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.

Examples
1. Since it’s a hot day, Lisa is wearing a sleeveless.
2. The mountaintops are covered in sparkling.
3. On her birthday, Brenda received an antique vase filled with fragrant.

Types of adjectives

 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.

Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.
Let’s go on an adventure.

 Possessive adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession.
Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.

My Your His Her Its Our Their

 Demostrative 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 box.

This movie is my favorite.
Please put those cookies on the blue plate.
Tell him to go that way.

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 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.

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.

 Number 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
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 years.
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.

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 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 etc.
Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general ages.
Examples are old, young, new, five-year-old etc.
Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like –
they’re adjectives that indicate color. Examples include pink, yellow, blue, etc.
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 etc.
Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more
specific; examples include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.
Adjective exercises
1. We visited the museum, where we saw ____________ artifacts.
a) A lot of b) Ancient c) John’s d) A room filled with

2. I received ______________ awards at the ceremony today.

The manager’s Two Information about Motivation at the

3. Please get me a bag of ____________ apples.

Interesting Ripe red Oranges and Real

4. The president sat in a _______________ chair.

Important Barber’s Funny Leather

5. ________________ weather is the norm in San Francisco.

Blue Big Foggy The best
1. A – We visited the museum, where we saw ancient artifacts.
2. B – I received two awards at the ceremony today.
3. B – Please get me a bag of ripe red apples.
4. D – The president sat in a leather chair.
5. C – Foggy weather is the norm in San Francisco.

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 Comparing adjectives
As well as serving as modifying words like beautiful and big, adjectives are also
used for indicating the position on a scale of comparison. The lowest point on the
scale is known as the absolute form, the middle point is known as the
comparative form, and the highest point is known as the superlative form.
Here are some examples:

Absolute Comparative Superlative

This book This book is longer than that This is the longest book.
is long. book.
The airport The airport is farther than the This is the farthest airport.
is far. train station.
My mom is My mom is a better cook than My mom is the best cook.
a good cook. your mom.

The comparative form

When two objects or persons are being compared, the comparative form of the
adjective is used. The comparative adjective can be formed in two ways:

1. Adding –er to the absolute form of the adjective.

2. Adding the word more before the adjective.

 My essay is longer than yours.

 She is more beautiful than her sister.

Forming and Exceptions

Words ending with ‘e‘, add ‘r‘ to the end of the word (e.g., lame → lamer).
Words with one vowel and one consonant at the end,
double the consonant and add –er to the end of the word (e.g., big → bigger).
Words with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end,
add –er to the end of the word (e.g., hard → harder).

Words of two syllables ending with ‘y‘

Change ‘y‘ to ‘i‘, and add –er to the end of the word.
This doll is prettier.

The Superlatives form

The superlative is used to say what thing or person has the most of a particular
quality within a group or of its kind. The superlative can be formed in two ways:
1. Adding –est to the absolute form of the adjective.
2. Adding the word most before the adjective.
 This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.
 The biggest table in the room.

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Forming and Exceptions
Words ending with ‘e‘, add ‘st‘ to the end of the word (e.g., large → largest).
Words with one vowel and one consonant at the end,
double the consonant and add –est to the end of the word (e.g., big → biggest).
Words with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end,
add –est to the end of the word (e.g., blue → bluest).

Words of two syllables ending with ‘y‘.

Change ‘y‘ to ‘i‘, and add –est to the end of the word.
This doll is the prettiest.

Words of two syllables not ending with ‘y‘.

Insert most before the adjective.
He is the most charming boy at school.

Positive form
The positive form is used in cases where there are no differences between the two
compared things or persons. To form the positive, we use the word as before and
after the absolute form of the adjective.

1. Danny is as smart as Phillip.

2. She is as beautiful as her older sister.
In a negative context to indicate that the compared objects are not similar:
1. Danny is not as smart as Phillip.
2. She is not as beautiful as her older sister.

Exceptions (irregular forms)

Certain adjectives have irregular forms in the comparative and superlative
degrees:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
Good Better Best
Bad Worse Worst
Little Less Least
Much, many, some More Most

Examples of comparing adjectives

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.

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 Compound adjectives
A compound adjective is formed when two or more adjectives are joined together
to modify the same noun. These terms should be hyphenated to avoid confusion
or ambiguity.

