Details on Adjective

1. Adjectives
What is an adjective?
Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, making your writing and speaking much
more specific, and a whole lot more interesting. Words like small, blue, and sharp are descriptive,
and they are all examples of adjectives. Because adjectives are used to identify or quantify individual
people and unique things, they are usually positioned before the noun or pronoun that they modify.
Some sentences contain multiple adjectives.
Adjective Examples
In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:
1. They live in a big, beautiful
2. Since it’s a hot day, Lisa is wearing a sleeveless
3. The mountaintops are covered in sparkling
4. On her birthday, Brenda received an antique vase filled with fragrant
Types of Adjectives
Remember that adjectives can modify as well as describe other words, and you’ll find it much easier
to identify different types of adjectives when you see them.
Articles
There are only three articles, and all of them are adjectives: a, an, and the. Because they are used
to discuss non-specific things and people, a and an are called indefinite articles. For example:
 I’d like a
 Let’s go on an
Neither one of these sentences names a specific banana or a certain adventure. Without more
clarification, any banana or adventure will do.
The word the is called the definite article. It’s the only definite article, and it is used to indicate very
specific people or things:
 Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.
 Let’s go on an adventure. The Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!
Possessive Adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:

2.  My
 Your
 His
 Her
 Its
 Our
 Their
Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.
Demonstrative Adjectives
Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific people,
animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.
 These books belong on that
 This movie is my favorite.
 Please put those cookies on the blue plate.
Coordinate Adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are separated with commas or the word and, and appear one after another to
modify the same noun. The adjectives in the phrase bright, sunny day and long and dark night are
coordinate adjectives. In phrases with more than two coordinate adjectives, the word and always
appears before the last one; for example: The sign had big, bold, and bright letters.
Be careful, because some adjectives that appear in a series are not coordinate. In the phrase green
delivery truck, the words green and delivery are not separated by a comma because green modifies
the phrase delivery truck. To eliminate confusion when determining whether a pair or group of
adjectives is coordinate, just insert the word and between them. If and works, then the adjectives are
coordinate and need to be separated with a comma.
Numbers Adjectives
When they’re used in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a number
is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”
 The stagecoach was pulled by a team of six
 He ate 23 hotdogs during the contest, and was sick afterwards.
Interrogative Adjectives
There are three interrogative adjectives: which, what, and whose. Like all other types of adjectives,
interrogative adjectives modify nouns. As you probably know, all three of these words are used to
ask questions.
 Which option sounds best to you?

3.  What time should we go?
 Whose socks are those?
Indefinite Adjectives
Like the articles a and an, indefinite adjectives are used to discuss non-specific things. You might
recognize them, since they’re formed from indefinite pronouns. The most common indefinite
adjectives are any, many, no, several, and few.
 Do we have any peanut butter?
 Grandfather has been retired for many
 There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
 I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
 We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.
Attributive Adjectives
Attributive adjectives talk about specific traits, qualities, or features – in other words, they are used to
discuss attributes. There are different kinds of attributive adjectives:
 Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting, beautiful or cheapest can indicate
value or talk about subjective measures.
 Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities including specific physical
properties. Some examples include small, large, square, round, poor, wealthy, slow and
 Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general ages. Examples are old, young,
new, five-year-old, and
 Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that indicate color. Examples
include pink, yellow, blue, and
 Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person, place, animal or thing.
Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican, French.
 Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples include cotton, gold,
wool, and
 Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more specific; examples
include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.
Adjective Exercises
Find the adjective or adjectives that fit in each of the blanks best.
1. We visited the museum, where we saw ____________ artifacts.
A. A lot of
B. Ancient
C. John’s
D. A room filled with

4. 2. I received ______________ awards at the ceremony today.
A. The manager’s
B. Two
C. Information about
D. Motivation at the
3. Please get me a bag of ____________ apples.
A. Interesting
B. Ripe red
C. Oranges and
D. Real
4. The president sat in a _______________ chair.
A. Important
B. Barber’s
C. Funny
D. Leather
5. ________________ weather is the norm in San Francisco.
A. Blue
B. Big
C. Foggy
D. The best
Answer Key:
1. A – We visited the museum, where we saw ancient artifacts.
2. B – I received two awards at the ceremony today.
3. B – Please get me a bag of ripe red apples.
4. D – The president sat in a leather chair.
5. C – Foggy weather is the norm in San Francisco.
Examples
Appearance adjectives
 adorable
 beautiful
 clean
 drab
 elegant
 fancy

5.  glamorous
 handsome
 long
 magnificent
 old-fashioned
 plain
 quaint
 sparkling
 ugliest
 unsightly
 wide-eyed
Color adjectives
 red
 orange
 yellow
 green
 blue
 purple
 gray
 black
 white
Condition adjectives
 alive
 better
 careful
 clever
 dead
 easy
 famous
 gifted
 helpful
 important
 inexpensive
 mushy
 odd
 powerful
 rich
 shy
 tender

6.  uninterested
 vast
 wrong
Personality adjectives – Positive
 agreeable
 brave
 calm
 delightful
 eager
 faithful
 gentle
 happy
 jolly
 kind
 lively
 nice
 obedient
 proud
 relieved
 silly
 thankful
 victorious
 witty
 zealous
Personality adjectives – Negative
 angry
 bewildered
 clumsy
 defeated
 embarrassed
 fierce
 grumpy
 helpless
 itchy
 jealous
 lazy
 mysterious
 nervous
 obnoxious

