“Each of these four gorgeous puppies was born to my dog.”
What would you attain if you took away all the adjectives from this sentence?
“Dog gave birth to puppies.”
Isn’t it crazy? We make use of adjectives in our language all the time, and we don’t even realize it!
An adjective can give your sentence lacquer and vitality, as well as crucial knowledge, but that’s not everything. We can use adjectives in a mixture of ways. They can tell you about the number( how many) of something and its characteristic(how g how well it w, as well as let you compare two things. To put it another way, adjectives are magnificent, outstanding, and wonderful!
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an adjective is a word from one of the primary form classes that are used as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing called, to indicate its number or extent, or to designate a thing as distinct from something else in any of many languages. Although it is impossible to count the total number of adjectives in any language or English for that matter, we can still count, if not the number but the types of adjectives. According to Answers.com, there are a total of 100,000 adjectives in the English language but that is a very rough figure as more and more words enter the English dictionary every day making it the diverse and vibrant language we have today. However, there are 8 types of adjectives in total in the English language.
To know everything about all kinds of adjectives, keep reading!
Different Types Of Adjectives In The English Language
Descriptive Adjective
A descriptive adjective is a term that characterizes nouns and pronouns. This is where the preponderance of the adjectives lies. These adjectives amplify sense to the nouns/pronouns they improve or illustrate by furnishing knowledge and characteristics. We also know qualitative adjectives as descriptive adjectives.
When they modify a noun, we also include participles in this sort of adjective.
Examples:
- I own a quick vehicle. (The term ‘quick’ refers to a feature of the vehicle.)
- I’m hungry. (The term ‘hungry’ indicates that the topic is hungry.)
- The thirsty cats are whimpering. (The word ‘thirsty’ suggests that the cats want water)
- I noticed a soaring eagle. (The word ‘soaring’ suggests that the eagle was flying)
Quantitative Adjectives
A quantitative adjective tells us how many nouns or pronouns there are. This type of question belongs to the ‘how much’ and ‘how many’ question categories.
Examples:
- I have ten dollars in my purse. (Answers the question how much money does he/she have?)
- They have three children. (Answers the question how many children do they have?)
- You should have finished the entire work by now. (Answers the question how much work?)
Proper Adjectives
The adjective aspect of proper nouns is proper adjectives. We form proper adjectives when proper nouns modify or characterize other nouns/pronouns. Rather than ‘rigid’ or ‘appropriate’, ‘
With a proper adjective, we can sum up a concept in just one phrase. Instead of writing or saying “a cuisine cooked according to a Chinese recipe,” write or say “Chinese food.”
We capitalize proper adjectives in the same way as proper nouns are.
Example:
- American automobiles are quite powerful.
- Chinese people are diligent.
- Burgers from KFC are my favorite.
- Marxist theorists revile capitalism.
Demonstrative Adjectives
A demonstrative adjective describes something or someone in a straightforward manner. The terms this, that, these, and those are examples of demonstrative adjectives.
A demonstrative pronoun does not come before a noun; nonetheless, a demonstrative adjective is always before the term it enhances.
Examples:
- That structure is extremely beautiful. (‘That’ refers to a singular noun far away from the speaker.)
- This truck is mine. (‘This’ suggests a singular noun near to the speaker)
- These cats are adorable. (We refer to a plural noun near to the speaker as ‘these.’)
- Those flowers are just stunning. (The word ‘those’ alludes to a plural noun that is far away from the speaker.)
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives express ownership or possession. It implies that something belongs to somebody or something.
My, his, her, our, their, and yours are some of the broadly generally utilized possessive adjectives.
All of these adjectives are always used in front of a noun. These words, unlike possessive pronouns, require a noun after them.
Examples:
- My vehicle is standing on the street.
- His cat is adorable.
- Our work is nearly complete.
- Her works are fascinating.
Interrogative Adjectives
An interrogative adjective poses a question, asks a doubt, or inquiries about a query. A noun or a pronoun should succeed as an interrogative adjective. Which, what, and whose are interrogative adjectives. We don’t consider these words to be adjectives unless a noun follows them. The possessive adjective type also includes the word ‘whose.’
Examples:
- What kind of phone do you possess?
- Which chocolate would you like to eat?
- What airplane is this, and who controls it?
Indefinite Adjectives
An indefinite adjective ambiguously characterizes or enhances a noun. They give general/uncertain knowledge about the noun. Few, many, much, most, all, any, each, every, either, nobody, several, some, and so on are popular indefinite adjectives.
Examples:
- I gave her some chocolates.
- I’d like to spend some time alone.
- Several authors have written about the current events.
- Each student has to submit homework the following day.
Compound Adjectives
When compound nouns/combined words diversify other nouns, they form compound adjectives. This form of adjective changes a noun by combining many words into a single lexical unit. A hyphen separates them, and a quotation mark joins them together.
Example:
- I have a cracked-down table.
- I saw a seven-foot-tall ladder standing by the wall.
- The tiger flashed me an “I’m going to murder you right now” stare.
Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinative adjectives are tiny sets of adjectives joined together to improve the identical noun. The word “and” or commas are employed to segregate them. A phrase containing many adjectives to amend the exact noun forms an adjective phrase.
Examples:
- Yesterday, she donned a pink and yellow shirt.
- Along Tybee Beach, it was a bright, sunny, and beautiful morning.
- Their assassination was a tragic, terrible, and brutal event.
When stacking words before a noun, be careful. There are no commas or the word “and” in the phrase “blue hospital gown.” This is because the word “blue” modifies the word “hospital gown.” Place the word “and” between two words that could be modifiers if you’re not sure.
You’re working with a descriptive adjective instead of a coordinate adjective if it doesn’t make sense.
Predicative Adjective
The examples above are all attributive adjectives, except a few possessive adjectives. They come before the noun they modify, in other words. Nevertheless, when it comes to linking verbs, stuff gets a tad bit extra challenging (am, is, are, was, were). Predicate adjectives are adjectives that appear after the linking verb and modify the sentence’s topic. Because they appear after the verb rather than before the noun, these adjectives can be difficult to recognize, but they nonetheless belong to the adjective tribe.
Examples:
- She is astute.
- We are well-off.
- They were productive in working.
Distributive Adjective
Distributive adjectives refer to particular units of a category or faction. They denote the fact that we can count individuals or objects collectively. Any, each, either, every, and neither are notable distributive adjective. These adjective, like the majority of their brethren, sit directly next to the noun they’re modifying.
Examples:
- Have any of you completed your assignment?
- Each attendee obtained a complimentary present.
- With those pants, either sweater will look excellent.
- She purchased every purse in the shop.
- Neither doctor returned my call.
Adjectives as Articles
This is when things become a little complicated. The English dialect brings into the world three articles (a, an, and the). Aren’t articles just that? They aren’t. There are two kinds of articles: definite and indefinite. In sentences, the articles also serve as adjective. We place them next to the nouns they modify.
Examples:
- I’ve recently adopted a dog.
- It’s an elephant here.
- Don’t take the iguana away.
Closure
So, in some ways, we can’t say with any certainty as to how many adjective are there in the English language in its entirety. However, as compared to other major global languages, English has a fairly broad vocabulary, thanks in part to all of the borrowings that English has done throughout the centuries. As an outcome, we have an enormous amount of adjective. If modern English has a vocabulary of roughly 500,000 words, we can assume that at least 100,000 of them are adjective.
Keep in mind, though, that English is a very malleable language, and we can make new adjective at any time by adding suffixes or prefixes, or by creating new compound words, for example. Hence, although there’s no definite number, we do have the types of adjective, knowledge of which will help you form your sentences correctly.
