What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or pronoun by providing an attribute or description or other detail about the noun.  Adjectives can change, clarify or qualify a noun to give a more complete description of the noun.

Adjectives give information about people, places, and things such as: opinion, size, shape, condition, age, color, pattern, origin, material and purpose.

What are the most common of adjectives?

Attributive adjectives and predicate adjectives are the most common types of adjectives.

1) Attributive adjectives appear before and describe a noun.

2) Predicate adjectives follow linking verbs and describe the subject.

Use
of Adjective

  1. Describing Opinion
  2. Describing Size
  3. Describing Shape
  4. Describing Condition
  5. Describing Age
  6. Describing Color
  7. Describing Pattern
  8. Describing Origin
  9. Describing Material
  10. Describing Purpose

Attributive Adjective
(adjective before noun)

  1. The popular movie is on t.v.
  2.  The big bears ran fast.
  3.  Use the round pen.
  4.  The clean dishes are here.
  5.  The old man yelled at me.
  6.  I like the black car.
  7.  The striped pants are mine.
  8.  The American man is nice.
  9. She has a gold necklace.
  10.  The shopping cart is here.

Predicate Adjective
(adjective after linking verb)

  1. The movie became popular.
  2. The bears were big.
  3. The pan appears round.
  4. The dishes are clean.
  5. The man is old.
  6. The car is black.
  7. Alan’s pants are striped.
  8. The man is American.
  9.  It looks gold.
  10.  na

Is there a correct order when using two or more adjectives before a noun?

There are some occasions when it is necessary to use two or more adjectives to describe a noun, though it is unusual to see more than three adjectives in front of a noun.  In general, adjectives denoting attributes usually occur in a specific order. 

Opinion          Size          Shape          Condition     Age          Color          Pattern         Origin          Material          Purpose          Noun

    1                         2                3                      4                        5                  6                  7                         8                    9                           10                      Noun

lovely                small        round           stiff                    new          brown         twill                European    oak                     shopping          basket

dependable                                                                           old            black                                      American     leather            hunting              boots

mysterious                                                decayed          ancient                                                    Egyptian       brick                                                tomb

Can adjectives be used behind a noun or pronoun?

Adjectives can be used behind nouns and pronouns, however this is less common in modern English.  Adjectives appearing after nouns may appear:

In set phrases and titles

  • A code red was issued by the fire marshal.
  • The president wants to see the attorney general.
  • He thanked God almighty.
  • He ordered the chicken cacciatore

Behind indefinite pronouns

  • Someone  important just walked in.
  • Nothing good will come of this situation.
  • There is not anyone influential here.
  • There is something wrong with the clock.

 How are adjectives formed?

There is no general rule for forming an adjective.  Many adjectives exist independent of rules.  Though, many word endings (suffixes) are common among adjectives.  Here are examples of adjectives formed from nouns with common suffixes.

al | (relating to)
person/personal
 parent/parental
 region/regional
 universe/universal

ary (relating to quality/place)
honor/honorary
legend/legendary
custom/customary
moment/momentary

ful (full of)
color/colorful
care/careful
pain/painful
power/powerful 

ic (the nature of, caused by)
athlete/athletic
symbol/symbolic
history/historic
period/periodic

-ical (having the nature of)
grammar/grammatical
history/historical
logic/logical
numeral/numerical

ish (origin, nature)
child/childish
self/selfish
style/stylish
sheep/sheepish

-less (without)
end/endless
hope/hopeless
home/homeless
use/useless

-like (like)
lady/ladylike
child/childlike
business/businesslike
man/manlike

-ly (like)
friend/friendly
cost/costly
week/weekly
love/lovely

-ous (quality, nature)
danger/dangerous
poison/poisonous
right/righteous
fame/famous

-y (like)
fun/funny
mess/messy
bone/boney
cloud/cloudy

What are some good examples of adjectives in sentences?

More Examples of Adjectives in Sentences

  1. The car is red.
  2.  The man behind the counter is friendly.
  3. It was a small, black, European car.
  4.  Yes, she seems nice.
  5.  I bought them at the new plaza down the street.
  6.  Yes, all the snakes are venomous.
  7.  Did you have a good trip.
  8.  It is likely to be clear and cool.
  9.  Steve Jobs was a creative man.
  10.  Yes, I have worked as an accountant for ten years.

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