Unit 3

ADJECTIVES
 What are Adjectives?

•Adjectives are modifiers. They modify nouns or pronouns. This means

they change the image of a noun or pronoun.

• Adjectives can be located by asking the questions:

What kind?
Which one?
How many?
How much?
 Adjectives
Picture a dog in your mind.
Do you have an image in your head?

Now make it small

It is a small dog
 Adjectives
Picture a dog in your mind.
Do you have an image in your head?

Now make it brown

It is a brown dog
 Adjectives
Picture a dog in your mind.
Do you have an image in your head?

Now make it tired

It is a tired dog
 Adjectives
Picture a dog in your mind.
Do you have an image in your head?

Now make it three-

legged

It is a three-legged
dog
 Limiting Adjectives
Limiting adjectives point out nouns.

There are five kinds of them:

Articles
Possessives
Demonstratives
Indefinites
Interrogatives
 Limiting Adjectives
Many limiting adjectives have also been studied as pronouns.

How do you tell when they are pronouns and when they are
adjectives?

• If a word is a pronoun, it will be renaming a person, place, or thing.

Ex. That is a pencil. (That is renaming the pencil; therefore, it is a
pronoun.)

• If a word is an adjective, it will be pointing out a noun. Ex. That

pencil is big. (That is pointing out a pencil, and pencil is a noun;
therefore, it is an adjective.)
 Articles
There are three articles:
a, an, the

“A” and “an” are called indefinite articles because they do not point nouns out
as specifically. 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” is called a definite article because it points out nouns more specifically.
For example:

• 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!
 Articles
• “The” can be used before both • “The” can be used before both
singular and plural nouns. Ex. vowels and consonants. Ex. the
the cat, the houses ant, the car

• “A” and “an” can only be used • “A” must be used before
before singular nouns. Ex. a consonant sounds. Ex. a duck, a
book, an elephant fossil, a uniform

• “An” must be used before a vowel

sounds. Ex. an umbrella, an
excuse
 Descriptive Adjectives
• Descriptive adjectives simply describe the noun or pronoun!

• They add some sensory image to your sentence which allows the
reader to see, smell, hear, touch, or taste something in the
sentence.

• All of the modifiers in the earlier section of the slide show

concerning the dog were descriptive adjectives. They made the dog
small, brown, tired and three-legged. Those words are all
adjectives!
 Proper Adjectives
• One type of descriptive adjective is called the proper
adjective.

• Proper adjectives are derived from, or come from, proper

nouns. This means that they must always be capitalized.

• Proper adjectives sometimes are formed by adding a

suffix to the proper noun.
 Proper Adjectives
Examples of Proper
Proper Noun
Adjectives
Proper Adjective
America American
France French
China Chinese
Texas Texan
The Chinese dumplings are the best item on the menu. (Chinese)
German chocolate cake is very rich in flavor and texture.  (German)
The Japanese paper cranes are meant for good luck. (Japanese)
The African drums sounded loud in the concert hall.  (African)
The Russian opera by Stravinsky is very beautiful. (Russian)
 Possessive Adjectives
• Possessive adjectives show ownership of a noun.

• These words are the same as the possessive

pronouns.

• There are fourteen possessive adjectives:

my, mine our, ours

your, yours your, yours
his, her, hers, their, theirs
its
 Demonstrative Adjectives
• Demonstrative adjectives point out a noun.
• They are the same words as the demonstrative
pronouns.
• There are four demonstratives:

This
That
These
Those
 Indefinite Adjectives
• Indefinite adjectives point out nouns.
• They often tell “how many” or “how much” of
something.
• There are seventeen of them:

all, any, another, both, each, either,

few, little, many, more, most, much,
neither, one, other, several, some
 Interrogative Adjectives
• Interrogative adjectives are used to ask questions.

• Three of them were also interrogative pronouns

which , what , whose

 Location of Adjectives
Adjectives can be located in three places in a sentence.

1. The most common location is directly in front of the noun it is modifying.

Ex. the big dog, the new toy

2. Another location is after a linking verb or verb of condition. These are

called predicate adjectives.
Ex. The game was interesting.

3. The final location of adjectives occurs after a noun when it is set off by
commas.
Ex. The book, well-written and suspenseful, kept my interest.
Now take the assessment on
Adjectives!