Sample Page: ENGLISH ADJECTIVES

Properties and Functions of Adjectives

Properties of Adjectives

An adjective is one of the 9 parts of speech in English: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, determiner, and interjection.

Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns. Adjectives have many properties that make it possible for them to perform their functions and roles in the English language:

1. Adjectives have no plural form.

Ben is a tall boy(tall for singular noun)

They are tall boys (tall for a plural noun

2. Adjectives are the same for all persons and genders

I am happy. ( happy for 1st person)

He is happy ( happy for 3rd person)

3. Adjectives have different structures. (simple and compound)

Tall ( simple adjective

Middle-aged (compound adjective)

4.Adjectives are modifiable( by sub modifiers)

This is a very big table.

My bag is much bigger than yours.

5. Adjectives are followed by adjective complements. ( phrases )

John is good at swimming.

Alice is fond of singing.

6. Adjectives are gradable or non- gradable

quite big, very big (big is gradable)

Perfect ( perfect is non-gradable)

7. Gradable adjectives are comparable and have 3 forms

Ben is tall. Bob is taller than Ben.

Adam is the tallest of all the boys.

8. Adjectives are stackable. ( can follow one after another in a sentence.)

Peter is a handsome tall boy

9. Adjectives have a defined order in sentences( royal order of adjectives)

I have a fast big car ( 1st opinion adjective (fast), 2nd fact adjective( big)

This is a cheap big Chinese plastic clock.

10. Adjectives have specific positions in a sentence.

Eve has a beautiful bag(attributive)

Eve's bag is beautiful ( predicative)

11. Adjectives can be formed.

Comfort + able = comfortable

Beauty +ful =beautiful

Functions of Adjectives

Adjectives are modifiers, qualifiers, classifiers, and limiters of nouns and pronouns. Adjectives provide more information about the qualities, characteristics, or attributes of nouns. Here are some of the important functions adjectives perform in a language:

1. Adjectives describe the qualities of nouns(Qualifying adjectives)

John is a handsome boy.

Alice is an intelligent girl

2. Adjectives classify or categorize nouns. ( Classifying adjectives)

This is a chemical compound.

This is an electrical appliance.

3. Adjectives are used to compare nouns (Comparative and superlative adjectives)

Peter is taller than Paul'

Mike is the tallest of all the boys in our class

4. Adjectives express opinions about nouns(-Opinion adjectives)

This is an expensive car.

That bike is cheap.

5. Adjectives are limiters of nouns ( limiting adjectives)

We have only three computers

He received only two presents on his birthday

6. Adjectives describe the conditions of nouns. ( condition adjectives)

He threw away his broken sunglasses and bought a new pair.

It is not safe to eat damaged food.

7. Adjectives describe the relationship between nouns ( relation adjectives)

That old woman is John's maternal grandmother.

Eve and Agnes have a very sororal friendship.

8. Adjectives describe the emotional qualities of nouns. ( emotion adjectives)

John was sad because he failed the driving test.

Peter was very happy when he received the prize.

9. Adjectives indicate the quantity/number of nouns (quantitative adjectives)

There are many people in the Hall.

There isn't much milk in the carton.

10. Adjectives indicate the origin of nouns ( origin adjectives)

My father has a Chinese friend.

I don't like American cheese.

11. Adjectives indicate the material the nouns are made of. (material adjectives)

My brother bought a leather schoolbag yesterday.

They have only wooden desks in their class.

12. Adjectives indicate the ownership of nouns ( possessive adjectives).

This is their shop

His car is that red one.

13. Adjectives indicate time-related attributes of nouns. ( time adjectives)

They had the annual meeting yesterday.

Shopping is one of his daily routines.

14. Adjectives indicate the nouns being referred to. (demonstrative adjectives)

We are going to buy this house.

Do you like that watch?

15. Adjectives indicate the purpose or uses of nouns (purpose adjectives)

This is a good cooking pot

Can you give me those running shoes, please?

16. Adjectives can indicate the sensory qualities of nouns ( sensory adjectives)

Alice likes spicy food.

She doesn't like sour cream

Classification of Adjectives (40 Classes of Adjectives )

Adjectives are generally classified based on their morphological, syntactic, and semantic properties. The Classification of Adjectives is very important in English and the 40 main classes of adjectives are listed below.

One-word adjectives and compound adjectives

One-word adjectives: adjectives that consist of only one short word

Compound adjectives: adjectives that consist of a group of words acting as one to describe a noun

Derived adjectives and hyphenated adjectives

Derived adjectives: adjectives formed by adding prefixes or suffixes to parts of speech. ( eg ;

care+ful = useful,

un +happy = unhappy

Hyphenated adjectives: are compound adjectives formed by the hyphenation

of two or more words

Part + hyphen +time= part-time ( a part-time job)

Descriptive adjectives and limiting adjectives

Descriptive adjectives: adjectives that qualify and classify nouns. This is one of the main categories of adjectives, including all qualifying and classifying adjectives

Limiting adjectives: Adjectives that modify a noun by restricting them. This category includes all the determining adjectives

Qualifying adjectives and classifying adjectives

Qualifying adjectives: adjectives that describe characteristics and qualities of nouns

Classifying adjectives: adjectives that indicate the type, kind, or groups of nouns

Definite numeral adjectives and Indefinite numeral adjective

Definite numeral adjectives: adjectives that give numeral facts of countable nouns( the exact number, order, position).

