THE ADJECTIVE

•ad•jec•tive (ædʒɪktɪv)

ON n.1. a member of a class of words functioning as modifiers of nouns,

TI
NI

typically by describing, delimiting, or specifying quantity, as nice in

FI
DE

nice day, other in other people, or all in all dogs, and in many

languages distinguished by formal characteristics, as often in English by the

ability to be used in comparative and superlative forms.

•An adjective is therefore a word added to a noun to describe it so that we

know more about the noun.

The meaning of •ADJECTIVES
adjectives describe the qualities of people,
things, and abstractions:
a heavy box, he is guilty,
the situation is serious.
Many adjectives express the degree or
level of the quality, they are gradable.
That is, they can be compared and
modified:
heavier (than), very heavy,
extremely serious.
´Adjectives do not have any typical form; however,
derivational suffixes commonly associated with
adjectives include: The form of
–al (mental, special),
-able/-ible (commendable, possible),
adjectives
ar (particular, popular),
ful/less (hopeful, hopeless),
-ic (scientific, basic),
-ive (attractive, expensive),
-ous (dangerous,
L delicious), and
–y (pretty, dirty).
L

Adjectives also have two inflectional morphemes:

the–er of the comparative (larger) and the –est
(largest) of the superlative.

.
 OTHER FORMS OF
ADJECTIVES
Adjectives which end in '-ed'
the damaged goods
the escaped prisoners
improved version

Adjectives which end in '-ing',

an interesting film, an amazing player,
an annoying habit. Note: A few adjectives ending in
–ed have a special pronunciation:
the last syllable is pronounced
/id/ instead of /d/ or /t/
aged, beloved, cursed, naked,
. blessed, learned, wicked,
and others.
SYNTAX
OF ADJECTIVES 2.- predicative position
There are two basic positions for (after be and other
adjectives in a sentence. linking verbs- seem,
appear, feel, look, turn
,become ,etc)
1.-attributive position (before a noun):
The clowns are funny
the funny clowns ; a perfect match
the weather turned cold
EXCEPTIONS

•While most attributive adjectives can also occur as predicative

adjectives after the noun, there are a number of specific adjectives
which can only occur before the noun they modify.
Some of these are: main, former, mere.
•The main idea is at the beginning of the paragraph.(correct)
•The idea at the beginning of the paragraph is main.(incorrect)
 F R O M OTHER
M S D E R IVED
•TER
GES
LANGUA aureate,
n e r a l , p o e tl While attributive adjectives are
ge
.secretary- i n c e s s r oyal
e n e ral, p r generally found before the noun they
atto r n e y g
UNS modify, especially in simple
T E P R O N O
D E F I N I sentences, there are also many cases
AFTER IN s a lm o s t a l w a ys
e ad j e c t i v e in which they are placed
A t t r i b u t i v
t h e y m o d ify
i t i v e l y w h en
p e a r p o s t pos e o n e, immediately after the noun. When
ap s u ch a s s o m
p ro n o u n s , this happens,they are called
in d e f i n i t e
, a n y o n e , e tc
y o n e , n o b ody h e j ob postpositive or postnominal
an p e rfe c t f o r t
d so m e b o d y adjectives. This often occurs in the
I c o u l d f i n
I wish
following cases:

T T R I B U T I V E
R L A T I VE A u s e d
U P E e i s
AFTER S s u p e r l a t i v e adje c t i v
E S : W h e n a
ADJECTI V a n u s e o t h er
y b e f o r e a noun,we c o n f or
attributiv e l s itive p o s i t i
in a p o s t p o
e a d j e c t i v e s
attributiv
emphasis.
t h o t e l p o s s i ble.
bes
Let’s find the
s t s i n g e r p r e sent
She’s the wor
 D I N G I N -
C T I V E S E N
D J E
SOME A
able/-ible b l e .
im e a v a i l a Attributive adjectives placed
.It’s the only t b le.
o n i m a g i n a immediately after the noun:
pti
It's the only o
postpositive or postnominal
S S I O N S O F
F T E R E X P RE adjectives (cont)
A s a r e o f t e n
E N T : N ou n
MEASUR E M a nd
ith n u m b e r s
b i n a t i o n w
used in com u r e m e n t s of
o g i v e m ea s
adjective s t
p t h , a g e , e tc
height, de ve feet tall.
y e a r o l d . She’s fi
He’s only o n e

