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Adjectives
This Page Includes...
What Are Adjectives? (with Examples)
Adjectives are words that describe people, places, or things. "Old," "green," and "cheerful" are examples of adjectives. (It might be useful to think of adjectives as "describing words.")Here are some examples of adjectives in sentences:
- John is a tall man.
- New York is a busy city.
- This is a tasty apple.
More Examples of Adjectives
Here are some more examples of adjectives. (In each example, the adjective is highlighted.)Adjective Before the Noun
An adjective usually comes directly before the noun it describes (or "modifies," as grammarians say).- old man
- green coat
- cheerful one ("One" is a type of pronoun. Pronouns are words that replace nouns. So, adjectives can modify pronouns too.)
Adjective After the Noun
An adjective can come after the noun.- Jack was old.
- It looks green.
- He seems cheerful.
Adjective Immediately After the Noun
Sometimes, an adjective comes immediately after a noun.- the Princess Royal
- time immemorial
- body beautiful
- the best seats available
- the worst manners imaginable
- someone interesting
- those present
- something evil
Infographic for Adjectives
This infographic shows where an adjective sits in relation to the noun it describes:
Video Lesson
Here is a video summarizing this lesson on adjectives.More about Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives and Determiners
All the adjectives we've seen so far have been descriptive adjectives. A descriptive adjective will usually fit into one of the following categories:Category | Example |
---|---|
Appearance | attractive, burly, clean, dusty |
Colour | azure, blue, cyan, dark |
Condition | absent, broken, careful, dead |
Personality | annoying, brave, complex, dizzy |
Quantity | ample, bountiful, countless, deficient |
Sense | aromatic, bitter, cold, deafening |
Size and Shape | angular, broad, circular, deep |
Time | ancient, brief, concurrent, daily |
So, for many people, the word "adjective" refers only to descriptive adjectives. The rise of the term "determiner" means that we now have nine parts of speech, not the traditional eight. Here is a table showing the different types of determiners:
Type | Examples | Possessive Determiners.
|
|
---|---|
Demonstrative Determiners.
|
|
Articles.
|
|
Numbers (or Cardinal Numbers).
|
|
Indefinite Determiners.
|
|
Interrogative Determiners.
|
|
Nouns Used as Adjectives
Many words that are usually nouns can function as adjectives. For example:- autumn colours
- boat race
- computer shop
- Devon cream
- electricity board
- fruit fly
- Not all face masks are created equal. (Entrepreneur Hannah Bronfman)
- You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves. (Premier Joseph Stalin)
Participles Used as Adjectives
Formed from a verb, a participle is a word that can be used as an adjective. There are two types of participle:- The present participle (ending -"ing")
- The past participle (usually ending -"ed," -"d," -"t," -"en," or -"n")
- The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but "That's funny." (Writer Isaac Asimov)
- Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual. (Author Terry Pratchett)
- While the spoken word can travel faster, you can't take it home in your hand. Only the written word can be absorbed wholly at the convenience of the reader. (Educator Kingman Brewster)
- We all have friends and loved ones who say 60 is the new 30. No, it's the new 60. (Fashion model Iman)
Infinitives Used as Adjectives
An infinitive verb (e.g., "to run," "to jump") can also function as an adjective.- No human creature can give orders to love. (French novelist George Sand) (Here, the infinitive "to love" describes the noun "orders.")
- Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity. (Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl) (An infinitive will often head its own phrase. Here, the infinitive phrase "to complicate simplicity" describes the noun "ability.")
All the Parts of Speech
Here is a video for beginners that summarizes all the parts of speech.The Order of Adjectives
When two or more adjectives are strung together, they should be ordered according to the following list:Placement | Type of Adjective | Examples |
---|---|---|
1 | ||
2 | Quantity | one, three, ninety-nine |
3 | Opinion or Observation | beautiful, clever, witty, well-mannered |
4 | Size | big, medium-sized, small |
5 | Physical Quality | thin, lumpy, cluttered |
6 | Shape | square, round, long |
7 | Age | young, middle-aged, old |
8 | Colour/Color | red, blue, purple |
9 | Origin or Religion | French, Buddhist |
10 | Material | metal, leather, wooden |
11 | Type | L-shaped, two-sided, all-purpose |
12 |
- my two lovely XL thin tubular new white Spanish metallic hinged correcting knee braces.
- That's a lovely mixing bowl (1: Determiner 2: Opinion 3: Purpose)
- Who's nicked my two black, wooden spoons? (1: Number 2: Colour 3: Material)
- Give your ticket to the Italian old waiter.
If you're a native English speaker, you are safe to ignore this list and let your instinct guide you. (Remarkably, you already know this, even if you don't know you know it.)
