Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
What are Adjectives?
Adjectives are the words that describe the quality or quantity of nouns, their characteristics, type, colour, amount etc. Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns and their forms. They do not describe verbs, adverbs or other elements used in a sentence.
Examples-
- My mother cooks delicious and authentic Indian food.
- Harry lives in a luxurious apartment across Main Street.
- Jenny looked beautiful in her new dress.
- The boys in my neighbourhood are naughty.
Here, the adjectives used are delicious, authentic, luxurious, beautiful and naughty. All of these words describe the nouns in the sentences.
What are the degrees of Adjectives?
Adjectives have two degrees –
- Comparative Adjectives
- Superlative Adjectives
Comparative Adjectives
Adjectives are used to make comparisons between two persons or things. They even show a change in certain situations.
Examples-
- The patient is feeling better now after the surgery.
- My relatives are looking for a bigger house outside the town.
- The child seems happier after he gets a new toy from his parents.
Here, comparative adjectives used are- better, bigger and happier.
Note– We sometimes use ‘than’ to make comparisons between different things.
Examples-
- Jane is two years older than her brother.
- A watermelon is bigger than a lemon.
- Ripe mangoes are sweeter than raw mangoes.
Superlative Adjectives
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of quality. Superlative adjectives usually end with ‘est.’
Examples-
- I saw the tallest building in the city yesterday.
- This is the best picture taken by the photographer.
- Joanie is the youngest daughter in her family.
Here, superlative adjectives are- tallest, best and youngest.
Intensifiers with Adjectives
We use intensifiers with adjectives to exhibit the intensity of the adjective used. They describe a quality increasing in strength or degree.
Examples-
- Andrew was narrating a very interesting story to his friends.
- The kids became really excited to see the surprise gifts.
- Shane passed on an absolutely awful remark about her colleague.
Here, we have intensifiers used as- very, really and absolutely that describe the intensity of adjectives used, which are interesting, excited, and awful.
Intensifiers with comparatives and superlatives
Intensifiers can also be used with comparatives and superlatives.
Examples-
- Robert is much younger than Andy.
- India is a lot bigger country than Sri Lanka.
- This black camera is by far the most expensive camera I have ever had.
- The house is quite a lot calmer when the kids are not around.
Here, intensifiers used are- much, a lot, by far, quite a lot are used with adjectives- younger, bigger, expensive and calmer.
What are the types of adjectives?
Following are the different types of adjectives.
Demonstrative Adjectives
These modify a noun or a pronoun, while stressing its importance.
Examples-
- These are my books kept inside the cupboard.
- This is my friend’s notepad.
- Those people are creating chaos outside the house.
Here, these, those, this are the demonstrative adjectives.
Adjective of Number
These are used to indicate the numeric value of a noun in a sentence.
Examples-
- The red velvet cake was decorated with six candles.
- He ordered a pack of five chocolates for his sister.
- This sweet dish requires two litres of condensed milk.
Here, six, five, two are Adjectives of Number.
Indefinite Adjectives
As the name suggests, these are used to describe nouns in a non-specific manner.
Examples-
- Do you have some money with you?
- We do not have any jam left in the kitchen.
- Add a few drops of lemon and salt into the water and mix it well.
Here, some, any, few- are Indefinite Adjectives.
Common examples for Adjectives
Adjectives can be used to describe many elements like sound, colour, taste, touch, etc. Let us discuss all of these.
Adjectives for Taste
These are used to describe taste, flavours of food items. Some of the adjectives are-
Spicy | Salty |
Yummy | Delicious |
Tangy | Minty |
Sweet | Tasty |
Examples-
- The oranges I bought yesterday were very tangy.
- The chef prepared delicious Thai cuisine at the restaurant.
- James does not like to eat spicy food, as he feels sick after eating it.
Adjectives for Touch
These are used to describe the feel or touch of something or someone. Some of the touch adjectives are-
Greasy | Hot |
Cool | Dry |
Soft | Silky |
Wet | Uneven |
Examples-
- The child loves his teddy bear a lot because it is soft.
