Adjectives: Definitions, Types, Examples, and Usage

What is Adjective? - Adjective Definition and Examples

A word that modifies a noun or a pronoun is called an adjective. Adjectives, such as huge, doglike, funny, yellow, fun, and quick, describe the properties or states of being of nouns. Many, few, millions, eleven, and so on are examples of adjectives that can be used to describe the number of nouns. The term hilarious, for example, is used to describe something that makes people laugh. An adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. We use adjectives to say what a noun is like or seems like. For example, adjectives can give us information about:

• Quality: a pleasant day

• Size: a small room

• Age: a young man

• Temperature: a hot day

• Shape: a square table

• Colour: a black cat

Adjective Examples

Here are some 10 examples of adjectives in sentences:

1. "The blue sky is clear today."

• "Blue" describes the noun "sky."

2. "The sky is blue today."

• "Blue" follows the linking verb "is" and describes "sky."

3. "She is smarter than her brother."

• "Smarter" compares "she" to "her brother."

4. "He is the smartest student in the class."

• "Smartest" indicates the highest degree among students.

5. "It was a long, tiring journey."

• "Long" and "tiring" equally describe "journey."

6. "My neighbor, the friendly lady, helped me."

• "Friendly" provides additional information about "lady."

7. "She wore a well-tailored suit."

• "Well-tailored" is a compound adjective describing "suit."

8. "The broken vase was on the floor."

• "Broken" describes the state of the noun "vase."

9. "The loud music kept me awake all night."

• "Loud" describes the noun "music."

10. "They adopted a playful puppy from the shelter."

• "Playful" describes the noun "puppy."

Uses of Adjectives

Adjectives tell the reader how much — or how many — of whatever you're talking about, what you'd like passed to you, or what kind of things you'd like. We use adjectives to give your nouns a little attitude or to communicate clearly.

Example- Please make the arrangement using three white flowers.

Types of Adjectives

Some of the main types of adjectives are:

1. Attributive Adjectives.

2. Predicative Adjectives.

3. Comparative Adjectives.

4. Superlative Adjectives.

5. Coordinate Adjectives.

6. Appositive Adjectives.

7. Compound Adjectives.

8. Participial Adjectives

Here’s a detailed explanation of each type of adjective along with examples:

1. Attributive Adjectives

• Definition: Attributive adjectives are used to directly describe a noun and are placed before it. They provide specific information about the noun they modify, giving more detail about its qualities or characteristics.

• Explanation: These adjectives specify or highlight a particular feature of the noun.

• Examples:

• "The blue sky" (The adjective "blue" describes the color of the sky.)

• She wore a beautiful dress" (The adjective "beautiful" describes the dress.)

2. Predicative Adjectives

• Definition: Predicative adjectives come after a linking verb (such as “is,” “seems,” “becomes”) and describe the subject of the sentence. They are used to provide information about the subject's state or condition.

• Explanation: These adjectives are linked to the noun they describe through a verb.

• Examples:

• "The sky is blue." (The adjective "blue" describes the sky's color after the linking verb "is.")

• "The dress looks beautiful." (The adjective "beautiful" describes the dress's appearance after the linking verb "looks.")

3. Comparative Adjectives

• Definition: Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between two nouns. They often end in “-er” or use "more" before the adjective to indicate a higher degree of a quality in one noun compared to another.

• Explanation: These adjectives help express how one thing differs from another in terms of a particular quality.

• Examples:

• "She is taller than her brother." (The adjective "taller" compares the height of the speaker and her brother.)

• "This book is more interesting than the other one." (The adjective "more interesting" compares the books.)

4. Superlative Adjectives

• Definition: Superlative adjectives describe the highest degree of a quality among three or more nouns. They often end in “-est” or use "most" before the adjective to show that something has the extreme degree of a particular quality.

• Explanation: Superlative adjectives indicate that one noun has the greatest extent of a quality among a group.

• Examples:

• "This is the tallest building in the city." (The adjective "tallest" indicates the building has the greatest height.)

