms a unit of
meaning that is modified by tattered.
Another way to test for coordinate adjectives is to try switching the order of
the adjectives and seeing if the phrase still works. In the second sentence, you
wouldn’t say “No one could open the silver old locket.” You can’t reverse the
order of the adjectives because silver locket is a unit that is modified by old.

2. 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.

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3. 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?

a. What time should we go? b. Whose socks are those?

4. 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.
1. Do we have any peanut butter?
2. Grandfather has been retired for many
3. There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
4. I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
5. We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.

5. 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:
1. Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting,
beautiful or cheapest can indicate value or talk about subjective measures.
2. Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities
including specific physical properties. Some examples include small, large,
square, round, poor, wealthy, slow and
3. Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general
ages. Examples are old, young, new, five-year-old, and
4. Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that
indicate color. Examples include pink, yellow, blue, and

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 5. Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person,
place, animal or thing. Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican,
French.
6. Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples
include cotton, gold, wool, and
7. Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns
more specific; examples include log  cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.

6. 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 :

a. Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.

b. Let’s go on an adventure. The  Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!

7. 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.

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8. 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.
a. These  books belong on that. c. This movie is my favorite.
b. Please put those cookies on the blue plate.

ADJECTIVE EXERCISES
QUIZ
I. Find the adjective or adjectives that fit in each of the blanks best.
1. We visited the museum, where we saw ____________ artifacts.
a. A lot of c. John’s
b. Ancient d. A room filled with

2. I received ______________ awards at the ceremony today.

a. The manager’s c. Information about
b. Two d. Motivation at the

3. Please get me a bag of ____________ apples.

a. Interesting c. Oranges and
b. Real d. Ripe red

4. The president sat in a _______________ chair.

a. Important c. Funny
b. Barber’s d. Leather

5. ________________ weather is the norm in San Francisco.

a. Blue c. Foggy
b. The best D. Big

Answer Key:
KARMILA
1. B. ANCIENT
2. B. TWO M. AKBAR
3. D. RIPE RED SHINTA FAUZUL
4. D. LEATHER RISWAN - 191120566
5. C. FOGGY