What are adjectives used for?
| Adjectives are words that describe or modify a noun. | |
| For example: | |
| A High building. (The adjective High describes the noun building.) | A tall man. ( The adjective tall describes the noun man.) |
| There are different kinds of adjectives: | |
|---|---|
| 1. Adjectives that are nouns. | |
|
a. We can use nouns to describe or give us more information about another noun: can
opener.
b. Sometimes we add an ending: -en, -ar, -y, -ly, -like, -or y to make nouns adjectives. | |
| Examples: | |
|
His shirt was greenish in color. She had a lovely figure. I bought a wooden desk. I like the green shirt. | |
| Oftentimes, the endings -en and -al will be dropped, and the noun form will be used by itself, as in metal table, steel wool, and, coast guard. | |
| 2. Numbers as adjectives | |
| Any words related to number are considered adjectives, including two, twenty, few, many, dozen, third, and so on. | |
| 3. Pronouns and articles as adjectives | |
|
a. Pronouns such as this, that, and those
used to modify a noun are called demonstrative adjectives. b. Possessive pronouns such as my, your, and his used to modify a noun are called possessive adjectives. c. Articles such as a, an, and the are also adjectives. | |
| 4. Multiple adjectives | |
| When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a conjunction or by commas. | |
| Example: | |
|
Your painting is beautiful yet simple.
You have big, beautiful house. | |
| 5. Compound adjectives | |
|
a. Nouns and adjectives may be combined to modify another noun, in which case
the word can be hyphenated (although the hyphen is often a matter of personal
preference). | |
| Examples: | |
|
He is a warm-hearted man. I can be hard-headed sometimes. | |
| b. Past participles of verbs can also be used as adjectives, such as native born, foreign made, soft spoken, catually dressed, well behaved, and so on. | |
| 6. Adjectives used as nouns | |
| It is possible to use an adjective as a noun by simply using the adjective as the subject and omitting the noun it modifies. Usually, adjectives used as nouns refer to a specific quality shared by a group (the pleasant) or a specific human characteristic shared by a group of people (the young). | |
| Examples: | |
| the poor, the rich, the young, the wealthy. | |