Using Commas with a List of Adjectives
In order to understand when to use commas between multiple adjectives, you must learn the difference between cumulative adjectives and coordinate adjectives.With cumulative adjectives, specificity builds with each adjective, so you cannot separate cumulative adjectives with commas, and they must follow the order of precedence in the table above. Coordinate adjectives are different. They describe the noun independently, which means they can follow any order. Coordinate adjectives should be separated with commas or the word "and." Here are some examples of each type:
Cumulative adjectives:
- A bright green metal mixing bowl (These are cumulative adjectives. Their order cannot be changed. They follow the precedent list. There are no commas.)
- A green, lumpy bowl
- A lumpy, green bowl (These are coordinate adjectives. As shown, their order can be changed. They should be separated with commas or the word "and.")
Compound Adjectives
Not all adjectives are single words. Often, a single adjective will consist of two or more words. A single adjective with more than one word is called a compound adjective. For example:- Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. (Comedian George Burns)
- Be a good-looking corpse. Leave a good-looking tattoo. (Actor Ed Westwick)
- I like the busted-nose look. (Actor Peter Dinklage)
Read more about compound adjectives.
Adjective Phrases
In real-life sentences, adjectives are often accompanied by modifiers like adverbs (e.g., "very," "extremely") and prepositional phrases (e.g., "...with me," "...about the man"). In other words, an adjective (shown in bold) will often feature in an "adjective phrase" (shaded).- My bankers are very happy with me. (The popstar formerly known as Prince) (In this example, the adjective phrase describes "bankers.")
- The dragonfly is an exceptionally beautiful insect but a fierce carnivore. (Here, the adjective phrase describes "insect.")
Read more about adjective phrases.
Adjective Clauses
The last thing to say about adjectives is that clauses can also function as adjectives. With an adjective clause, the clause is linked to the noun being described with a relative pronoun ("who," "whom," "whose," "that," or "which") or a relative adverb ("when," "where," or "why"). Like all clauses, it will have a subject and a verb.- The people who make history are not the people who make it but the people who make it and then write about it. (Musician Julian Cope)
- I live in that solitude which is painful in youth but delicious in the years of maturity. (Physicist Albert Einstein) (It can start getting complicated. In the adjective clause above, "painful in youth" and "delicious in the years of maturity" are adjective phrases.)
Read more about adjective clauses.
Why Adjectives Are Important
This section covers a lot of adjective-associated terms, most of which have their own pages that highlight their quirks and issues. Below are five top-level points linked to adjectives.(Point 1) Reduce your word count with the right adjective.
Try to avoid using words like "very" and "extremely" to modify adjectives. Pick better adjectives.- very happy boy
> delighted boy
- very angry
> livid
- extremely posh hotel
> luxurious hotel
- really serious look
> stern look
(Point 2) Reduce your word count by removing adjectives.
Picking the right noun can eliminate the need for an adjective.- whaling ship
> whaler
- disorderly crowd
> mob
- organized political dissenting group
> faction
- joint cooperation
> cooperation
- necessary requirement
> requirement
- handwritten manuscript
> manuscript
(Point 3) Avoid incomprehensible strings of "adjectives."
In business writing (especially with technical subjects), it is not unusual to encounter strings of attributive nouns. In each example below, the attributive-noun string is shaded.- Factor in the service level agreement completion time.
(difficult to understand)
- Engineers will install the email retrieval process improvement software.
(difficult)
- He heads the network services provision team.
(difficult)
- The system needs a remote encryption setting reset.
(difficult)
To avoid such barely intelligible noun strings, do one or all of the following:
- Completely rearrange the sentence.
- Convert one of the nouns to a verb.
- Use hyphens to highlight the compound adjectives.
- Factor in the time to complete the service-level agreement.
(better)
- Engineers will install the software to improve the email-retrieval process.
(better)
- He heads the team providing network services.
(better)
- The system needs a reset of the remote-encryption setting.
(better)
(Point 4) Don't complete a linking verb with an adverb.
Most writers correctly use an adjective after a linking verb.- It tastes nice. It smells nice. It seems nice. By Jove, it is nice.
- I feel badly for letting you down.
- Bad service and food tasted awfully.
(Title of an online restaurant review by "Vanessa")
("Awfully" is an adverb. It should be "awful.")
(Point 5) Use postpositive adjectives for emphasis.
Putting an adjective immediately after a noun (i.e., using the adjective postpositively) is a technique for creating emphasis. (The deliberate changing of normal word order for emphasis is called anastrophe.)- I suppressed my thoughts sinful and revengeful.
- The sea stormy and perilous steadily proceeded.
Key Points
- Go concise by going precise.
- Improve sentence flow by avoiding long attributive-noun strings.
- Don't say you feel badly unless you're bad at feeling stuff.
- Use an adjective postpositively to create a thought everlasting.
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See Also
adjectives for kids verbs for kids What are compound adjectives? Adjectives game (bubble-pop game) Adjectives game (whack-a-word) Adjectives game (fish game) A more advanced test on adjectives Compound adjectives Demonstrative adjectives Indefinite adjectives Interrogative adjectives Predicate adjectives Participles Possessive adjectives What is the difference between adjectives and determiners?Page URL