What is an adjective?
Adjectives including adjectives that start with a l are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.
Common types of adjectives
1. Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are a type of pronoun used before nouns. They explain ownership. Possessive adjectives include his, her, our, and my. There is a corresponding possessive adjective for each of the personal pronouns.
For example: “I lost my book.” In this sentence, my is a possessive adjective that explains whose book was lost.
2. Demonstrative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives which are located here https://argoprep.com/blog/adjectives-starting-with-i-760-words-to-boost-your-vocabulary/ answer the question which one? They point out particular nouns. Some demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, and those.
For example: “He bought that sweater.” Here, that is a demonstrative adjective that describes which sweater we’re referring to.
3. Descriptive adjectives
Descriptive adjectives describe the characteristics of a noun. They can tell you about a noun’s size, color, shape, taste, and more. Some examples are small, red, round, friendly, and salty.
For example: “The large, yellow house is on the corner.” Here, large and yellow are descriptive adjectives that describe the house.
4. Proper adjectives
Proper adjectives refer to the proper names of people, places, and things. Some examples are Buddhist, South American, and Alaskan.
For example: “That coat will not keep you warm in the Antarctic cold.” Antarctic is a proper adjective that refers to the country Antarctica.
5. Interrogative adjectives
Interrogative adjectives appear in interrogative sentences. English has three interrogative adjectives: what, which, and whose. In direct questions, the adjective will appear at the beginning of the sentence next to the noun it modifies.
For example: “Which cookie do you want?” In this case, which is an interrogative adjective that modifies the noun cookie.
6. Predicate adjectives
Predicate adjectives appear after the noun or pronoun they describe. If you see a linking verb followed by an adjective, you have a predicate adjective. These adjectives are basically identified by their function in a sentence.
For example: “The baby is tired.” Tired is connected to baby with a linking verb (is), so it’s a predicate adjective.
7. Indefinite adjectives
Indefinite adjectives describe a noun in a non-specific way. What does this mean? They give you some information but not all. Some examples are much, most, several, and some (just like in the previous sentence).
For example: “Most students brought their own notebooks and pencils.” Most is the indefinite adjective describing students. It’s non-specific because it does not denote how many students brought their materials.
8. Quantitative adjectives
Quantitative adjectives describe the exact or approximate amount of a noun. Some examples include all, no, few, many, and little. Numeral adjectives are quantitative adjectives that give exact number amounts (e.g. two, seven, thirty, first, and ninth).
For example: “There are five boys in her class.” In this case, five is a numeral adjective that describes the number of boys.
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9. Coordinative adjectives
Adjectives can fall into more than one group. For example, coordinative adjectives are two or more adjectives (they might be descriptive adjectives, for example) connected by a conjunction.
For example: “Lively and quick, the dog charmed everyone at the show.” Lively and quick both refer to the same noun: dog.
10. Compound adjectives
A compound adjective is one that is composed of multiple words. These include adjectives like three-hour, two-foot, 200-word, fat-free, and part-time. They are usually joined by hyphens, but not always.
For example: “A middle-aged man began to complain loudly as he waited in the line.” Middle-aged man is a compound adjective joined by a comma and describes man.
Types of use
Depending on the language, an adjective can precede a corresponding noun on a prepositive basis or it can follow a corresponding noun on a postpositive basis. Structural, contextual, and style considerations can impinge on the pre-or post-position of an adjective in a given instance of its occurrence. In English, occurrences of adjectives generally can be classified into one of three categories:
Prepositive adjectives, which are also known as “attributive adjectives,” occur on an antecedent basis within a noun phrase.[6] For example: “I put my happy kids into the car,” wherein happy occurs on an antecedent basis within the my happy kids noun phrase, and therefore functions in a prepositive adjective.
Postpositive adjectives can occur: (a) immediately subsequent to a noun within a noun phrase, e.g. “I took a short drive around with my happy kids;” (b) as linked via a copula or other linking mechanism subsequent to a corresponding noun or pronoun; for example: “My kids are happy,” wherein happy is a predicate adjective[7] (see also: Predicative expression, Subject complement); or (c) as an appositive adjective[8] within a noun phrase, e.g. “My kids, [who are] happy to go cruising, are in the back seat.”
Nominalized adjectives, which function as nouns. One way this happens is by eliding a noun from an adjective-noun noun phrase, whose remnant thus is a nominalization. In the sentence, “I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy”, happy is a nominalized adjective, short for “happy one” or “happy book”. Another way this happens is in phrases like “out with the old, in with the new”, where “the old” means “that which is old” or “all that is old”, and similarly with “the new”. In such cases, the adjective may function as a mass noun (as in the preceding example). In English, it may also function as a plural count noun denoting a collective group, as in “The meek shall inherit the Earth”, where “the meek” means “those who are meek” or “all who are meek”.