• "She is the most talented artist in the competition." (The adjective "most talented" shows she has the greatest talent.)

5. Coordinate Adjectives

• Definition: Coordinate adjectives are two or more adjectives that work together to modify the same noun. They are typically separated by commas or the word "and."

• Explanation: These adjectives describe different attributes of the same noun and are equally important in describing it.

• Examples:

• "It was a long, exhausting day." (The adjectives "long" and "exhausting" both describe the day.)

• "She wore a bright, cheerful outfit." (The adjectives "bright" and "cheerful" both describe the outfit.)

6. Appositive Adjectives

• Definition: Appositive adjectives follow a noun and provide additional information or clarification about it. They are often set off by commas.

• Explanation: These adjectives give extra detail about a noun to specify or elaborate on it.

• Examples:

• "My friend, the skilled musician, played beautifully." (The adjective "skilled" gives more detail about "my friend.")

• "The car, a vintage model, was parked outside." (The adjective "vintage" describes the car.)

7. Compound Adjectives

• Definition: Compound adjectives are formed by combining two or more words, often hyphenated, to create a single descriptive term for a noun.

• Explanation: These adjectives describe nouns in a more detailed or specific manner.

• Examples:

• "She wore a well-crafted dress." (The compound adjective "well-crafted" describes the quality of the dress.)

• "He lives in a high-rise apartment." (The compound adjective "high-rise" describes the type of apartment.)

8. Participial Adjectives

• Definition: Participial adjectives are derived from verbs and typically end in “-ing” or “-ed.” They describe the state or quality of a noun by showing an action or process related to it.

• Explanation: These adjectives provide information about a noun by indicating a state resulting from an action.

• Examples:

• "The movie was exciting." (The adjective "exciting" is derived from the verb "excite" and describes the movie.)

• "The tired traveler rested in the hotel." (The adjective "tired" is derived from the verb "tire" and describes the traveler.)

Adjective Chart

Here is a chart summarising the different types of adjectives:

This chart provides an overview of each type of adjective, along with definitions and examples to illustrate their use.

Degrees of Comparison

Absolute, comparative, and superlative adjectives are the three types of adjectives.

• Absolute Adjective – Absolute adjectives are adjectives that describe something in and of themselves.

• Comparative Adjectives – Unsurprisingly, comparative adjectives make a comparison between two or more items.

• Superlative Adjectives – Superlative adjectives describe something as having the maximum level of a particular trait.

Adjectives – Word Order

The order of the words needs to be maintained when two or more adjectives are used to describe a noun. The position of the adjectives depends on how closely they are related to the noun. There are no hard and fast rules for it but the following guidelines will be of some help.

Please note that general qualities go before particular qualities.

Noun: A noun may be of

1. one word: a table.

2. two words: a dining table.

3. three words: a marble dining table.

Where there are three words, material (marble) precedes purpose or use (dining): a cotton summer dress, etc.

1. Adjective Past Participle: This is usually placed closest to the noun:

• a handmade teak chair.

• a woven shawl.

2. Origin: ‘Nationality’ word indicating origin or an adjective referring to a historical period (e.g. ancient) usually precedes an adjectival past participle:

• an Indian handmade saree.

• a Japanese machine-made cotton dress.

1. Size/Age/Shape/Temperature/Flavour etc.: Size generally precedes age, shape, etc.

• a large new round table

• a huge cold chocolate milkshake

2. Quality (i.e., Subjective Assessment): Adjective expressing our general opinion of the quality of people or things comes first.

• a beautiful public park

• a cheap Indian hotel

3. Modification with ‘great’, ‘big’, and ‘little’: The adjective, big or great generally precedes quality adjectives, while ‘little’ generally comes after:

• a big tall cop

• a nice little shed

• a friendly little man

Correct Use of Adjectives

1. Later, latest: Both denote time. ‘Later’ is opposed to ‘earlier’:

Suresh came to the school later than I.

What is the Latest Information?

2. Latter, last: Both are used for position or order. ‘Latter’ refers to the second of two things, people, or groups that have been mentioned, or the last in a list. ‘Latter’ is opposed to ‘former’:

• Rajesh and his friend play together.

