What is an Adjective? Definition, Usage & Examples

Discover the definition of an adjective, adjective types, and examples to help you use adjectives correctly for clear communication.

Adjectives are a key part of language that adds detail and description to your sentences. Understanding how adjectives work will help you express yourself more clearly. In this article, you’ll learn the definition of adjectives, their usage, and several examples to solidify your understanding.

What is an Adjective?

An adjective is a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. It provides more information about an object or person, such as size, color, shape, or quality. Essentially, adjectives help you understand more about the subject being discussed.

For example, in the sentence “The blue car sped past,” the word blue is the adjective. It describes the car by telling you its color.

Types of Adjectives

There are several types of adjectives, each serving a unique purpose. These include descriptive, quantitative, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, and proper adjectives.

Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives are the most common. They tell you more about the characteristics of a noun.

For example:

• “She wore a beautiful dress.”
• “The movie was exciting.”

In these sentences, beautiful and exciting are descriptive adjectives that give you more insight into the noun they describe.

Quantitative Adjectives

Quantitative adjectives tell you how many or how much of something there is. These adjectives focus on quantity.

For example:

• “There are five apples in the basket.”
• “I need more sugar for the recipe.”

Five and more tell you about the amount of apples and sugar.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives point to specific nouns. These include words like this, that, these, and those.

For example:

• “I want that book.”
• “Can you pass me those pencils?”

That and those specify which book and pencils you are referring to.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives show ownership or possession. Words like my, your, his, her, its, our, and their belong in this category.

For example:

• “This is my house.”
• “Is that your dog?”

The adjectives my and your tell you who the house and dog belong to.

Interrogative Adjectives

Interrogative adjectives are used to ask questions. Common interrogative adjectives include which, what, and whose.

For example:

• “Which car should we take?”
• “Whose coat is this?”

In both sentences, the interrogative adjectives help you inquire about the noun.

Proper Adjectives

Proper adjectives are derived from proper nouns. They are always capitalized and describe something specific.

For example:

• “She loves Italian cuisine.”
• “He is a Shakespearean actor.”

Italian and Shakespearean are proper adjectives because they come from the proper nouns Italy and Shakespeare.

How to Use Adjectives in a Sentence

Adjectives usually come before the noun they modify. However, they can also come after linking verbs such as is, seems, or becomes when describing a subject.

For example:

• “The large cat sleeps on the couch.” (Before the noun)
• “The cat is large.” (After the linking verb is)

In both cases, the adjective large describes the noun cat.

Multiple Adjectives in a Sentence

Sometimes, you’ll want to use more than one adjective to describe a noun. When this happens, adjectives typically follow a certain order: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose.

For example:

• “She bought a beautiful large wooden table.”

Here, beautiful (opinion), large (size), and wooden (material) all describe the noun table.

Examples of Adjectives in Sentences

To help you understand adjectives better, here are several examples:

• “The red car sped down the street.”
• “The movie was boring but the actors were fantastic.”
• “He wore a blue shirt and black shoes.”
• “The weather is sunny and warm today.”
• “Her smile was bright and beautiful.”

In each sentence, the adjectives describe the nouns, providing more information to help you visualize the scene.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Adjectives can change forms to compare two or more nouns. These are known as comparative and superlative adjectives.

Comparative Adjectives

Comparative adjectives compare two things. You usually add -er to the adjective or use the word more for adjectives with two or more syllables.

For example:

• “This book is longer than that one.”
• “She is more talented than her brother.”

In these examples, longer and more talented compare two nouns.

Superlative Adjectives

Superlative adjectives describe the extreme quality of something, comparing three or more nouns. To form superlatives, you usually add -est or use most.

For example:

• “This is the tallest building in the city.”
• “She is the most intelligent person in the room.”

In these examples, tallest and most intelligent describe the highest degree of the adjective.

Adjective Agreement

In some languages, adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. English does not require such agreements, making it simpler for you to use adjectives. The form of the adjective remains the same, no matter the noun’s gender or number.

For example:

• “He is a strong man.”
• “They are strong people.”

In both sentences, strong does not change even though the noun is singular in the first and plural in the second.

Adjective Clauses

An adjective clause is a group of words that provides more information about a noun. Adjective clauses usually start with relative pronouns like who, whom, whose, which, or that.

For example:

• “The car that she bought is red.”

In this sentence, the adjective clause that she bought gives you more information about the noun car.

Adjective Phrases

An adjective phrase is a group of words that describes a noun but does not contain a subject or verb. These phrases usually contain an adjective and any words that modify it.

For example:

• “The dog covered in mud ran into the house.”

The phrase covered in mud describes the noun dog and functions as an adjective.

Adjectives vs. Adverbs

It’s important to distinguish between adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

For example:

• “She is a quick runner.” (adjective modifying runner)
• “She runs quickly.” (adverb modifying runs)

In these examples, quick describes the noun runner, and quickly modifies the verb runs.

Common Mistakes with Adjectives

Even though adjectives are straightforward, you might make mistakes if you’re not careful. Here are some common issues and how to avoid them.

Misplacing Adjectives

Adjectives typically come before the noun, but placing them incorrectly can confuse your meaning.

For example:

• Incorrect: “She has eyes blue.”
• Correct: “She has blue eyes.”

In English, adjectives usually don’t come after the noun unless following a linking verb.

Using Comparatives and Superlatives Incorrectly

Comparatives and superlatives follow specific rules. Don’t add -er and more together.

For example:

• Incorrect: “She is more smarter than him.”
• Correct: “She is smarter than him.”

Use -er for one-syllable adjectives and more for multi-syllable adjectives.

Conclusion

Adjectives play a crucial role in adding depth and detail to your communication. They modify nouns and pronouns, giving more context and helping you paint clearer pictures with your words. From descriptive to comparative adjectives, each type serves a specific function.

By understanding how to use adjectives correctly, you’ll improve your writing and speaking skills. Practice using adjectives daily to see just how much richer your language becomes.