razy, intelligent, fun, interesting! Does it sound like you or someone you know?

Do you know what

these words mean or what part of speech they belong to? Did you say ‘adjectives’? You guessed it
right. Let us learn more about adjectives, its meaning, definition and types. Check out the examples
and see how they can be used in sentences effectively.

Table of Contents
 What Is an Adjective?

 Definition of an Adjective
 Forms of Adjectives
 Types of Adjectives
 How to Use Adjectives in Sentences?
 Examples of Adjectives
 Check Your Knowledge of Adjectives
 Frequently Asked Questions on Adjectives in English

What Is an Adjective?
An adjective is a part of speech that can be used to describe or provide more information about
a noun or pronoun that acts as the subject in a sentence. Adjectives are found after the verb or
before the noun it modifies.

Definition of an Adjective
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an adjective is defined as “a word that describes a noun or
pronoun.” The Collins Dictionary gives a more elaborate definition. According to it, “an adjective is a
word such as ‘big’, ‘ dead’, or ‘ financial’ that describes a person or thing, or gives extra information
about them. Adjectives usually come before nouns or after link verbs.”

The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines an adjective as “a word that describes a person or thing, for
example ‘big’, ‘red’ and ‘clever’ in a big house, red wine  and a clever idea.” An adjective is “a word
belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a
modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to
specify a thing as distinct from something else”, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Forms of Adjectives – Degrees of Comparison

Did you know that adjectives can be used to compare similar qualities of different subjects that
perform the same action. There are three forms of adjectives or rather three degrees of comparison.
The are:

 Positive or Absolute Form

 Comparative Form
 Superlative Form
Positive Degree of Comparison:
The positive form or the positive degree of comparison is the form of the adjective used in the
original form. For example: This book is interesting. This form of adjective is used when there is no
other subject to be compared.

Comparative Degree of Comparison

The comparative form of the adjective is used when two subjects performing the same action or
possessing the same quality are compared. For example: The book I read yesterday was more
interesting than the one I read today.

Superlative Degree of Comparison

The superlative degree of comparison is used when comparing the same quality of two or more
subjects and to represent that a subject is superior to two or more subjects in performing an action.
For example: This fantasy novel is the most interesting book that I have ever read.

Types of Adjectives
Adjectives can be divided into different categories based on their functions when used in a
sentence. The different types of adjectives are:

 Possessive Adjectives
 Interrogative Adjectives
 Demonstrative Adjectives
 Compound Adjectives

Possessive Adjectives:
These adjectives, like possessive pronouns, are used to show or represent possession of a quality.
For example: my, your, his, her, their, its, whose, etc.

Interrogative Adjectives:
An adjective that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun by asking a question is called an
interrogative adjective. There are only a few adjectives that can be termed as interrogative
adjectives. They are whose, what and which.

Demonstrative Adjectives:
Demonstrative adjectives are mainly used to describe the position of a subject (a noun or pronoun)
in space or time. This, that, these and those are the demonstrative adjectives in English.

Compound Adjectives:
Compound adjectives consist of two or more adjectives that are combined together to form an
adjective that can be used to modify the subject. Some examples of compound adjectives are
cotton-tailed, curly-haired, absent-minded, happy-go-lucky, etc.

How to Use Adjectives in Sentences?

Adjectives are known to give your writing and speech a very flowery look. It aids in making it
descriptive and also in giving your readers and listeners a visual treat. However, stuffing it with too
many adjectives can make it look or sound vague and unclear. This would only lead to
misunderstanding of your content. Knowing when, where and how to use adjectives is a skill that you
should master.

Any piece of writing should be clear and precise. Find out if there is a word that specifically means
whatever you are trying to convey. For example: quick, swift, hasty, fleet, etc. are all adjectives that
mean ‘very fast’. Likewise, contented, cheerful, merry, joyful, ecstatic, delighted, etc. are all words
that describe different degrees of happiness. There is also another concept that you should know.
There is a particular order in which you should place adjectives when you are using two or more
adjectives to describe the same subject or object. Check out the order of adjectives to learn more.

Examples of Adjectives
If you are wondering what part of speech a colour or a number belongs to, do not waste any more
time thinking about it. All colours and numbers are classified as adjectives. Adjectives are words
that modify nouns but in most cases, they can be seen to be doing much more than that. Given
below are the various ways in which adjectives can function and be used.

Adjectives as Complements
Adjectives can act as complements that modify nouns that act as subjects and objects. When the
adjective describes the object in a sentence, it is called an object complement and when it is used to
describe the subject in a sentence, it is referred to as a subject complement. They are seen to be
used in sentences which are seen to use the following patterns:

 SVC – Aaron is good.

