Adjectives And More Adjectives!

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This is another grammar point that students of English as a Second Language (ESL) have to know by heart. 

While it is true that the Noun (Subject) and the Verb are very important in constructing a sentence, we also need other words to make our sentences clearer and more specific. These are called modifiers. There are two modifiers, the Adjective and the Adverb. This blog post discusses the modifier Adjective in a very simplified way. 

An Adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun.

Adjectives are used to tell which one, what kind, how many, or how much about nouns and pronouns.

 

Which one:     this, that, these, those

this hat, that house, these books, those flowers

What kind:     large, dull, sweet, beautiful 

large house,  dull movie,  sweet mango, beautiful lady

How many:     some, all, several, six, seven

some children, all students, several flowers, six mangoes, seven dwarfs

 

How much:     little, plentiful, much

little money,  plentiful harvest,  much time

Whose:            my, your, our, his, her, its

my car, your credit card, his mansion. her bag, its shape

 

All of those words are followed by a noun.

Some adjectives are also formed by using Proper Nouns. We call them Proper Adjectives. The Proper Adjectives are always capitalized.

Take a look at these examples:

Examples:

Noun (Country)                                Adjective

Australia                                            Australian

Canada                                               Canadian

France                                                French

India                                                  Indian

Ireland                                               Irish

Shakespeare                                     Shakespearean

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are very famous Canadian skate dancers.

I read about a book about the French revolution. 

Does the adjective always have to be placed before a noun? Not always. Take a look at these examples.

Jane seems sleepy.

We were very tired.

The words sleepy and tired are both adjectives. They are separated from the Subject (the noun) by  the linking verbs seems and were.