7.  panicky
 repulsive
 scary
 thoughtless
 uptight
 worried
Shape adjectives
 broad
 chubby
 crooked
 curved
 deep
 flat
 high
 hollow
 low
 narrow
 round
 shallow
 skinny
 square
 steep
 straight
 wide
Size adjectives
 big
 colossal
 fat
 gigantic
 great
 huge
 immense
 large
 little
 mammoth
 massive
 miniature
 petite
 puny

8.  scrawny
 short
 small
 tall
 teeny
 teeny-tiny
 tiny
Sound adjectives
 cooing
 deafening
 faint
 hissing
 loud
 melodic
 noisy
 purring
 quiet
 raspy
 screeching
 thundering
 voiceless
 whispering
Time adjectives
 ancient
 brief
 early
 fast
 late
 long
 modern
 old
 old-fashioned
 quick
 rapid
 short
 slow
 swift
 young

9. Taste/touch adjectives
 bitter
 delicious
 fresh
 greasy
 juicy
 hot
 icy
 loose
 melted
 nutritious
 prickly
 rainy
 rotten
 salty
 sticky
 strong
 sweet
 tart
 tasteless
 uneven
 weak
 wet
 wooden
 yummy
Touch adjectives
 boiling
 breeze
 broken
 bumpy
 chilly
 cold
 cool
 creepy
 crooked
 cuddly
 curly
 damaged
 damp
 dirty

10.  dry
 dusty
 filthy
 flaky
 fluffy
 freezing
 hot
 warm
 wet
Quantity adjectives
 abundant
 empty
 few
 full
 heavy
 light
 many
 numerous
 sparse
 substantia
Forming adjectives
Typical adjective endings
Some adjectives can be identified by their endings. Typical adjective endings include:
1. -able/-ible understandable, capable, readable, incredible
2. -al mathematical, functional, influential, chemical
3. -ful beautiful, bashful, helpful, harmful
4. -ic artistic, manic, rustic, terrific
5. -ive submissive, intuitive, inventive, attractive
6. -less sleeveless, hopeless, groundless, restless
7. -ous gorgeous, dangerous, adventurous, fabulous
Sometimes when adding these endings changes have to be made. Here are some rules for forming
adjectives and their exceptions:

11. Add Exceptions Word Adjective
-al If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it
Nature
Function
Natural
Functional
-y If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it
Ice
Oil
Icy
Oily
-ful If ending with a ‘y‘, replace with an ‘i‘
Beauty
Peace
Beautiful
Peaceful
-ous/-ious If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it
Mystery
Danger
Mysterious
Dangerous
-ic If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it
History
Rust
Historic
Rustic
Forming adjectives from nouns and verbs
Adjectives can be formed from different words. They can be formed from nouns:
Noun Adjective
accident accidental
danger dangerous
length long
star starry

12. Noun Adjective
wind windy
From verbs:
Verb Adjective
enjoy enjoyable
help helpful
obey obedient
play playful
talk talkative
Or even from other adjectives:
Adjective Adjective
comic comical
correct corrective
elder elderly
red reddish

13. Adjective Adjective
sick sickly
Examples of forming adjectives
1. Our house color is a kind of yellow. → We live in a yellowish house.
2. He often acts like a child. → He often acts in a childish way.
3. The event was a big success. → We enjoyed a successful event.
4. We enjoyed the sound of the drum’s rhythm. → We enjoyed the drum’s rhythmic sound.
5. She adopted a dog without a home. → She adopted a homeless dog.
6. Look out, that plant is poison. → Look out for that poisonous plant.
7. It looks like it will rain today. → It looks like we’ll have rainy weather today.
8. She always acts with courtesy. → She always behaves in a courteous manner.
9. Her hair is pretty. → She has the prettiest hair.
10. We go for a walk each day. → We go for a daily walk.
Forming adjectives exercises
1. Choose the adjective from each of the following groups of words:
A. inventive, invent, invented
B. curiosity, curious, curiousive
C. proliferate, prolific, proud
Answers: A – inventive B – curious C – prolific
2. Form adjectives from the following nouns:
A. smell
B. chill
C. width
Answers: A – smelly B – chilly C – wide
3. Form adjectives from the following verbs:
A. interested
B. amazed

14. C. annoyed
Answers: A – interesting B – amazing C – annoying
4. Form adjectives from the following verbs. Some words may be formed into more than one
adjective:
A. escape
B. improve
C. damage
Answers: A – escaped, escaping B – improved, improving C – damaged, damaging
5. Form longer adjectives from the following adjectives. Some words may be formed into more than
one adjective:
A. funny
B. incorrect
C. blue
Answers: A – funnier, funniest B – incorrectly C – bluest, bluer, blueish
6. Form adjectives from the following nouns:
A. magic
B. fool
C. lady
Answers: A – magical B – foolish C – ladylike
7. Form two adjectives from each of the following nouns:
A. life
B. power
C. friend
Answers: A – lifelike, lifeless B – powerful, powerless C – friendly, friendless
8. Form adjectives from each of the following nouns:
A. cost
B. war
C. month
Answers: A – costly B – warlike C – monthly
9. Form adjectives from each of the following nouns:
A. poison

15. B. courtesy
C. mystery
Answers: A – poisonous B – courteous C – mysterious
10. Form adjectives from each of the following nouns:
A. athlete
B. photograph
C. science
Answers: A – athletic B – photographic C – scientific