Grammar in Use

Semester 1
ENGL1122
 Kinds of Adjectives
On the basis of their meaning adjectives are identified as
belonging to one of the following subclasses:

1. Adjectives of quality

2. Adjectives of quantity

3. Demonstrative adjectives

4. Distributive adjectives

5. Interrogative adjectives

6. Possessive adjectives
7. Emphasizing Adjectives
(Thomson & Martinet, 1986)
 Adjectives of Quality
Qualitative adjectives refer to the qualities of people, places or
things.
e.g. New York is a large city.

Qualitative adjectives are subdivided into classifying

adjectives and colour adjectives.

Classifying adjectives identify the particular group or

subgroup the referent of the noun belongs to.

Colour adjectives refer to the colour of something.

(Sriraman & Prakasan, 1995)

He is an intelligent student. (Classifying)

It seems that he is in some financial problems. (Classifying)

He bought a red car. (Colour)

They painted their house white. (Colour)

(Sriraman & Prakasan, 1995)

Colour adjectives can be used as nouns too.

Red is a beautiful colour. (noun)

The following are the main colour words in English:

Black, blue, brown, cream, grey, orange, purple, red, scarlet,

violet, white , yellow, and saffron.

Colour adjectives can be further modified by words like

light, pale, dark, deep or bright.

e.g. Abdullah has light brown hair.

I like that dark blue shirt.

(Sriraman & Prakasan, 1995)

We can also modify colour terms by using the ‘-ish’
suffix .

e.g. bluish, reddish, whitish . Yellowish, greenish,

brownish etc.

We can also combine colors.

e.g. Blue-green, greeny- blue, greenish- white,

greeny- yellow , yellowish-green, bluish-green etc.

Some colours may become classifying.

e.g. He is a green activist. (Classifying)

(Sriraman & Prakasan, 1995)

 Adjectives of Quanitity

Adjectives of quantity show how much of a thing is

meant.

e.g. some, any, no ,little/few, many, much ,enough, one,

twenty, first , etc.

One, two, three, etc. are called cardinals.

First, second, third, etc. are called ordinals.

(Thomson & Martinet, 1986)

 Demonstrative Adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives point out which person or thing
is meant.

e.g. this, that, these, those , such

This man is my neighbor.

These people are my neighbours.

That boy is in my class.

Those girls are my classmates.

I have never heard such a thing

(Thomson & Martinet, 1986)
 Distributive Adjectives
Distributive adjectives refer to each one of a number.

e.g. each, every, either, neither

Neither means 'not one and not the other'. It takes an

affirmative singular verb.

e.g. I tried both keys but neither (of them) worked.

Either means 'any one of two'. It takes a singular verb.

e.g. Either of these books is written by Shakespeare.

(Thomson & Martinet, 1986)
 Interrogative Adjectives

When used with nouns What, which and whose are called
interrogative adjectives.

e.g. Whose house is this?

What jobs are in demand now?

Which book is yours?

(Thomson & Martinet, 1986)

 Possessive Adjectives
When used with nouns, my, your, his, her, its, our, your
and there are called possessive adjectives.

one's is the possessive adjective of the pronoun one.

e.g. A tree drops its leaves in autumn.

A happy dog wags its tail.

Mine, ours, yours, theirs, his/hers are possessive pronouns.

e.g. This book is mine. (possessive pronoun)

(Thomson & Martinet, 1986)
 Emphasizing Adjectives
Emphasizing adjectives are used to show strong feelings
or attitudes.

e.g. He always comes out with absolute nonsense.

His philosophy ensures pure bliss.

She made a complete fool of herself.

He returned it the very day he had borrowed it.

We can’t suggest outright surrender to blackmail, can we?

(Sriraman & Prakasan, 1995)
 Sequencing of Adjectives
When we repeat two qualifying adjectives in a noun
phrase, we use a comma or ‘and’.

e.g. She is an intelligent, sober housekeeper.

There is a preferred order if we have more than one adjective

in a noun phrase. The table below indicates that order.
Article Expressing size age colour defining noun
feeling

a, an, the handsome tall Old Green Omani mat

beautiful little young white medical Horse
smart doctor

(Verma & Nagarajan, 2008)

 Some Rare Occurrences of Adjectives
a) After an article but without a noun

e.g. The rich should help the poor.

The strong should protect the week.

The adjectives function as the head of the noun phrases in

these cases.

b) After a noun in a noun phrase

The dean asked the teachers present to express their views.

(Verma & Nagarajan, 2008)
The students were directed to contact teacher concerned.

The concerned teacher advised her students to prepare well

for the exam.

The teacher concerned means the teacher who was in

charge.

The concerned teacher means the teacher who is anxious

or worried.

(Verma & Nagarajan, 2008)

The following are some other adjectives used after
nouns.

He is the chief justice designate.

She is the councilor elect.

He is laziness incarnate.

This road is ten feet wide.

She is always twenty years old.

He is six feet tall.

(Verma & Nagarajan, 2008)

References

Sriraman, T., & Prakasam , V. (1995).Modern English grammar and

usage. Central Institute of English and Foreign languages.

Thomson, A.J., & Martinet, A.V. (1986). A practical English grammar.

Oxford University Press.

Verma, S. & Nagarajan, H. (2008). An interactive grammar of modern

English. Frank Bros & co.