In the above example, the adjective is ‘good’ and it is used to describe the subject ‘Aaron’ and so it is
called a subject complement.

 SVOC – The movie made Karthik sleepy.

Here, the adjective ‘sleepy’ describes the object ‘Karthik’ and so comes under the category of object
complements.

Adjectives as Coordinates
When two or more adjectives are used to describe the same noun in a sentence, they are called
coordinate adjectives. Coordinate adjectives are often separated by a comma or
the conjunction ‘and’.

For example:

 The mobile phone is easy to use and handy.

 My cousin is tall and thin.
Multifunctional Adjectives
Adjectives can be made to function like or take the role of nouns in a sentence, and sometimes, a
noun, when used to describe or provide more information about another noun, can perform the role
of an adjective.

For example:

 I like my English teacher.

In the above example, the word ‘English’ is generally considered a noun as it represents a language
and it is a proper noun. But here, it is used to describe the noun ‘teacher’ which makes it an
adjective.

 It is our duty to tend to the poor and the oppressed.

In this sentence, the words ‘the poor’ and ‘the oppressed’ pass off as nouns as it refers to ‘poor
people’ and ‘oppressed people’. So, when adjectives are preceded by the article ‘the’, it often refers to
a category of people which makes the adjective a noun.

In addition to these types of adjectives, there are also phrases and clauses which act just like an
adjective. To know what they are and how they work in a sentence, check out the articles
on adjective phrases and adjective clauses.

Check out the adjectives list for an extensive list of adjectives that you can make use of in your daily
communication and work out exercises on adjectives to brush up your knowledge of it.

Also explore: Adjectives for book│Adjectives for boy│Adjectives for children│Adjectives for

dogs│Adjectives for eyes│Adjectives for flower│Adjectives for mother│Adjectives for
music│Adjectives for trees│Difference between adjective of quantity and adjective of number

Check Your Knowledge of Adjectives

Identify the adjectives in the following sentences:

1. I bought a red dress for the wedding.

2. I have eight apples.

3. The food is delicious.

4. My brother is naughty.

5. The movie we watched last night was boring.

6. Pablo Picasso is a fine artist.

7. The weather in Chennai is sultry all round the year.

8. Now is a great time to visit the United States.

9. It was a fabulous drive.

10. The Marina Beach is the longest beach in India.

 

You should have definitely got it all right. Check them out.

1. I bought a red dress for the wedding.

2. I have eight apples.

3. The food is delicious.

4. My brother is naughty.

5. The movie we watched last night was boring.

6. Pablo Picasso is a fine artist.

7. The weather in Chennai is sultry all round the year.

8. Now is a great time to visit the United States.

9. It was a fabulous drive.

10. The Marina Beach is the longest beach in India.

Frequently Asked Questions on Adjectives in English

What is an adjective?
An adjective is a part of speech that can be used to describe or provide more information about the
noun or pronoun that acts as the subject in a sentence. Adjectives are found after the verb or before
the noun it modifies.

What is the definition of an adjective?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an adjective is defined as “a word that describes a noun or
pronoun.” The Collins Dictionary gives a more elaborate definition. According to them, “an adjective
is a word such as ‘ big’, ‘ dead’, or ‘ financial’ that describes a person or thing, or gives extra
information about them. Adjectives usually come before nouns or after link verbs.”
The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines an adjective as “a word that describes a person or thing, for
example ‘big’, ‘red’ and ‘clever’ in a big house, red wine and a clever idea.” An adjective is “a word
belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages, and typically serving as a
modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to
specify a thing as distinct from something else”, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

What are the forms of adjectives?

There are three forms of adjectives in English grammar. They are also called the degrees of
comparison. The three forms of adjectives are:

 The Positive or Absolute Form

 The Comparative Form
  The Superlative Form

What are the types of adjectives?

Adjectives can be divided into different categories based on their functions when used in a
sentence. The different types of adjectives are:

 Possessive Adjectives
 Interrogative Adjectives
 Demonstrative Adjectives
 Compound Adjectives

Give some examples of adjectives.

Happy, depressed, hardworking, successful, skilled, sloppy, green, tampered, dilapidated, fixed,
healthy, etc. are some examples of adjectives.

ENGLISH Related Links

Pronoun Noun

Learn English Speech Topics

Verb Teachers Day Speech

Adverb Abstract Noun

What Is A Noun Verb Forms

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