Definition and Examples of Adjectives

An adjective is a part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun.  In addition to their basic (or positive) forms (for example, big and beautiful), most adjectives have two other forms: comparative (bigger and more beautiful) and superlative (biggest and most beautiful). Adjectives often—but not always—serve as modifiers, providing additional information about another word or word group, such as a noun or noun phrase. But adjectives can also  themselves  act as nouns in a sentence. Learning a few basic grammatical rules and recognizing the various types of adjectives will have you correctly using these important parts of speech in no time. Below are the main types of adjectives you are likely to encounter in English, together with accompanying explanations for each. Absolute Adjectives An  absolute adjective—such as  supreme  or  infinite—is an adjective with a meaning that cannot be  intensified  or  compared. It is also known as an  incomparable,  ultimate, or  absolute modifier.  English Language Centres  gives this example of an absolute adjective: He is dead. In the sentence, the word  dead  is an absolute adjective. The person is either  dead  or he is not, says the firm that offers online and in-person English language courses. You cannot be  deader  than someone else and you cannot be the  deadest  among a group. According to some  style guides, absolute adjectives are always in the  superlative degree. However, some absolute adjectives can be quantified by the addition of the word  almost,  nearly, or  virtually. Attributive  and  Predicative Adjectives An  attributive adjective  usually comes before the  noun  it modifies without a  linking verb. For example, take this sentence from  Maya Angelous work I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: In those  tender  mornings, the Store was full of laughing, joking, boasting, and bragging. The word  tender  is an attributive adjective because it precedes and modifies the noun  mornings.  Attributive adjectives are direct  modifiers  of  nominals. By contrast, a  predicative adjective  usually comes  after  a  linking verb  rather than  before  a  noun. Another term for a predicative adjective is a  subject complement. The Oxford Online Living Dictionaries gives this example: The cat is  black. In general,  when adjectives are used after a verb such as  be,  become,  grow,  look,  or  seem, they’re called  predicative  adjectives, says the dictionary. Appositive Adjectives An appositive adjective is a traditional grammatical term for an  adjective  (or a series of adjectives) that follows a  noun  and, like a  nonrestrictive  appositive, is set off by  commas  or  dashes. For example: Arthur was a big boy,  tall, strong, and broad-shouldered.– Janet B. Pascal, Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Baker Street As the example shows, appositive adjectives often appear in pairs or groups of three, called  tricolons. Comparative and Superlative Adjectives The  comparative  adjective is the form of an  adjective  involving the comparisons of more or less as well as  greater or lesser. Comparative adjectives in English are either marked by the  suffix  -er  (as in the  faster  bike) or identified by the word  more  or  less  (the  more difficult  job). Almost all  one-syllable  adjectives, along with some two-syllable adjectives, add  -er  to the  base  to form the comparative. In most adjectives of two or more  syllables, the comparative is identified by the word  more  or  less. The  superlative adjective, by comparison, is the form or  degree  of an  adjective that indicates the most or the least of something. Superlatives are either marked by the  suffix  -est  (as in the  fastest  bike) or identified by the word  most  or  least  (the  most difficult  job). Similar to comparative adjectives, almost all  one-syllable  adjectives, along with some two-syllable adjectives, add  -est  to the  base  to form the superlative.  In most adjectives of two or more  syllables, the superlative is identified by the word  most  or  least.  Not all adjectives have superlative forms. After a superlative,  in  or  of  plus a  noun phrase  can be used to indicate what is being compared (as in the  tallest  building  in  the world and the  best  time  of  my life). Compound Adjectives A compound adjective is made up of two or more words (such as  part-time  and  high-speed) that act as a single idea to  modify  a  noun  (a  part-time  employee, a  high-speed  chase). Compound adjectives are also called phrasal adjectives  or  compound modifiers. As a general rule, the words in a compound adjective are  hyphenated  when they come before a noun (a  well-known  actor) but not when they come after (The actor is  well known). Compound adjectives formed with an  adverb  ending in  -ly  (such as  rapidly changing) are usually not hyphenated. Demonstrative Adjectives A  demonstrative adjective  is a  determiner  that comes before and  points to a particular  noun. Indeed, a  demonstrative adjective is sometimes called a  demonstrative determiner. For example: Son, take  this  bat and hit  that  ball out of the park. There are four demonstratives in English: The near demonstratives:  this  and  theseThe far demonstratives:  that  and  thoseThe  singular  demonstratives:  this  and  thatThe plural  demonstratives:  these  and  those Denominal Adjectives A  denominal adjective  is formed from  a  noun, usually with the addition of a  suffix—such as  hopeless, earthen, cowardly, childish, and  Reaganesque. An example would be: Our new neighborhood seemed romantic, somehow, and very  San  Franciscoish, especially to a couple of young people who hailed from Idaho. In this sentence, the  proper noun  San Francisco is altered with the suffix  -ish  to form the denominal adjective. These kinds of adjectives can heighten the drama and descriptiveness of a sentence, as in this example: The presidents oration was...Lincolnian  in its cadences, and in some ways, was the final, impassioned, heart-felt rebuke to all those, including his opponent, who tried to portray him as somehow un-American.– Andrew Sullivan, The American President.  The Daily Beast, Nov. 7, 2012 Nominal Adjectives The term  nominal  adjective  refers to an adjective or group of adjectives that function  as  a noun. The Complete English Grammar Rules by Farlex International notes that nominal adjectives are generally preceded by the word the and can be found as the subject or the object of a sentence or clause. For example: The elderly are a great source of wisdom. The word  elderly  generally acts as a true adjective—an  elderly  gentleman—but in the previous sentence, it functions as a  collective noun  and as the subject of the sentence. Nominal adjectives  are also known as substantive  adjectives.   Participial Adjectives A  participial adjective  is an  adjective  that has the same form as the  participle  (a  verb  ending in  -ing  or  -ed/-en) and usually exhibits the ordinary properties of an adjective. For example: What kind of a man was he to fall in love with a  lying  thief?– Janet Dailey, The Hostage Bride In the sentence, the verb  lie  is altered by adding the ending  -ing to form the participial adjective  lying, which then describes the noun  thief.  Also, the comparative  and  superlative  forms of participial adjectives are formed with  more  and  most  and less  and  least—not with the endings  -er  and  -est. Adjectival Observations Not everyone is a fan of adjectives. Constance Hale, in Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose, noted that the famous humorist and author Mark Twain had some rather negative comments about this part of speech: When you catch an  adjective, kill it. No, I dont mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart.​ And in his 2002 memorial  eulogy  to former British Cabinet Minister Barbara Castle, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw recalled her remark: Bugger the  adjectives. Its the nouns and verbs people want.– Ned Halley, Dictionary of Modern English Grammar Nouns generally  are  the subject of a sentence, while verbs do  describe the action or state of being. But used effectively and correctly, as you see from the previous examples, adjectives can indeed  enhance many sentences by adding colorful, vivid, and detailed  description, increasing interest in an otherwise mundane sentence.