He wrote two novels

This is his second novel

Indefinite adjectives: adjectives that give only numeral ideas or approximate amounts of countable nouns.

Many people are invited to the party

Some apples are in that bag.

Fact adjectives and Opinion adjectives

Fact adjectives: adjectives that give us factual information about a noun. (eg tall, short)

Doris is a tall woman

John is a short man.

Opinion adjectives-: adjectives that show what somebody thinks about a noun. ( beautiful, ugly)

Doris is a beautiful woman

John is an ugly man

Positive adjectives and negative adjectives

Positive adjectives: adjectives that describe the good qualities or aspects of nouns.

Examples: responsible, trustworthy

Negative adjectives: adjectives that describe the bad qualities or aspects of nouns.

Examples: irresponsible, arrogant

Regular adjectives and Irregular adjectives

Regular adjectives: adjectives whose comparatives are formed by adding er or more to their positive and their superlatives are formed by adding est or most. (

That truck is small and expensive

This car is smaller and more expensive.

.My sports car is the smallest and the most expensive of all.

Irregular adjectives: adjectives that don't follow this pattern of adding er or more in the comparative forms and est or most in the superlative forms( eg bad)

John is bad.

Peter is worse than John

Adam is the worst of all the boys.

Inherent adjectives and non-inherent adjectives

Inherent adjective: an adjective that describes the quality of the noun and not the quality of something associated with the noun

John is old. ( inherent, old describes John)

Non-inherent adjective: an adjective that describes the quality of something associated with the noun and not the quality of the noun.

John is an old friend. (non-inherent, old describes friendship)

Emphasizing adjectives and Exclamatory adjectives

Emphasizing adjectives: adjectives that emphasize the noun. ( own, very,).

I built this with my own hands.

This is the very car my dad wanted to buy.

Her absolute ignorance shocks me.

Exclamatory adjectives: adjectives used with nouns to show strong emotions. ( what, how) . What a great idea!

What a wonderful feeling!

Proper adjectives and common adjectives

Proper adjectives: adjectives that are formed from names of proper nouns

Proper adjectives are always capitalized.

England - English

Shakespeare - Shakespearean

Common adjectives: adjectives that are not formed from the names of proper nouns They are not capitalized because they are from common names or other words : Examples: Snow - snowy; Beauty - Beautiful

Denominal adjectives and nominal adjectives

Denominal adjective: is adjective formed from a noun by adding a suffix

, which plays the role of an adjective in a sentence.

Chinese people are hardworking

Polish people produce vodka.

Nominal adjective: an adjective that performs the function of a noun in a sentence. Nominal adjectives are nominalized adjectives and are always with the word " the".Examples: The Dutch like travelling.

The French love wine

-ed participial adjectives and -ing participial adjectives

-ed participial adjectives : are past participles ( verb form)

which act as adjectives when placed before nouns.

Ing- participial adjectives: are present participles ( verb form)

which act as adjectives when placed before nouns.

That is a very interesting novel

He bought a pair of running shoes

Interrogative adjectives and relative adjectives

Interrogative adjectives: adjectives that modify nouns by asking questions.

What fruit do you like?

Which film do you prefer?

Relative adjectives: adjectives that modify the noun and introduce the relative clause. (eg what, which, whatever, and whichever)

Can you tell me what novel you are reading?

I don't know what present to buy for my girlfriend.

Gradable adjectives and non-gradable adjectives

Gradable adjectives: adjectives that describe qualities that vary in grade or degree. ( eg big, expensive)

This car is very expensive

This is big and that is bigger

Non-gradable adjectives: adjectives that describe qualities that don't vary in grade or intensity. ( eg. correct, wrong )

This sentence is correct

That sentence is wrong.

Premodifying adjectives and postmodifying adjectives

Premodifying adjectives: an adjective placed before the noun.

Postmodifying adjectives: an adjective positioned after the noun. This can be in a predicative or postpositive position.

Attributive adjectives and Predicate adjectives

Attributive adjectives: adjectives that are placed immediately behind the noun they modify.

This is an expensive car.

He lives in a big house

Predicate adjectives: adjectives that modify the subject of a sentence but are

placed after a linking verb. They complete the meaning of the verbs

He is handsome

Alice is beautiful

Cumulative adjectives and coordinate adjectives

Cumulative adjectives Two or more adjectives that modify a noun together but the adjectives belong to different categories. These adjectives must be in the right order of adjectives and are not separated by commas.

This is an expensive round Chinese alarm clock.

Coordinate adjectives ...Adjectives of the same category that work together to modify a noun. The adjectives can be in any order and are separated with commas or and.

The box is big, rectangular, and black.

Stative adjectives and Dynamic adjectives

Stative adjectives: adjectives that denote a state or condition ( static characteristics) This type of adjective can not be used in imperative.

White ( we can't say "Be white" )

Big ( we can't say: "Be big")

Dynamic adjectives: adjectives that describe the dynamic properties of Nouns ( attributes that people can control). Dynamic adjectives can be used in the imperative.

Careful ( we can say "Be careful" )

Patient ( we can say "Be patient" )

Central adjectives and Peripheral adjectives

Central adjectives: adjectives that can be used both as a modifier in a noun phrase and as a subject/object complement

Peripheral adjectives: adjectives that can only be used as a premodifier or as a complement