Diana submitted a 6-page document.

She adopted a two-year-old cat.

Compound adjectives – Exceptions

Note that combining an adverb and an adjective does not create a compound
adjective. No hyphen is required because it is already clear that the adverb
modifies the adjective rather than the subsequent noun.

It was a terribly hot day.

It is an amazingly good idea.
In addition, you should not place a hyphen in a compound adjective if the
adjectives are capitalized, such as when they are part of a title.

Examples of compound adjectives

This is a four-foot table.

Daniella is a part-time worker.
This is an all-too-common error.
Beware of the green-eyed monster.
He is a cold-blooded man.
I love this brightly-lit room!
Danny’s dog is well-behaved.
You have to be open-minded about things.

Compound adjective exercises

From each group, choose the sentence that contains a compound adjective:

Sheila was horribly moody.

We’d like you to be part of the decision-making process.
The company showed steady improvement in their stock trades.

This is a widely used procedure for finishing wood floors.

Moths ate his woolen socks.
That was really generous of you.

Sharon’s adopted son is five years old today.

My new car has leather upholstery.
She was a well-known actress by the time she reached age five.

Answers: IS IN COLOR WHITE B, A, C

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Using hyphens in compound adjectives: Which sentences are correct?
The group was full of rowdy 10 year old schoolboys.
The group was full of rowdy 10-year-old schoolboys.

The actress is well known.

The actress is well-known.

They enjoyed a three-year profit streak.

They enjoyed a three-year-profit streak.

Answers:B, A, A

Using –ly adverbs in compound adjectives: Which sentences are correct?

Along the river, rapidly increasing floodwaters caused evacuations.

Along the river, rapidly-increasing floodwaters caused evacuations.

My neighbor Jim is an internationally recognized author.

My neighbor Jim is an internationally-recognized author.

The bank robbers tried to hatch their ill conceived plan and failed.
The bank robbers tried to hatch their ill-conceived plan and failed.

Answers:A, A, B

Choose the correct compound adjective for each sentence.

1. He is fond of ______________________ Scotch.
good 12-year-old 10 year old

2. The weather has been ___________________ lately.

terribly-cold terribly cold too cold

3. Babysitting these kids is like trying to manage a _____________.

three ring circus three-ring-circus three-ring circus

Answers: A – 12-year-old B – terribly cold C – three-ring circus

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List of adjective
early important New high
able few large next public
bad First Last old right
big Good little other same
different great Long own small

Appearance adjectives
drab handsome plain unsightly
adorable elegant long quaint wide-eyed
beautiful fancy magnificent sparkling
clean glamorous old-fashioned ugliest

Color adjectives
yellow blue gray white
orange green purple black Red

Condition adjectives
alive dead helpful odd tender
better easy important powerful uninterested
careful famous inexpensive rich vast
clever gifted mushy shy wrong

Personality adjectives – Positive

agreeable eager jolly obedient thankful
brave faithful kind proud victorious
calm gentle lively relieved witty
delightful happy nice silly zealous
Personality adjectives – Negative
angry embarrassed itchy nervous scary
bewildered fierce jealous obnoxious thoughtless
clumsy grumpy lazy panicky uptight
defeated helpless mysterious repulsive worried

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Shape adjectives
crooked high round steep
curved hollow shallow straight
broad deep low skinny wide
chubby flat narrow square

Size adjectives
Big great little petite small
colossal huge mammoth puny tall
fat immense massive scrawny teeny
gigantic large miniature short teeny-tiny

Sound adjectives
cooing deafening melodic raspy whispering
faint noisy screeching
hissing purring thundering
loud quiet voiceless

Time adjectives

ancient fast modern quick slow

brief late old rapid swift
early long old- short young
fashioned

Taste / Touch adjectives

bitter juicy melted rotten sweet weak
delicious hot nutritious salty tart wet
fresh icy prickly sticky tasteless wooden
greasy loose rainy strong uneven yummy

Quantity adjectives
abundant few heavy many sparse
empty full light numerous substantial

Touch adjectives
boiling chilly crooked damp filthy hot
breeze cold cuddly dirty flaky warm
broken cool curly dry fluffy wet
bumpy creepy damaged dusty freezing

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