- That chicken was extremely dry.
- The road’s surface became uneven after the heavy rainfall.
Adjectives for Sound
These are used to describe the sounds that a person hears. Some of the adjectives used are-
Melodic | Loud |
Quiet | Silent |
Husky | Screeching |
Thundering | Whispering |
Examples-
- The nightingale has a melodic voice.
- The door made a screeching sound.
- The children were whispering about a secret plan.
Adjectives for Colour
These are used to talk about the colour of a noun or a pronoun. Some of the adjectives used are-
Dull | Rosy |
Bright | Gold |
Multi-coloured | Pinkish |
Dark | Silver |
Examples-
- This dress is available in a dull shade of blue.
- The clown looked adorable in his multi-coloured attire at the circus.
- Some people do not like to wear dark coloured clothes.
Adjectives for Size
These are used to describe the size of a noun or a pronoun. Some of the adjectives used are-
Fat | Chubby |
Small | Tall |
Jumbo | Huge |
Tiny | Massive |
Examples-
- I was amazed to see many tall buildings in Dubai.
- The chubby girl looked cute in her pink dress.
- The children got a small aquarium with tiny fishes in it.
Adjectives for Shape
These are used to describe shape of a person or a thing. Some of the adjectives used are-
Circular | Cylindrical |
Flat | Hollow |
Oval | Round |
Steep | Wide |
Examples-
- I stored vanilla muffins in a cylindrical shaped container.
- Jeremy used a big box to keep her expensive jewellery.
- The mirror is oval shaped with beautiful white stones around it.
Adjectives for Time
These are used to describe the time or duration. Some of the adjectives used are-
Daily | Irregular |
Early | Annual |
Historical | Modern |
Old fashioned | Regular |
Examples-
- We should read newspapers on a daily basis.
- That building in New Delhi looked historical.
- The manager expects all the employees to submit the report on an annual basis.
Adjectives for Personality
These are used to describe the personality of people, animals etc. Some of the adjectives used are-
Diligent | Weird |
Jaunty | Vivacious |
Erratic | Breathless |
Exuberant | Gabby |
Examples-
- That strange man near the church looked very weird.
- She is diligent in her work.
- He looks breathless after a jog in the park.
Practice Exercise
Fill in the blanks using Adjectives. For reference, words are given in parenthesis ().
Identify the adjectives with their types used in the following sentences.
- The Mughals built that building.
- Sarah had three boxes of coconut cookies.
- We visited several stores looking for a particular black dress.
- These pencils kept in the box belong to Andrew.
- A cricket team consists of eleven players.
- I purchased few oranges from the market.
- This is my favourite play by Shakespeare.
- There is no sugar left in the jar.
- My friend has three cars.
- She made many walnut cookies for the party.
- That- demonstrative adjectives
- Three- adjective of number
- Several- indefinite adjectives
- These- demonstrative adjectives
- Eleven- adjective of number
- Few- indefinite adjectives
- This- demonstrative adjectives
- No- indefinite adjectives
- Three- adjective of number
- Many- indefinite adjectives
Rewrite the following sentences (that are incorrect) using correct forms of adjectives.
- Foxes are considered very stupid.
- The teacher scolded the chubby kids who were doing mischief.
- I had to clean my room because it was very neat.
- He is a wealth man.
- My father got some juice mangoes from the market today.
- We need to wear warm clothes when the weather is hot.
- The rainbow looks colourless.
- The new silver locket belongs to my grandmother.
- They did not pay the fees as they had enough money.
- The guests enjoyed the tasteless meal.
- Foxes are considered very clever.
- The teacher scolded the naughty kids who were doing mischief.
- I had to clean my room because it was very dirty.
- He is a wealthy man.
- My father got some juicy mangoes from the market today.
- We need to wear warm clothes when the weather is cold.
- The rainbow seems colourful.
- The old silver locket belongs to my grandmother.
- They did not pay the fees as they had less money.
- The guests enjoyed the tasty meal.
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