Exploring the World of Adjectives: Types, Usage, and Examples

What are Parts of Speech?

Parts of speech determine words’ grammatical and semantic position in a sentence.

Activity time

The parts of speech are nouns, adverbs, conjunctions, pronouns, interjections, adjectives, articles, prepositions, and verbs.

Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words in the following sentences.

1. The white horse galloped along the street. 

White- Adjective

• In the big box, put your belongings.

Big- Adjective

• Hurrah! The exciting finish of the football match went our way.

   Exciting- Adjectives

• Gemmy has a new position.

New- Adjective

Wow! A wise, entertaining, and fascinating answer.

All the words are adjectives in the activity.

You have rightly said “adjectives,” right?

You have done a good job.

Let’s explore more about adjectives, including their sorts, definitions, and meanings.

What is Meant by an Adjective?

A word used to add something to the meaning of a noun or pronoun in a sentence

Examples:

• They reside in a lovely home.
• She got dressed in a beautiful gown.
• He composes pointless letters.
• Jenny is an adorable baby.
• This glass can be broken.

Comparison of Adjectives – Degrees of Comparison

There are three forms of comparisons of adjectives, namely:

• Positive Degree
• Comparative Degree
• Superlative Degree

Positive Degree of Comparison:

This form of an adjective only states the quality and not the comparison.

Example

This book is fascinating.

Comparative Degree

It is used when two or more subjects or groups are compared.

Example

The novel Sara read yesterday was more interesting than the one she read today.

Superlative degree

The superlative degree indicates that something has more of a quality than anything else in a group.

Example

This fantasy novel is the most exciting book I have ever read.

Types of Adjectives 

Based on their function, adjectives can be divided into the following categories:

1. Possessive Adjectives
2. Interrogative Adjectives
3. Demonstrative Adjectives
4. Compound Adjectives

1. Possessive Adjectives

Example, by his, her, their, its, whose, etc.

Example

1. The outcome for your child is fantastic.
2. Our car was left in the open space.
3. Their dance school is lovely.

2. Interrogative Adjectives

Example

1. What stories do you enjoy reading?
2. Which Park do you go to for a walk in the morning?
3. Whose organization is this?

3. Demonstrative Adjectives

Example

1. That student’s house looks fantastic.
2. What is the composition of these jeans?

4.Compound Adjectives

Compound adjectives combine two or more adjectives to form adjectives that can modify the subject. Some examples of compound adjectives are terribly hot, curly hair, woolen socks, calm down, etc.

Example

1. Daniella works part-time.
2. The green-eyed monster should be avoided.
3. He has ice-cold blood.
4. It would be best to approach things with an open mind.

How Do You Use Adjectives in Sentences?

Adjectives are known to make your writing and speech look very flashy. This provides visual enjoyment for readers and listeners and makes it explanatory.

This will help you understand the content better. Knott knows that using adjectives is a skill to master.

All text must be clear and precise. Find out whether there are words that mean what you are trying to convey. For example, quick, hurried, and fast are all adjectives with the same meaning, i.e., very fast. Likewise, satisfaction, cheerfulness, joy, enthusiasm, and delight are all words that describe happiness levels.

There is another concept you should know about adjectives.

When two or more adjectives are used in a sentence to describe the same subject or object, there is a particular order in which the adjectives must be placed. See the adjective order for details.

Examples of Adjectives

In the above example, the adjective is ‘kind’ and is used to describe the subject ‘Michael,’ and is called a subject complement.

Here, the adjective ‘sleepy’ describes the object ‘Aiden’ and comes under the thing complements category.

Example

1. Adjectives as Complements

• Michael is a kind person.

In the above example, the adjective is ‘kind’ and is used to describe the subject ‘Michael,’ and is called a subject complement.

• The movie made Aiden sleepy.

Here, the adjective ‘sleepy’ describes the object ‘Aiden’ and comes under the thing complements category.

2. Adjectives as Coordinates

Example

• Cell phones are easy to use and handy.
• My brother is tall and thin.

3. Multifunctional adjective

Adjectives do or can serve as nouns in a sentence, and sometimes they can act as adjectives when a noun describes or provides additional information about another noun. For example:

• I like my Civics tutor. 

In the example above, the word “Civics” is usually considered a noun because it denotes a subject and is a proper noun. However, here it is used to describe the noun “tutor” and thus becomes an adjective. 

• We must care for the poor and oppressed.

In this sentence, the words “poor” and “oppressed” are passed as nouns because they refer to “poor people” and “oppressed people.” So, when an adjective comes before an article, it often denotes a category of people, making the adjective a noun.