Adjectives -Definition and examples

Adjectives -Definition and examples

Introduction

They are eight parts of speech in the English Language which include noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, interjection and conjunction. Adjective enhances our description of a noun or pronoun.

Definition

An adjective is a word that describes or give more details about a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives indicate size, quality, shape, duration, feelings and emotions. It enriches writing by adding precision and originality. The describe by answering questions like What kind? How many? Which one? Examples of Adjectives are beautiful, ugly.

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Examples of Adjective

This examples of adjective will be based on their usage.
1. Descriptive Adjective: This adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. Majority of adjectives fall into this category.
(a) The beautiful woman is getting married this week
Analysis: Beautiful in the sentence functions as an adjective. It describes the noun woman.
(b) The foolish boys failed their examination.
Analysis: Foolish is the adjective because it describes the boys.

(c) I saw a fast car.
Analysis: Fast is the adjective because it describes the attribute of the car.
(d) The beautiful painting is hanged on the wall.
Analysis: Beautiful functions as the adjective because it describes the painting.
In addition, the descriptive adjective can describe taste, sound, colour, size, emotion, amount.
Taste- Sweet, spicy, yummy, delicious, bitter, salty, etc.

(a) The soup is bitter.
(b) The meat pie is yummy.
(c) The Jollof rice is salty.
Colour- Yellow, dark, red, blue, violet, pinkish, green, magenta.
(a) The yellow flowers are withering.
(b) The ball is yellow.
(c) There are green grasses on the field.

Emotion- Lazy, kind, bad, faithful, foolish.
2. Demonstrative Adjective: This adjective points to someone or something. They act hand in hand with the demonstrative pronoun. The difference is that demonstrative adjective comes before the noun.
(a) That girl is coming here.
Analysis: That refers to a singular noun (girl) far from the speaker.
(b) Those buses transport rice from Kano every month.
Analysis: Those refer to a plural noun(buses) far from the speaker.
(c) This pen belongs to Blessing.

Analysis: This refers to a singular noun close to the speaker.
(d) These buses transport rice from Kano.
Analysis: These refer to the plural noun close to the speaker.
Possessive Adjective: Possessive Adjective indicate ownership. They occur before the noun. Examples are my, your, his, her, our, their, etc.
(a) Your book is missing.
(b) My pen is on the table
(c) His presentation was the best.
(d) He novels are interesting.
Interrogative Adjective: As the name implies, it ask questions. Examples, what, which, how, whose, when, etc. Note that these words cannot be called adjective except they are followed by a noun.

(a) Which pen did you use?
(b) Whose book is this?
(c) What game did you lose?
(d) Which book did you pick?
Indefinite Adjective: Indefinite adjective describes a noun that is not specific
Examples: Few, many, most, all, each, every, either, nobody and so on.

(a) Blessing gave some biscuit to her.
(b) Each child will receive one thousand naira.
(c) Each pupils will have to use a face mask.
(d) Every topic must be taught this term.
(e) Most lecturers in my department are female.
Quantitative Adjective: This adjective informs on the quantity of a noun or a pronoun. It tells how much and how many.

(a) They have four girls.
Analysis: Four tells how many girls the family have.
(b) I have 10 dollars in my bag.
Analysis: 10 indicate the amount of dollar.

Also Read: Diction In Writing – Definition, Importance, Types, Examples of Diction

Other examples of adjectives are formed from the comparison. There are three levels of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. Positive are the base, the main word. Examples big, fast, short, tall, wise, high, neat, heavy, cheap, lively, beautiful, handsome, helpful, intelligent, hardworking, etc.

Comparative adjectives, unsurprisingly, make a comparison between two or more things. For most one-syllable adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding the suffix -er (or just -r if the adjective already ends with an e). For two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, replace -y with -ier. For multi-syllable adjectives, add the word more. Examples: Bigger, faster, shorter, taller, wiser, higher, neat, heavier, more beautiful, more handsome, more intelligent, more hardworking.

Superlative adjectives indicate that something has the highest degree of the quality in question. One-syllable adjectives become superlatives by adding the suffix -est (or just -st for adjectives that already end in e). Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y replace -y with -iest. Multi-syllable adjectives add the word most.
biggest, fastest, shortest, tallest, wiser, highest, neatest, heaviest, cheapest, most beautiful, most intelligent, most handsome, most hardworking.