USE OF ENGLISH- ADJECTIVES
4- ADJECTIVES: An adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun or a
pronoun. It normally occupy the position before the noun or pronoun it modifies or
the position after a linking verb. The position before the noun is called
ATTRIBUTIVE, while the one after the linking verb is PREDICATIVE.
FORMATION OF ADJECTIVES
Some adjectives ends in suffix while some do not.
A) Suffix adjectives:
-able: remarkable, movable
-less: careless, jobless
-ful: careful, cheerful
-ous: generous, dangerous
-ish: childish, smallish
-y: smelly, flowery
-ish: british, Spanish
-ese: Japanese, Chinese
B) Adjectives that do not take suffix: examples-hot, bad, beautiful, fast, slow,
long, big, intelligent, good etc.
FUNCTIONS OF ADJECTIVE
Adjective functions as modifiers of noun and pronoun.
A) As noun modifiers: They occur attributively or predicatively, thus:
ATTRIBUTIVELY: *The young man saw the arm robber.
*The courageous student pass the interview
PREDICATIVELY: *The child appears happy.
*The food taste good.
B) As pronoun modifiers:
Please give me something larger.
She ate her sweet chocolate.
TYPES OF ADJECTIVES
1) DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVE: It provide information and attribute to the
noun or pronoun it modifies. It is also called QUALITATIVE ADJECTIVE.
Examples:
I have a fast car.
The hungry cats are crying.
2) QUANTITATIVE ADJECTIVE: It provides information about the quantity
of the noun or pronoun. It belongs to the question category of “how much”
and “how many”. Examples:
I have 20 children.
I have ℕ5 in my wallet.
3) PROPER ADJECTIVE: When proper nouns modify or describe other nouns
or pronouns they became proper adjectives. Examples:
American cars are very strong.
Chinese people are hard working.
4) DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVE: It directly refer to something or
someone. They include: this, that, those and these. Examples:
Those flowers are beautiful.
This pen is mine.
5) POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE: It suggest the belongingness of something to
someone. Examples:
My car is parked outside.
Our job is almost done.
6) INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVE: Interrogative adjective ask questions that
are followed by a noun or pronoun. It makes use of “which, whose and
what”.
Examples:
Which phone do you use?
Whose car is this?
7) INDEFINATE ADJECTIVE: It modifies a noun unspecifically. Indefinite
adjective include every, either, several, some, most, all etc. Examples:
I gave some candy to her.
Several writers wrote it.
8) ARTICLES: They determine the specification of nouns. “a” and “an” are use
to refer to unspecific nouns while “the” is use to refer to specific noun.
Examples:
An elephant is huge.
The boy is afraid of me.
9) COMPOUND ADJECTIVE: When compound words modify nouns, they
become compound adjectives. This type of adjective usually combines more
than word into a single lexical unit and modify noun. Examples:
I have broken-down sofa.
Sani saw a six-foot-long snake.
COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES : Comparison of adjectives can be done in 2
ways: the regular and the irregular comparison. Adjectives have 3 degrees of
comparison: the positive, the comparative and the superlative.
1)REGULAR COMPARISON: There are 2 ways of regular comparison:
A- By adding the suffix “-er” and “-est” to the base form of the word.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
big bigger biggest
sweet sweeter sweetest
early earlier earliest
B- By using “more” and “most” with positive form.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
dangerous more dangerous most dangerous
intelligent more intelligent most intelligent
2) IRREGULAR COMPARISON: It does not follow the regular form.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
good better best
little less least
many more most