Different Types of Adjectives: A Complete Guide
1. Descriptive adjectives:
describing a quality of the noun
- Attributive Adjectives:
- Predicate Adjectives:
2. Limiting adjectives:
limiting the noun being described
- Possessive Adjectives:
- Definite & Indefinite Articles
- Demonstrative Adjectives:
- Indefinite Adjectives:
- Interrogative Adjectives:
- Cardinal Adjectives:
- Ordinal Adjectives:
- Proper Adjectives:
- Nouns used as Adjectives:
1. Descriptive adjectives
These can be attributive adjectives or predicate adjectives.
1.1. Attributive Adjectives:
Adjectives which appear directly beside the noun, most commonly before, are
called attributive, because they attribute a quality to the noun they modify. More than one adjective can modify the same noun.
Example:
- He washed the empty cup.
"Empty" is an attributive adjective, as it is placed directly beside the noun "cup." It is describing the cup.
- The chatter made the room noisy.
This is an instance in which the attributive adjective appears directly behind the noun. "Noisy" is describing the "room."
1.2. Predicate Adjectives:
Adjectives which appear after a linking verb are called predicative, because
they form part of the predicate. They modify the subject of the sentence or clause (a clause is a portion of a sentence which contains a subject and a predicate).
Examples:
- The painting was colourful.
noun: painting
linking verb: was
adjective: colourful (describing the noun "painting")
- The wind remained strong.
noun: wind
linking verb: remained
adjective: strong (describing the noun "wind'")
2. Limiting adjectives
They do as their name suggests, they limit the noun being described.
There are nine types of Limiting Adjectives:
2.1.Definite & Indefinite Articles
There is only one definite article, the. When used before a noun, it specifies a
particular noun as opposed to any one.
Examples:
- The dog (a specific, identifiable dog)
- The walls (specific, identifiable walls)
There are two indefinite articles, a and an. These are used with a noun when a
specific noun is not being pointed at.
Examples:
- a dog (any dog)
- an apple (any apple)
2.2. Possessive Adjectives:
The possessive adjectives my, your, his. her, its, our, and their modify nouns
by showing possession or ownership.
Examples:
- my sweater
- their party
2.3. Demonstrative Adjectives:
A demonstrative adjective is a demonstrative pronoun that appears before a noun and emphasizes it.
Example: (note the difference)
- Demonstrative pronoun: These are wonderful.
- Demonstrative adjective: These apples are wonderful.
2.4. Indefinite Adjectives:
Indefinite adjectives are indefinite pronouns used before a noun.
Example: (note the difference)
- Pronoun: Several witnessed the event.
- Adjective: Several pedestrians witnessed the event.
2.5 Interrogative Adjectives:
The interrogative adjectives what, which, and whose modify nouns and pronouns to indicate a question about them.
Example: (note the difference)
- Pronoun: Which fell adjective: Which trapeze artist fell
2.6. Cardinal Adjectives:
Adjectives that modify the noun by numbering it (stating how many) are cardinal adjectives.
Examples:
- five books
- two fish
2.7. Ordinal Adjectives:
An ordinal adjective indicates the position of a noun in a series.
Examples:
- the first date
- the fourth day
2.8. Proper Adjectives:
Adjectives derived from proper names are called proper adjectives. They are
easily recognizable in that they are always capitalized.
Examples:
- French bread
- Shakespearean sonnet
2.9. Nouns used as Adjectives:
Sometimes nouns can be used as adjectives to define or describe another noun.
Examples:
- the porch light
- a house fly