• The former is a football player, the latter is a cricketer.

• ‘Last’ is used for a happening or coming after all other similar things or people. ‘Last’ is opposed to ‘first’:

• He works in the last office in the building.

3. Nearest, next: ‘Nearest’ refers to the distance:

• Which is the nearest pharmacy store?

• ‘Next’ refers to order:

• Whose turn is the next?

• Mr Kumar lives in the next house.

4. Elder, eldest: Both are used for members of the same family. ‘Elder’ is never followed by ‘than’:

• Sujoy is my elder brother.

• Sunita is his eldest daughter.

5. Older, oldest: Both are used for persons and things:

• She is older than I am.

• The tree is older than that.

• Ramu is the oldest villager.

• This is the oldest temple in our village.

6. Farther, further: ‘Farther’ means more distant:

• There is a tea stall at the farther end of the lane.

• ‘Further’ means additional:

• She received no further help.

Solved Exercise

Q1. Put the right adjectives in the following sentences.

a. Did you hear the (latest, last) news?

b. Suresh is not fond of (this, these) kinds of desserts.

c. My friend lives in the (nearest, next) apartment.

d. Who is (more, most) beautiful, the queen or Snow White?

e. Can you please post this without (further, farther) delay?

f. Anne is my (older, elder) sister?

g. The judge accepted the (latter, later) proposal.

Solution

a. Did you hear the latest news?

b. Suresh is not fond of these kinds of desserts.

c. My friend lives in the next apartment.

d. Who is more beautiful, the queen or Snow White?

e. Can you please post this without further delay?

f. Anne is my elder sister.

g. The judge accepted the latter proposal.

Q2. Arrange the adjectives in the correct order before the noun, changing ‘a’ and ‘an’ wherever necessary.

a. A coat (leather, black, dirty) _____________________.

b. A dress (Indian, cotton, green) ______________________.

c. A car (black, small Korean) ________________________.

d. A horse (brown, thin, countryside) _______________________.

e. A room (narrow, dark, dirty) _______________________.

Solution

a. A dirty black leather coat.

b. A green cotton Indian dress.

c. A small black Korean car.

d. A thin brown countryside horse.

e. A dark narrow dirty room.

Q3. Fill in the blanks using one of the options given below each question.

a. The poor man wore a __________ dress.

a) tear b) tore c) torn d) tearing

b. Lata is the _________ of the four sisters.

a) tall b) taller c) tallest d) more taller

c. Raju is _________ than Manav.

a) fast b) faster c) fastest d) more fast

d. I saw _________ flowers in the garden.

a) little b) a little c) many d) much

e. This bed feels ________.

a) soft b) softer c) softest d) softly

Solution

a. The poor man wore a torn dress.

b. Lata is the tallest of the four sisters.

c. Raju is faster than Manav.

d. I saw many flowers in the garden.

e. The bed feels soft.

Check Your Knowledge of Adjectives

Questions:

1. Identify the adjective in the sentence:
   "The small kitten slept on the warm blanket."

2. Fill in the blank with the correct adjective:
   "She wore a __________ dress to the party." (beautiful, beautiful)

3. Choose the correct adjective to complete the sentence:
   "It was the __________ day of the year." (cold, colder)

4. Rewrite the sentence using an adjective:
   "He is a person who is very talented."

5. Identify the type of adjective used in the sentence:
   "The old book was on the dusty shelf."

Answers:

1. Adjective: Small, warm

2. Adjective: Beautiful

3. Adjective: Cold

4. Adjective: Talented

5. Adjective: Old (descriptive), dusty (descriptive)

Takeaway from the Page

• Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns, giving more detail about them.

• They can indicate qualities (e.g., "beautiful"), quantities (e.g., "few"), or specify which one (e.g., "this").

• Adjectives can appear in different forms, such as attributive (before the noun) or predicative (after the linking verb).

• They can be comparative or superlative to show degrees of comparison.

• Understanding adjectives helps in creating more detailed and expressive sentences.