Types of Adjectives
Adjectives are the most used words in sentences. There are several types of adjectives according to their uses. Let's get to know them!
What Are Adjectives?
Adjectives According to Their Uses
- Descriptive Adjectives
- Compound adjectives
- Proper Adjectives
- Quantitative Adjectives
- Nouns Used as Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives
Descriptive adjectives (or qualitative adjectives) are adjectives which describe nouns and pronouns. Most of the adjectives belong in this type.
Descriptive adjectives can be:
Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives come directly before a noun and attribute a quality to the noun they modify. More than one adjective can modify the same noun.
I have a
The word 'fast' is describing an attribute of the car.
I'm having a
Sometimes the attributive adjective appears directly after the noun. They are called postpositive adjectives.
The rain made the day
This is an instance in which the attributive adjective appears directly behind the noun. 'nice and romantic' are describing the 'day'.
Predicate Adjectives
When adjectives appear after a linking verb (be, seem, become, appear ...) they are called predicative adjectives, because they form part of the predicate.
She became
These muffins are
Quantitative Adjectives
Quantitative adjectives give us information about the quantity of the nouns. These adjectives answer to the questions of 'how much' and 'how many.' They can be further categorized into three groups:
- cardinal adjectives
- ordinal adjectives
- multiplicative adjectives
Cardinal Adjectives
The Cardinal Adjectives answer to the question 'how many' as one, two, three, four, etc.
I got
Ordinal Adjectives
The Ordinal Adjectives describe the numeral order of things like first, second, third, fourth, etc.
We went on our
Multiplicative Adjectives
Multiplicative adjectives describe 'how many folds' something is, like single, double, triple, etc.
Do you want to go on a
Compound Adjectives
A compound adjective (also called a hyphenated adjective) contains two or more words. They are often separated by a hyphen to avoid confusion or ambiguity.
The stars enjoyed an intense but
I just came from a
Proper Adjectives
Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns. When proper nouns describe other nouns, they become proper adjectives.
I love
Nouns Used as Adjectives
Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun acts as an adjective.
My
I'm reading a
Review
Adjectives are words that name attributes of nouns. There are different types of adjectives that may help you describe nouns.
- Descriptive Adjectives
- Quantitative Adjectives
- Compound Adjectives
- Proper Adjectives
- Nouns Used as Adjectives
attributive adjectives | predicate adjectives | |
---|---|---|
descriptive adjectives describing nouns and pronouns |
I had an |
he seems |
cardinal adjectives | ordinal adjectives | multiplicative adjectives | |
---|---|---|---|
quantitative adjectives give us information about the quantity of the nouns |
There are |
it is our |
She does yoga |
compound adjectives |
I need a |
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proper adjectives |
Myra is an |
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nouns used as adjectives |
We have been going to a |
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