This page helps you to know about the adjective which is one of the main parts of speech and how to use it correctly.

What is an Adjective?

The adjective is one of the parts of speech in English.

Adjectives are used to describe the nouns in a clause.

It gives us information about a person or thing. It is used to tell the quantity and quality of them.

We learned what is an adjective but where and how to use it. Read ahead to know it.

The positioning of Adjectives

Most adjectives are used before nouns or after the verb ‘to be‘. Some adjectives can be used after the verbs such as be, feel, look, seem, become, and grow.

Subject + Verb + Adjcetive + Noun

Example

She is a beautiful girl.

The lion is a brave animal.

John is an intelligent boy.

• We can use more than one adjective before the noun in a clause. We use comma (,) between the adjectives in a clause.

Example: Mr Rochester is a nice, old man.

• We use two adjectives without a noun in a sentence. We use the word ‘and’ between the two adjectives.

Example: Peter looks tired and hungry.

• When we use more than one adjective, we have a general guide to write it in the correct order in a sentence.

Size + Age + Colour + Nationality + Material

Example

• It is a small, green, wooden house.
• I have a new, red pen.
• It is a new Chinese cuisine.

Adjectives ending in -ed and -ing

Adjectives are ending in ‘ed’ and ‘ing’.

Adjectives ending in -ed

We use the adjectives ending in -ed to describe people’s feelings and emotions in a sentence. These adjectives are used to describe temporary emotions.

Example

Ann was very frightened of the ghosts.

Ann is the subject of the sentence who experienced the feeling.

• I am bored of sitting in the room.
• Alex is surprised by the news.
•  I am really tired of waiting.
• Jane was disappointed by the news.
• Students were confused.

Adjectives ending in -ing

Adjectives ending in -ing is used to describe the characteristics of a person, a thing, a situation, or an event. These adjectives are used to talk about a thing, person, or event that makes us have a feeling.

Example

The ghost was very frightening to her.

The ghost is the reason for her to experience the feeling of frightening.

• It was boring.
• She was disappointing Alex.
• The book is very interesting.
• The journey on the bus is very tiring.
• The math problem was confusing.

We have seen how to position the adjectives. Now, let’s learn about its kinds.

Kinds Of Adjectives

In general, there are different kinds of adjectives used in English.

• Demonstrative Adjectives
• Possessive Adjectives
• Interrogative Adjectives
• Descriptive Adjectives
• Quantitative Adjectives
• Distributive Adjectives
• Proper Adjectives
• Indefinite Adjectives
• Articles
• Compound Adjectives

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are used to describe ‘which’ noun or pronoun we are talking about. It helps to express the position of a noun or pronoun. This, that, these and those are the demonstrative adjectives.

Example

This watch is expensive.

That car is mine.

These chairs are broken.

Those birds are migrating from South America.

NOTE: Most of the students used to get confused about demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives.

The main difference between the demonstrative pronoun and the demonstrative adjective is that the demonstrative pronouns such as this, that, these, and those are placed before a verb whereas demonstrative adjectives such as this, that, these, and those always come before nouns.

Example

Demonstrative Pronoun: This is a new pen.

Demonstrative Adjective: This pen is new.

Possessive Adjectives

A possessive adjective is used to indicate the possession or ownership of a noun in a clause. It is used to describe to whom a thing belongs. My, our, your, their, his, her, and its are common possessive adjectives used in English. These adjectives come before a noun in a clause.

Example

• My house is very big.
• It is our puppy.
• I like your pet.
• Their car is expensive.
• It is his pen.
• Her pillow is soft.
• Its leg is injured.

Interrogative Adjectives

Interrogative adjectives are the words used to ask questions and these adjectives are followed by a noun or pronoun. What, which, and whose are the interrogative adjectives used to form questions. These question words must follow by a noun or pronoun or else it will not be considered as an Interrogative adjective. The adjective ‘whose’ also belongs to the possessive adjective type.

Example

• What dress do you want to wear?
• What books does she prefer to read?
• Whose pen is that?
• Whose bike will she bring tomorrow?
• Which book was written by Agatha Christie?
• Which is your pen?

Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives are the words used to describe and modify the noun and the pronoun in a clause. Most of the adjectives we use are descriptive adjectives. Descriptive adjectives are also known as qualitative adjectives. 

Example

• Alexa has a nice shirt.
• She is a beautiful girl.
• He is a clever boy.
• They have a fast car.
• My mother prepares delicious food.

Here is the chart of descriptive adjectives that are used often.

Quantitative Adjectives

Quantitative adjectives are used to indicate the quantity of a noun or pronoun in a clause. These are used to answer the interrogative words such as ‘how many?’ and ‘how much?’.

All, few, many, no, little, some, half, full, none, much, etc are some examples of quantitative adjectives.

Example

• She doesn’t have much time.
• Dani ate the whole cake.
• There are 50 students in our class.
• Alex has 12 dogs in his house.
• He drank some water.

