Question

Choose the adjective/adjectives in the following sentence, and identify which class each belongs to:
Every dog has his day.
a- Every- Distributive numeral adjective
b- His- Adjective of quality
c- Every- Indefinite numeral adjective; his- Adjective of quality
d- Every- Definite numeral adjective; his- Adjective of quality

Answer 1

Hint: Adjectives are those words that help in modifying or describing nouns. ‘Numeral adjectives’ are used to identify the number of nouns.

Complete step by step answer:
As given in the hint, there are three types of numeral adjectives-
Definite numeral adjectives- They include ordinal and cardinal numbers. For example- I have decided to buy two cars.
Indefinite numeral adjectives- They do not indicate the specific value of nouns. For example- I will eat a few pieces of chips.
Distributive numeral adjectives- They are used to specify a singular number of nouns out of many. For example- Each child will sing a song.
In the given question: ‘Every’ is a distributive numeral adjective because it is followed by a singular verb, ‘has’ and singular noun, ‘dog’.
Let’s look at the given options-
Option a- ‘Every- Distributive numeral adjective’ is the correct option because ‘every’ is followed by a singular noun and verb.
Option b- ‘His- Adjective of quality’ is an incorrect option because ‘his’ is not an adjective but a pronoun.
Option c- ‘Every- Indefinite numeral adjective; his- Adjective of quality’ is an incorrect option because ‘every’ is not an indefinite adjective and ‘his’ is a pronoun.
Option d- ‘Every- Definite numeral adjective; his- Adjective of quality’ is an incorrect option because ‘his’ is a pronoun.
So, the correct answer is “Option a”.

Note:
 Keep in mind, a singular noun and verb always follow a distributive numeral adjective. For example- I have asked each girl to cook. Here, ‘each’ and ‘cook’ are singular verb and noun.