Category Archives: Adjective

Adjective

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 ** Adjective:

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. It “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).

*Classification of Adjective…

# 1. Adjective of Quality:             Good, Bad, Ugly, Weak…

# 2. Adjective of Quantity:          Much, Little, Whole, All…

# 3. Adjective of Number:            Many, Three, Single, Triple…

# 4. Pronominal Adjective:

  • a) Demonstrative Adjective: This man, That man, Those frogs, These things…

Demonstrative adjectives are used to demonstrate or indicate specific things.

                      This, that, these and those are all demonstrative adjectives..

-Pronoun……..This is a pen.

-Adjective…….This pen is good.

  • b) Distributive Adjective:

-Pronoun……Each of them went there.

……Either of the two boys is talent.

-Adjective…..Each boy was present

……There are trees on either bank of the river.

  • c) Interrogative Adjective:

-Pronoun…..What is your name.

…..What do you want.

-Adjective…..what color do you like most.

……Which man is your uncle.

  • d)Possessive Adjective:

Possessive adjectives are used to show possession. They are my, your, his,

                                 her, its, our and their. (They are a type of possessive pronoun.)

-Pronoun……Mine, Ours, His, Yours, Hers, Theirs.

-Adjective….My cousin, Our leader, His beg, Its jaws.

….This is my pen.

….We love our dog.

  • e) Relative Adjective:

-Pronoun…….This is the book.

…….Which you gave me.

-Adjective…….He gave me what book I wanted.

  • THE ARTICLES

The words a, an, and the are known as articles. They are classified as adjectives. A and an are called the indefinite articles because they are used to indicate non-specific people or things. The is called the definite article because it does indicate a specific person or thing.

…..A cup (i.e., any cup)

…..The cup (i.e., a specific cup)

  • INDEFINITE ADJECTIVES

Unlike demonstrative adjectives, which indicate specific items, indefinite adjectives do not point out specific things. They are formed from indefinite pronouns. The most common indefinite adjectives are no, any, many, few and several.

  • The chief has heard many people make the same promise.

(The indefinite adjective many modifies the noun people.)

  • According to a council spokesman, there are no wallabies left in Derbyshire. However, over the past few months, many walkers have reported seeing several adults with young.

(The indefinite adjectives in this example are no, few, many and several.)

NUMBERS

Numbers are classified as adjectives too

  • Four dolphins stayed with the boat until dawn.

(The adjective four modifies the noun dolphins.)

  • All we could muster was 9 cans of beans.

(The adjective 9 modifies the noun cans.)

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