Parts of Speech: Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to describe a noun or pronoun.

Modification Process

The way an adjective changes a noun is called modification. An adjective adds information to a noun by answering one of four questions: What kind? Which one? How many? How much?

Examples of each:

What kind: large house, purple flower

Which one: that animal, those people

How many: frequent flyers, ten children

How much: more fun, sufficient work

Compound Adjectives

Just like nouns, adjectives can be compound as well. Any adjective made up of more than one word is a compound adjective. Compound adjectives can be single words or hyphenated. For example:

The underpaid employees were angry.

The red-cheeked girl was blushing with embarrassment.

There is no rule that determines if a compound adjective will be combined or hyphenated, however only one way is correct spelling. When in doubt, consult a dictionary.

Proper Adjectives

Just like nouns, an adjective can be proper as well. Any adjective that is derived from a proper noun is a proper adjective. For example:

Slavic people, Victorian house

Take note that like their proper noun counterparts, proper adjectives must also be capitalized.

Predicative Adjectives

An adjective that follows a linking verb and tells something about the subject is known as a predicative adjective. For example:

The picture on the wall was gorgeous.

In this sentence, the linking verb joins the subject, picture, with the adjective, gorgeous.

Nouns, Pronouns and Verbs in Adjective Form

In addition to the conventional adjectives, nouns may also be used as adjectives. For example:

I drink apple juice.

I’ll go to Italy on my summer break.

While apple and summer are typically nouns, they act as adjectives in these sentences.

Pronouns can also act as adjectives. There are four types of pronoun adjectives: possessive, demonstrative, interrogative and indefinite.

Possessive Adjectives

Seven pronouns function as possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our and their. They all answer the adjective question “which one?”. For example:

Our weekend was wonderful.

Our is a pronoun with the antecedent weekend, but also modifies the noun weekend making it an adjective as well.

Demonstrative Adjectives

A pronoun that directs attention to a specific noun or noun phrase is known as a demonstrative pronoun. There are four demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these and those. Each of these words can also be used as an adjective. For example:

Pronoun: I will buy this.

Adjective: I will buy this couch.

In the second sentence, the word this modifies couch, making this an adjective in this instance.

Interrogative Adjectives

A pronoun that begins a question is known as an interrogative pronoun. The pronouns which, what and those can also be used as adjectives when they modify a noun. For example:

Pronoun: What looks new?

Adjective: What car looks new?

In the second sentence, the word what modifies car, making what an adjective in this instance.

Indefinite Adjectives

A pronoun that does not refer to a specific antecedent, excluding interrogative pronouns, is known as an indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns can also act as adjectives when they modify a noun. For example:

Pronoun: He wants another.

Adjective: He wants another slice of cake.

In the second sentence, the word another modifies the noun slice, making another an adjective in this instance.

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