Adjectives help us make our language easier to understand and it helps to paint pictures in our heads. We use them to describe things.
Adjective
Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They tell us in regard to nouns or pronouns, how many, what color, what size or shape, and they can also describe how something feels, sounds, tastes, or smells.
Examples of adjectives:
Athletic
Attractive
Beautiful
Bored
Brave
Calm
Rotten
Spectacular
Example:
Azaleas do best in spongy, acid soil.
In the above sentence, the adjectives are “spongy,” and “acid.” We normally separate two adjectives with a comma, as you can see in the sentence above.
Proper Adjectives
These adjectives are formed from proper nouns. Remember, proper nouns name a particular person, place, or thing.
Let’s look at an example:
Our modern Olympics come from an ancient Greek tradition.
In the above sentence, Greece would be the proper noun. And the word, Greek, would be the adjective.
See if you can use what you just learned to figure out what the adjective is and what the proper noun would be, in the following sentence.
Several American skaters have won awards in international competitions.
Predicate Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe a noun or pronoun. When we look at predicate adjectives, we see that predicate adjectives follow linking verbs such as, is, seems, looks, etc. If an adjective follows a linking verb, it can describe the subject of a sentence. If you put different adjectives in different spots, in different sentences, both adjectives can be used to describe one subject, i.e. the noun or pronoun.
Let’s look at some examples:
Stephen is young and adventurous.
In the sentence above, Stephen is the subject. Also, Stephen is a proper noun. The adjectives in this sentence are “young,” and “adventurous.” The linking verb here is “is.” (Linking verbs will be covered in a future article.)
That spider looks terrifying.
In the above sentence, the word “spider” is the noun. The linking verb is the word “looks,” and the adjective is the word “terrifying.”
Look below and see if you can spot the noun or pronoun, the linking verb, and the adjective(s).
Tree bark once seemed inedible.
Voltfruits are sometimes sour.
Link is courageous and daring.
Articles and Demonstrative Adjectives
Articles are these words: a, an, the
Demonstrative adjectives are these words: this, that, these, those
You use the word “a” for a word that begins with a consonant sound. You use “an” before a word that begins with a vowel sound.
The word “the” can be used before a word that begins with a consonant or a vowel.
Side note: If you’re reading this article, I am assuming you already know the difference between consonants and vowels. If not, there are many online resources that can help you.
Here are some more examples to help illustrate the above.
Have you ever seen a scorpion?
In the above sentence the word “a” is the article and the word “scorpion” is a word that begins with a consonant.
The scorpion is a nocturnal and solitary insect.
In the above sentence, the word “the” is an article, and again the word “scorpion” is the noun and the subject in this sentence.
Let’s look at one more example:
This scorpion terrified those children.
In the above sentence, the word “this” is a demonstrative adjective. The subject or noun is the word “scorpion.”
Can you find articles and demonstrative adjectives on your own when you read?
Adjectives that Compare
Adjectives are words that compare two nouns or pronouns.
When using adjectives that compare you add est to most of them. Sometimes you have to change the y to an i before adding er or est to words that end in a consonant and a y.
Regarding using adjectives, we use the word “more” to compare two nouns or pronouns. And sometimes we use the word “most” for the same reasons.
The above may sound confusing so let’s see some ways we can put this in action.
The mountains there are the most beautiful that I have ever seen.
In the sentence above the word “most” is the adjective.
Carson City, the state capital, is not the largest city in Nevada.
In this sentence the word “largest” is the adjective. If you add est to large, it becomes largest.
Now it’s your turn to look for these in the next books you read, or the next sites you read online.
Special Forms of Adjectives that Compare
These adjectives are also called irregular. Anyway, these adjectives have special forms or irregular forms for comparing.
Here is a way to see this:
Let’s use the adjective “good.”
When comparing this adjective, if we compare it to two things, we can use the word “better.”
If we compare this adjective with two or more things, we can use the word “best.”
Let’s see another way how this works.
The Great War brought many Sicilians to America for a better life.
In the above sentence, the word “better” is an irregular form of an adjective. You can use the word “best,” but if you read the sentence out loud and use the word “best” instead of “better,” you will see it does not roll off the tongue as easily.
Let’s try one more!
Many Sicilians chose New York City as their new home.
In the sentence above, try reading the sentence out loud and use the word “much,” instead of the word “many.” You will see that it doesn’t work.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it has had some value for you. Please leave comments, share, etc.
Suggested Readings and Recommended Links
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjective-what.htm
https://www.usinggrammar.com/english-grammar/comparison-adjectives-special-forms.php
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-linking-verbs.html
