Uses of adjectives in English – 01

 

We have already made six posts in this series of learning English Grammar and links to those six posts are provided at the end of this section. As a continuation of that, in today’s post we will learn about the uses of adjectives in English – 01 , their definitions , their types and how to use them in a sentence.

Definition Of Adjectives – Uses of adjectives in English – 01

An adjective can describe a noun or a pronoun. An adjective gives us more information about a noun and a pronoun.

* For example, let’s look at how an adjective describes a noun.

I buy flowers.

Subject :- I
Verb :- Buy
Object :- Flower

As per the above example, there is not an adjective in the given sentence. now we will add an adjective in this sentence.

I buy beautiful flowers.

Subject :- I
Verb :- Buy
Adjective :- Beautiful
Object :- Flowers

According to the above sentence, an adjective “beautiful” comes before the noun “flower”.

According to the example above, the noun adjective gives us additional information that the flower is beautiful.

The important thing to note here is that the adjective must come before the noun it describes.

*Now, let us see how an adjective describes a pronoun.Let us see an example for this.

It is beautiful.

Subject :- It
Verb :- Is
Adjective :- Beautiful

As per the example above, the adjective “beautiful” describes the pronoun “it”. That is, an adjective gives additional information about how “it” is. so an adjective gives an additional information that, ‘it is beautiful”.

When a pronoun is described with an adjective, the adjective usually follows the helping verb “am” , “is” , “are” , “was” , “were” and “will be”.

Types Of Adjectives – Uses of adjectives in English – 01

Adjectives can be divided into two types

01. Descriptive Adjectives
02. Limiting Adjectives

*We can further divide descriptive adjectives into two types.

Types Of Descriptive Adjectives

01. Attributive Adjectives
02. Predicate Adjectives

*Also limiting adjectives can be divided into nine types.

Types of Limiting Adjectives

01. Definite and Indefinite Articles
02. Possessive Adjectives
03. Demonstrative Adjectives
04. Indefinite Adjectives
05. Interrogative Adjectives
06. Cardinal Adjectives
07. Ordinal Adjectives
08. Proper Adjectives
09. Nouns used as Adjectives

Now, we will learn about the two types of Descriptive Adjectives.

01. Attributive Adjectives In English

An adjective that comes comes before a noun which is called attributive adjectives.

That is a black dog.
She is wearing an expensive watch.
He bought five flowers.
He gave me a tedious task.
Today is a gloomy day.
I watched a hilarious drama.
He has a bright future.

That is, according to the above examples, the attributive adjective must come before a noun adjective that comes after a noun which is called predicate adjectives.

That dog seems happy.
Her watch is expensive.
The flowers he bought were five.
The task he gave me is tedious.
Today is gloomy.
The drama I watched was hilarious.
His future is bright.

That is, according to the above examples, the attributive adjective must come after a noun.

02. Limiting Adjectives In English

Now, we will learn about the nine types of Limiting Adjectives.

01. Definite and Indefinite Articles

An article is a word that modifies or describes the noun.it is used before the noun.

That means Article is of two types, one is Definite Article and second is Indefinite Article.We have already made a post regarding its uses and the link will be given below.

Go through the link we provide below and get the complete explanation regarding this.

https://edusham.com/usage-of-article-a-an-the/

The definite article is “The”.

The definite articles are ” A” , “An”.

02. Possessive Adjectives

A word that tells us who or what owns something.

Possessive Adjectives are,
My , His , Her , Its , Our , Your , Their

We have learned clearly about this possessive pronoun under the title of pronouns.

We are giving the link below and we request you to go through it and get complete knowledge in this regard.

https://edusham.com/pronoun-words-in-english-and-their-uses/

03. Demonstrative Adjectives In English

Demonstrative adjectives modify nouns and we use it to demonstrate or to explain particular things , people , animals , ideas and etc.

Demonstrative adjectives are,

This , That , These , Those.

Let us see some examples for these.

We can use ” this” to indicate singular noun that is near to you.

This is my car.
This is my house.

“That” is used to indicate a singular noun that is farther from you.

That is my school.
That is my bag.

“These” is used to indicate plural nouns that are near to you.

Those are cows.
Those keys are mine.

“Those” is used to indicate plural nouns those are farther from you.

Those doges are hers.
Those bikes are theirs.

04. Indefinite Adjectives

An adjective that describes a noun in a non – specific sense.

Indefinite Adjectives are,

All , Any , Anything , Everyone , Few , Nobody , One , Some , Someone , Everybody , Anyone , Each , Everything , Many , None , Several , Somebody.

Let us look at some examples. Indefinite Adjectives here are shown by bold letters.

In my point of view, all are equal.
Anybody can dance on the floor of dancing.
I heartily congratulate every player on this team.
I was unable to hear anything.
Several people came to the stadium.
Each of them did not come to class.

05. Interrogative Adjectives In English

A noun that modifies a noun and ask a question.

Interrogative Adjectives are,

What , Which and Whose.

Let us see some examples for these.

What car do you drive?
Which way is the bathroom?

06. Cardinal Adjectives

Cardinal adjectives that modify the noun by numbering it.( Stating how many) . They are,

One , Two , Three , Four , Five , Six , Seven , Eight , Nine , Ten , …….,…etc.

Let’s look at some examples.

I buy three apples.
There is five cars

07. Ordinal Adjectives

An ordinal adjective indicates the position of a noun in a series. Those are,

First , second , third ,fourth , fifth , sixth , seventh ,….etc

Let’s look at some examples.

This is my first day.

08. Proper Adjectives

Proper adjectives were derived from proper nouns.
Those are,

American , Sri Lankan , French , Indian …..etc

He is an American boy.

09. Nouns used as Adjectives

Sometimes in English a noun is used to describe another noun.That means there will be two nouns.first noun will be as an adjective and and second noun will be as a noun.

Let us see 4 conditions for these.

Conditions Of Nouns Used As Adjectives

Condition:- 01

The “nouns as an adjective” always come first or before the second or main noun.

A flower vase
A car race
A love story
A foot ball

There are two nouns here.The first noun is found as an adjective and the second noun as a noun.

Condition:- 02

In general , like adjectives, nouns being used as adjectives are used in the singular form,although in the case of certain words, like clothes , customs , sports , etc , an exception is made.

That is, when two words are combined to form a noun, the letters to be added to make the noun plural must be added at the end and those letters should not be added at the end of the first word.

we can say , ” Bathroom” / “Bathrooms”
we can’t say , “Bathsroom” / “Bathsrooms”

we can say , “Toothbrush” / “Toothbrushes”
we can’t say , “teethbrush” / “Teethbrushes”

Condition :- 03

Multiple nouns can also be used as adjectives.

That is, more than two nouns can be combined to form a noun.

School cricket team coach
Motor production cost
Child health care research centre

Condition :- 04

We can also use a true adjective before nouns as adjective.

Cute coffee mug
Honest school teacher
Delectable Chinese cuisine
Increasing air pollution.

Part two of uses of adjectives in English – 01   will continue….

 

The all links are attached below.

https://edusham.com/an-introduction-to-the-english-language/

https://edusham.com/usage-of-article-a-an-the/

https://edusham.com/uses-of-nouns-in-english/

https://edusham.com/uses-of-nouns-in-english-part-02/

https://edusham.com/numbers-singular-and-plural-and-genders/

https://edusham.com/pronoun-words-in-english-and-their-uses/

 

General Knowledge