Adjective is a part of speech that describes, qualifies, or places limits on a noun or pronoun. Adjectives are said to modify nouns or pronouns.
As a part of speech, adjectives are single words. However, clauses and phrases may serve roughly the same function. For example, in the angry woman and the woman angered by his crude behavior, the phrase angered by his crude behavior modifies the noun woman, just as the word angry does. Relative clauses generally function as adjectives. For example, in “The man whose sister is arriving from France,” the relative clause whose sister is arriving from France modifies the man. These clauses and phrases that serve as adjectives are called adjectival clauses and phrases.
A speaker or writer uses adjectives to add detail, to make distinctions, and to be precise about what they are saying. For example, various adjectives can make the noun tulip more and more specific. A red tulip adds a quality. A big, beautiful, red tulip adds even more detail. Sometimes the effects are more dramatic. An alleged murderer is not necessarily a murderer. A false prophet is not a prophet at all.
The position of adjectives.
Adjectives can occupy three different positions in a sentence. An adjective can come before a noun, as in wild animal. Or an adjective can follow a noun, as in the title Captains Courageous. When adjectives are themselves modified by a prepositional phrase, the adjective and prepositional phrase follow the noun (The wet shirt versus The shirt wet with perspiration).
Adjectives can also follow a linking verb. Linking verbs include the verb to be and such verbs as seem, become, feel, or taste. In the sentence The furniture is durable, the adjective durable follows the linking verb is and modifies the noun furniture.
Adjectives that follow a linking verb are called predicate adjectives. Adjectives that follow nouns and repeat the meaning of the noun in different words are called adjective appositives. For example, The boring lecture, long and dull, lasted until 9 p.m.
Comparison of adjectives.
Adjectives show differences in amount or degree by the addition of function words or by changes in form. The function words less and least show decreasing amounts or degrees. The function words more and most show increasing amounts or degrees. Adjectives have three degrees of comparison, called the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. Some adjectives, usually those of one or two syllables, add –er to form the comparative and –est to form the superlative, as in dry, drier, driest and high, higher, highest. Adjectives of more than two syllables use function words, as in beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful and generous, less generous, least generous.
Many adjectives, including handsome, happy, lovely, and proud, may be compared by either method—for example, happy, happier, happiest; or happy, more happy, most happy.
A special group of adjectives show comparison by irregular forms. That is, their changes in form follow no set rules. Examples include bad, worse, worst and good, better, best.
Although many adjectives show three degrees of comparison, such adjectives as chief, main, and foremost exist in only one degree and cannot be compared at all. There is a difference of opinion about whether adjectives such as round, perfect, and unique can be compared. Many persons consider them absolute adjectives that cannot show degree, except in phrases such as almost round, more nearly perfect, and almost completely unique. However, such comparisons as more round, more perfect, and most unique have become increasingly common in informal usage.
Classifying adjectives.
Adjectives are classified into several types according to their meaning and function.
Descriptive adjectives specify the kind, nature, or condition of the words they modify, as in When we saw the fierce dog, we grew cautious.
Proper adjectives come from a proper name and are written with a capital letter. Some examples of proper adjectives are: American flag, Roman numerals, and Shakespearean sonnets.
Interrogative adjectives ask a question, as in Which car do you mean? or What difference does it make?
Determiners are adjectives that place limits on a noun rather than add description. Several groups of words serve as determiners. They include the articles a, an, and the; the demonstrative adjectives that, this, these, and those; and the indefinite adjectives all, each, no, some, other, and much; and such numbers as one box and second place. Some scholars consider determiners to be a separate part of speech.
Usage.
The careful use of adjectives can clarify meaning, but too many adjectives in a sentence may confuse a reader or listener. One carefully chosen adjective often can express more information than two or three vague ones.
Sometimes a person may have difficulty in deciding whether to use an adjective or an adverb after certain verbs. If the sentence requires a word to modify the verb, the choice should be an adverb—for example, Helen sings well, not Helen sings good. If the sentence requires a word following a linking verb to modify the subject, the choice should be an adjective—for example, I feel bad, not I feel badly. In the sentence He looked calmly at the judge, the word calmly is an adverb that modifies looked. It describes the manner in which the person acted. In the sentence He looked calm, the word calm is a predicate adjective that modifies he. It describes the condition of the subject.
Errors in agreement can be created when such words as kind, sort, and type are used with the demonstrative adjectives this or that. In such cases, both the adjective and the noun should be either singular or plural. For example, I like this kind of motion picture or I like these kinds of motion pictures, but not I like these kind of motion pictures.
