Adjective – Types with Examples

Adjective

1. It describes or modifies nouns and pronouns in a speech.
2. It discusses quality, duration, size, shape, contents, feelings, etc.
3. It gives crucial details about the nouns/pronouns; it modifies/describes by answering various questions. g., what type? How much? How many? Which one?

Examples:

1. The team has a skilled (What kind?)
2. Mark has thirteen candles in his room. (How many?)
3. June hated that blue frock. (Which one?)
4. Jessica earns more money than her husband. (How much?)

Types of Adjectives

Descriptive Adjectives

1. It describes pronouns and nouns.
2. This category has most of the adjectives.
3. They offer details and attributes to the pronouns/nouns they describe or modify.
4. They are also known by the term ‘qualitative adjectives.

Examples:

1. I have a slow  (The word ‘slow’ describes an attribute of the car.)
2. Susan is  (The word ‘hungry’ offers details about the subject.)
3. I saw a flying
4. The hungry puppies are howling.

Quantitative Adjectives

1. It gives details about the quantity of the pronouns/nouns.
2. It belongs to the question category of ‘how many’ and ‘how much.’

Examples:

1. Julia ate the whole (How much)
2. Celia has 35 dollars in my purse. (How much)
3. John and Agatha have two (How many)

Proper Adjectives

1. It is the adjective form of proper nouns.
2. Proper nouns describe or modify other nouns/pronouns to become appropriate adjectives.
3. Using a proper adjective, we can summarize a concept in just one word without going on to explain it a.
4. ‘a food cooked in Mexican recipe’ à ‘Mexican food.
5. A style from America à American style
6. They are usually capitalized as proper nouns.

Examples:

1. Japanese gadgets are very efficient.
2. Chinese people are hard workers.
3. Who likes KFC burgers here?
4. Marxist activists are protesting.

Demonstrative Adjectives

1. It directly indicates someone or something.
2. These words are this, that, these, those.
3. It works alone. It does not come before a noun. However, it always precedes the word it modifies.

Examples:

1. That yacht is luxurious. (‘That’ indicates a singular noun far from the speaker)
2. This bottle is mine. (Here, ‘This’ indicates a singular noun close to the speaker)
3. These birds are adorable. (Here, ‘These’ indicates a plural noun close to the speaker)
4. Those dishes are hellish. (Here, ‘Those’ indicates a plural noun far from the speaker)

Possessive Adjectives

1. It refers to ownership or possession.
2. It refers to/suggests the belongingness of someone/something.
3. Common possessive adjectives: our, my, his, her, your, their, whose
4. They precede a noun.
5. The difference between possessive and possessive pronouns is that the form requires a noun after them, while the former doesn’t.

Examples:

1. My car is parked outside.
2. His car is red.
3. Our task here is almost done.
4. Her recipes are always amazing.
5. Whose car is this?

Interrogative Adjectives

1. It is about asking questions, and a pronoun/noun must follow it.
2. They are: which, what, whose. 
3. They will not be regarded as adjectives if the noun does not follow immediately after them.

Examples:

1. Which laptop do you have?
2. What instrument does Ryan love to play?
3. Whose car is this?

Indefinite Adjectives

1. It modifies/describes a noun un-specifically.
2. It gives unspecific/indefinite details about the noun.
3. g., few, most, all, many, much, every, either, any, each, several, nobody, some, etc.

Examples:

1. Dorian got some chocolate for the child.
2. Let Uncle Bob have a few moments alone.
3. Several writers wrote about recent incidents.
4. Each student will have to submit homework tomorrow.

Articles

1. They can also modify nouns.
2. They determine the specification of nouns.
3. ‘A’ and ‘an refer to unspecific nouns, and ‘the’ refers to a specific noun.

Examples:

1. A cat is always afraid of water. (Here, the noun ‘cat’ refers to any cat, not specific.)
2. The parrot is not afraid of me. (This parrot is a specific parrot.)
3. An electronic appliance can be dangerous for toddlers.

Compound Adjectives

1. We get compound adjectives when compound nouns/combined words modify other nouns.
2. They usually combine more than one word into a single lexical unit and modify/describe a noun.
3. Compound adjectives are often separated by a hyphen or connected with a quotation mark.

Examples:

1. Karen has a broken-down
2. They saw a six-foot-tall bear.
3. Sandra gave Josh an “I am going to kill you now.” 

The Degree of Adjectives

1. The three degrees of adjectives are Positive, comparative, and superlative.

Examples:

1. Positive degree: Janet is a good
2. Comparative degree: Janet is better than any other student in her school.
3. Superlative: Janet is the best student.