✨ ADJECTIVES – SIMPLE NOTES ✨
📌 What is an Adjective?
An adjective is a word that describes or gives more information about a noun or a pronoun. It makes our sentences more clear, specific and interesting. Adjectives tell us about the quality, number, quantity or identity of a person, place, animal or thing.
For example, in the sentence "She has a beautiful dress", the word beautiful is an adjective because it describes the noun dress. Similarly, in the sentence "He bought three books", the word three is an adjective because it shows the number of books.
📍 Position of Adjectives
Usually, adjectives are placed before the nouns they describe. For example, we say "a red flower", "a tall boy" and "a large house". Here, the adjectives red, tall and large come before the nouns.
Sometimes adjectives come after linking verbs such as is, am, are, was, were, seem and become. For example, in the sentences "The sky is blue" and "The child is happy", the words blue and happy describe the subjects.
📚 Types of Adjectives
🌟 Adjective of Quality
An adjective of quality describes the nature, character or appearance of a person or thing. It answers the question "What kind?" Examples are brave, beautiful, clever, honest and strong. In the sentence "The brave soldier fought for his country", the word brave describes the soldier.
💧 Adjective of Quantity
An adjective of quantity shows the amount of something. It answers the question "How much?" Words such as some, much, little and enough are adjectives of quantity. For example, in the sentence "There is little water in the bottle", the word little shows the quantity of water.
🔢 Adjective of Number
An adjective of number shows the number or order of persons or things. It answers the questions "How many?" or "Which order?" Words like two, five, first and second are adjectives of number. For example, "She won the first prize" uses first as an adjective of number.
👉 Demonstrative Adjective
A demonstrative adjective points out a particular person or thing. The common demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these and those. For example, in the sentences "This book is interesting" and "Those flowers are beautiful", the words this and those point out specific things.
🎒 Possessive Adjective
A possessive adjective shows ownership or belonging. Words like my, your, his, her, its, our and their are possessive adjectives. For example, in the sentence "This is my bag", the word my shows possession.
❓ Interrogative Adjective
An interrogative adjective is used to ask questions about nouns. The common interrogative adjectives are which, what and whose. For example, "Which book do you want?" and "Whose pen is this?" contain interrogative adjectives.
⚖️ Degrees of Comparison
Adjectives have three degrees of comparison: Positive, Comparative and Superlative.
The Positive Degree shows a simple quality without comparison. For example, "Ravi is tall."
The Comparative Degree compares two persons or things. It usually uses -er or the word more. For example, "Ravi is taller than Arun."
The Superlative Degree shows the highest degree of quality among three or more persons or things. It usually uses -est or most. For example, "Ravi is the tallest boy in the class."
📝 Adjective Clause
An adjective clause is a group of words that works like an adjective and describes a noun or pronoun. It usually begins with words such as who, which and that.
For example, in the sentence "The boy who won the race is my friend", the clause "who won the race" describes the noun boy.
Similarly, in the sentence "This is the book that I bought yesterday", the clause "that I bought yesterday" describes the noun book.
💡 Remember
Adjectives add details to nouns and make our communication more meaningful, colourful and effective. A good understanding of adjectives helps us write and speak English more clearly.