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! Adjective handout
Adjectives
A. What are adjectives?
Adjectives are describing words.
Example:
1. Madhav is an old man. In this sentence the word old gives us a hint about Madhav’s age.
2. I am wearing a pink dress for the party. In this sentence the word pink describes the colour of the dress for the party.
3. Ginni has twelve pencils. In this sentence the word twelve tells us how many pencils Ginni has.
Adjectives add meaning to the nouns.
They are generally placed before the nouns they describe.
B. Kinds of Adjectives
Adjectives are of seven types.
i) Descriptive Adjective or Adjective
of Quality
It describes the quality of a person or
thing.
Example: We should always eat green
vegetables.
ii) Adjective of Quantity
It tells us the number (how many) or amount
(how much) of a noun.
Example: (a) He has eaten three bananas.
(How many)
(b) Tanya ate very little rice.
(How much)
iii) Definite Numeral Adjective or Adjective of number
It speaks about those adjectives which clearly denote an exact number of nouns or the order of
the noun. It answers the question - how many?
Example: I stood first in class last year.
iv) Demonstrative Adjective
It points out a fact about the noun.
Example: That box is empty.
Those children are waiting at
the station.
v) Interrogative Adjective
It asks questions using Wh-words before
the noun.
Example: Which saree do you want to buy?
Whose umbrella is this?
vi) Possessive Adjective
It shows ownership or belonging. It is generally placed before a noun.
Example: Pao bhaji is my favorite snack.
She is my best friend.
vii) Emphasizing Adjective
It emphasizes or speaks in great detail about the statement.
Examples: This is the same girl about whom I was telling you.
This is the very boy who was talking and disturbing the class.
C. Rules for Forming Adjectives
We add suffixes such as –al, -ion, -y, -ful, - ic, - ar, -ing etc. to words to form adjectives.
Here is a list of adjectives which can be identified with their endings.
-able/-ible – adorable, invisible, responsible, uncomfortable
-al – educational, gradual, illegal, nocturnal, viral
-an
an – American, Mexican, urban
-ar
ar – cellular, popular, spectacular, vulgar
-ent
ent – intelligent, potent, silent, violent
-ful
ful – harmful, powerful, tasteful, thoughtful
-ic/-ical
ic/-ical – athletic, energetic, magical, scientific
-ine
ine – bovine, canine, equine, feminine, masculine
-ile
ile – agile, docile, fertile, virile
-ive
ive – informative, native, talkative
-less
less – careless, endless, homeless, timeless
-ous
ous – cautious, dangerous, enormous, malodorous
-some
some – awesome, handsome, lonesome, wholesome
Similarly, you can form adjectives with a prefix like un-, im-/in-/ir-/il-, non-, dis-
un – unfortunate, uncomfortable, unjust
im-/in-/ir-/il – immature, impatient, improbable, inconvenient, irreplaceable, illegal
non – non-fiction, non-political, non-neutral
dis – disloyal, dissimilar, dishonest
D. Summary Table
Adjectives are describing words.
They add meaning to the nouns.
They are generally placed before the nouns they describe.
Descriptive Adjective or Adjective of Quality
Adjective of Quantity
Definite Numeral Adjective or Adjective of number
Kinds of Adjectives Demonstrative Adjective
Interrogative Adjective
Possessive Adjective
Emphasizing Adjective
We add suffixes/ letters such as –al, -ion, -y, -ful, - ic, - ar, -ing etc. to words to form adjectives.
Example: Nature – natural (adjective)
Formation of Adjectives
Ice – icy (adjective)
History – historic (adjective)
Adjective handout
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