Adjectives

Shortcut and Usage of Adjectives in English Grammar

What Is an Adjective?

The simplest definition of an adjective is that it is a word that describes or clarifies a noun. Adjectives describe nouns by giving some information about an object’s size, shape, age, color, origin or material.
Examples: Black book, Lazy boy
      
An adjective can be used in two ways:
(1) Attributively : She is good teacher (Adjective is before noun)
(2) Predicatively : Bimala is intelligent. (Adjective is immediately after verb)

Types of adjectives:
1. Adjectives of Quality  ( answer the question : Of what kind?) : Delhi is a large city, He is an honest man
2. Adjectives of Quantity  ( answer the question : how much?) :I ate some rice, you have no sense
3. Adjectives of Number  ( answer the question : how many?) : The hand has five fingers, All men must die

Adjectives of number are of three kinds:

• a. Definite numeral adjectives: One, two , three  etc.  These are called cardinals.  First, second, third etc  these are called ordinals
• b. Indefinite numeral adjectives :  Which do not denote an exact number.  Eg:  all, no, many , few, any, certain, several, sundry
• c. Distributive numeral adjectives:  Which refer to each one of a number.  Eg: Each, every, Neither, Either.

Examples:
1. Each boy must take his turn
2. India expects every man to do his duty
3. Either pen will do
4. Neither accusation is true

D. Demonstrative Adjective: (answers the questions Which?)
Examples:
 1. This boy is stronger than gopal
 2. That boy is diligent
 3. These mangoes are sour
 4. I hate such things

E. Interrogative adjectives :   used to ask questions when there are used with nouns
Examples:
 1. what manner of man is he?
 2. which way shall we go?
 3. whose book is this?

F. Emphasizing adjectives:  the words own and very act as emphasizing adjectives
Examples:
 1. I saw it with my own eyes
 2. I met him in this very room

G. Exclamatory adjectives: What is sometimes used as an exclamatory adjectives
Examples:
 1. what an Idea!
 2. What a blessing!

What Do Adjectives Look Like?

English can be very tricky, so you have to be careful, but a lot of English adjectives end with these suffixes:

• -able/-ible – adorable, invisible, responsible, uncomfortable
• -al – educational, gradual, illegal, nocturnal, viral
• -an – American, Mexican, urban
• -ar – cellular, popular, spectacular, vulgar
• -ent – intelligent, potent, silent, violent
• -ful – harmful, powerful, tasteful, thoughtful
• -ic/-ical – athletic, energetic, magical, scientific
• -ine – bovine, canine, equine, feminine, masculine
• -ile – agile, docile, fertile, virile
• -ive – informative, native, talkative
• -less – careless, endless, homeless, timeless
• -ous – cautious, dangerous, enormous, malodorous
• -some – awesome, handsome, lonesome, wholesome