Distributive Adjectives

Distributive adjectives are used to indicate people or things individually among many. These adjectives are always come up with the singular noun and a verb. These adjectives are used to single out one or more people or things. These adjectives are followed by a noun or pronoun when they are modifying.

Each, every, either, neither, any, one, and both are commonly used distributive adjectives.

Proper Adjectives

Proper adjectives are the adjectives formed from a proper noun. When the proper noun describes or modifies the nouns or pronouns in a clause, they become proper adjectives.

A proper adjective is used to tell a concept in just one specific word. Proper adjectives are capitalized as the proper nouns.

Example: Chinese, American, Irish, Congressional, Russian

• KFC burgers are loved by everyone.
• Chinese people are hard workers.
• Dhoni is an Indian cricket player.
• Chinese cuisines are very delicious.
• Japanese cars are good to drive.

Indefinite Adjectives

Indefinite adjectives are formed from indefinite pronouns. Indefinite adjectives are adjectives that modify a noun unspecifically.

Few, many, much, most, all, each, every, either, any, several, some, and nobody are some of the indefinite adjectives which are used commonly.

Example

• Several doctors had a meeting to discuss the virus.
• I want a few seconds to answer the question.
• Many people displaced their native places due to poverty.
• Most of the movies directed by him were welcomed by everyone.
• Dhanya gave some pens to her.

Articles

Though articles are their own parts of speech, they are also known as adjectives. They also modify the nouns. It indicates the specification of nouns. ‘A‘, ‘An‘ and ‘The‘ are the articles in English. ‘A‘ and ‘An‘ are used to refer to unspecific singular nouns and ‘The‘ are used to refer to specific nouns. ‘An’ is used before the word which starts with vowels and ‘A’ is used before the consonants.

Example

• The girl sang well.
• I ate an apple.
• I am fearful of an ‘S’ bend road.
• I got the tickets from my friend.
• She needs a tissue to wipe her face.

Compound Adjectives

Compound adjectives are the adjectives formed by combining two different words or compound nouns. They modify other nouns in a clause. The combined two different words can either be similar in meaning to the words or have a different meaning.

A hyphen is used between the two words that form the compound adjective.

We should not add ‘-s‘ at the end of compound adjectives with numbers.

Example: Jane has built a three-storey building.

                NOT Jane has built three-storeys building.

Example

• The United Kingdom is an English-speaking country.
• It is a large-scale production firm.
• Mac owns a small-business in France.
• The manager was caught red-handed in her office.
• Lucy did a part-time job when she was in college.

The final stage of learning the adjectives completely is to know about their degree. Let’s learn it.

The Degree Of Adjectives

There are three degrees of adjectives. Every adjective has it’s three degrees. They are

• Positive Adjective
• Comparative Adjective
• Superlative Adjective

Positive Adjective

A positive adjective is used to describe or modify the nouns or pronouns in a clause. It is also known as ‘Simple Adjective’.

Example

• This is a beautiful picture.
• Those are gorgeous flowers.
• She is a good girl.
• It is delicious food.
• Alex is a clever boy.

Comparative Adjective

A comparative adjective is used to compare two things in a clause. These adjectives are often followed by the word ‘than’. We use the word ‘more’ and ‘less’ to compare the two nouns in a clause.

Rules to form Comparative Adjective

• We add ‘-er’ with the comparative adjectives which have regular forms and one or two syllables.

Example: fast – faster, tall – taller

• We remove the ‘-y‘ and add ‘-ier‘ for the adjectives ending in ‘-y’.

Example: easy – easier, crazy – crazier

• We use the word ‘more’ and ‘less’ for the adjectives which have more than two syllables.

Example: expensive – more expensive, important – less important

• Some adjectives have irregular forms.

Example: good – better, bad – worse

Example

• John is taller than him.
• Ema is more beautiful than Catherine.
• Elisa is better than George.
• This watch is cheaper than that watch.
• Rex is bigger than yours.

Superlative Adjective

Superlative adjectives are adjectives that are used to compare three or more nouns in a clause. In general, we add ‘-est’ to form superlative adjectives in a clause.  We use the word ‘most’ and ‘least’ to compare three or more nouns in a clause.

There are some rules to know when you use superlative adjectives.

Rules to form Superlative Adjective

• We add ‘-est’ with the one-syllable adjective to form a superlative adjective.

Example: tall – tallest, cheap – cheapest

• We add ‘-st’ with the adjectives that have one or two syllables ending in the silent ‘-e‘.

Example: cute – cutest, rare – rarest

• We remove ‘-y‘ and add ‘-iest’ for the two-syllable adjectives ending in the letter ‘-y‘.

Example: crazy – craziest, funny – funniest

• We use the word ‘most’ and ‘least’ with the adjectives have two or more syllables.

Example: beautiful – most beautiful, powerful – least powerful

• Some adjectives have irregular forms.

Example: bad – worst, good – best

Example

• Shan is the funniest person in our class.
• Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system.
• She is the oldest in our family.
• Alex is the most beautiful person in our office.
• Mark Twain was the most famous writer in the 19th century.

Degrees of Adjectives