M O D I F I E S T H E
E N T H E A D J E C T IVE
WH je c t iv e
E R B : W h e n a n a d
OB J E C T O F a V
a v e r b , it is k n o w n
s t h e d ir e c t o b je ct of
m o d if ie la c e it in the
p le m e n t, a n d w e p
as an o b j e c t c o m
o s t p o s it iv e p o s it io n .
p
e p a in te d th e w a ll yellow
W
He makes her happy
 Adjectives perform three grammatical
functions within sentences in the English
GRAMMATICAL language
FUNCTIONS OF
Noun phrase modifier
ADJECTIVES Subject complement
Object complemen

Noun phrase modifiers

Subject complements are Object complements are words,
are words, phrases, and words, phrases, and clauses phrases, and clauses that directly
clauses that directly that follow a linking verb follow and describe a direct object.
describe a noun and describe the subject of
The jury found the defendant guilty
The irritating woman a clause.
OBJ
just crashed her car Your grandmother is sweet
PR O PE R

COMPOUND

DEMONSTRATIVE
OTHER
TYPES OF
POSSESSIVE
ADJECTIVES
INTERROGATIVE

NOMINAL

COLLECTIVE
ADJECTIVE ORDER IN THE NOUN PHRASE
(BEFORE NOUNS):
OPINION
DESCRIPTION
CLASSIFICATION

OPINION
subjective or evaluative adjective
Order of
DESCRIPTION Attributive
size age shape colour origin material
Adjectives
CLASSIFICATION
purpose
 ORDER OF ADJECTIVES IN A
ORDER OF ADJECTIVES IN A
SENTENCE (VINCE, SWAN,
SENTENCE (1)
EASTWOOD) (2)
Opinion (good, bad, strange, lovely)
Measurement (big, small, tiny, huge) Opinion (nice, wonderful , terrible, awful)
Shape (curved, straight, round, square) Size ( large, small, short)
Condition (wet, dry, clean, sad, happy) Quality (clear , busy, important, quiet)
Age (old, young, new, ancient) Age (old, new)
Color (red, yellowish, transparent, blue) Shape (round, square, wide, narrow)
Pattern (checked, striped, plaid, flowered) Temperature (hot, cold)
Origin (American, British, eastern, western) Colour (red, white, blue)
Material (wooden, plastic, steel, cloth) Participle form (covered, furnished broken, missing)
Origin (British,American)
Purpose (sleeping, shopping, work, gardening)
Material (brick, paper, plastic)
Type ( human, chemical, electronic, domestic)
Purpose ( alarm (clock) tennis (court) walking (boots)
 ADJECTIVE OR ADVERB?
I overslept a
n c h . nd so I was
r l y f o r l u late.
a l i ttl e e a (Adjective)
We a r e I overslept a
v e ) h a d t i m end so I got
(Adjecti e a r l y so w e s t i l l
(Adverb)
up late.
e a r r i v e d )
W . ( A d v e r b
r e l u n c h
befo
You are a fast driver these days.
(Adjective) Redes Sociales
You drive fast these days. (Adverb)

Ofertas en Tienda
 t i v e o r Both adjectives and determiners provide more
A d j e c information about nouns. However, whereas
m i n e r ?
d e t e r adjectives describe qualities or attributes of
nouns regardless of the speaker, determiners
r s , oer hand,
n t h e o t h express the references or positions of nouns
•Determin e to
u n w i t h r e s p e c t considering the speaker.
po s i t i o n t h e n o x t .
a s p e e c h c o n t e
a k e r w i t h i n For example, the adjective purple in the noun
the spe o n s t r a t i v e
a m p l e , t h e d e m phrase purple sweater describes the color of
Fo r e x t h e n o u n
r t h a t p o s iti o n s the clothing.
determ i n e
s w e a t e r i n t h e
phrase purple r p l e s w e a t e r
c e I l i k e t h a t pu
senten m m e a s t h e
y s i c a l l y f a r f r o
as p h
speaker.