Adjectives

Adjectives are words that

describe or modify
another person or thing in
the sentence. They help us
give more exact pictures
of what we are telling
about and it gives life and 2
 Adject
ives
Descri Limiti
ptive ng
adjecti adjecti
ves ves
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Descriptive
Adjectives
Descriptive adjectives are picture-making words that
answer the question “what kind of?” these are the words
that give quality, size, age, shape color origin and
material/kind to a noun or pronoun.

(quality) excellent writer (shape) round table

(size) large shirt (origin) Japanese painting
(age) five-year-old child (material) leather shoes
 I. Descriptive Adjectives
1. Proper adjectives = proper nouns used as
adjectives
Examples: Mexican food Thai royalty
Prada bags Adidas shoes
2. Common adjectives= ordinary description
with no affixes
Examples: tall, short, big, kind, round, etc.
I. Descriptive Adjectives
3. Derived adjectives = derived from nouns,
adj., or verbs added with adjective-forming
suffixes
Examples:
-ful=beautiful -ous=famous
-less= careless -al= magical
-ic=metallic -ive= supportive
I. Descriptive Adjectives
4. Noun adjective= noun added to another noun
;usually found in compound nouns
Example: water fountain , water gun
class leader , class adviser
5. Compound adjective= usually hyphenated
Example: two-headed monster
snow-capped mountain
caramel-filled candy
Limiting
adjectives are
words which Limiting
point out an adjectives
object or
indicate its
number or
quantity. They 9
Articles
The articles the, a, and an are the
most commonly used limiting
adjectives.

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1. The is the definite article that refers to a specific
person, place or thing.
the country
the boy
the river
the toy

2. A and An are not as specific as the. They may refer to

any one of a class of people, places or things.

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An is used before a vowel sound.
An eel an apple an undying love
an ice breaker an oven

A is used before consonants including the voiced h, the w-

sound in some o words and y sound in some u words
a cake a pot
a helper a hazard
a once-in-a-lifetime chance a one-way ticket
a unicorn a universal truth
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Numeral
A. Cardinal- used in counting and stating
quantities
One girl
Two girls
Three girls
B. Ordinal- used to indicate a place or
position in a series
First girl
Second girl
Third girl

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Demonstrative adjective

Used to point at people, places or things. These

words are the demonstrative pronouns this, that,
those, and these found beside the nouns they
modify.

These pencils belong to you.

I want that bag very much.

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Possessive adjective
Used to show possession
My, yours, his, her, its, our their

Minda lost her bag.

She took my files.

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 DEGREE OF ADJECTIVES
1. Positive degree – the simplest form

2.Comparative degree – comparing

two things or person

3. Superlative degree – comparing

three or more things or person
 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
1. Add –er and –est to short adjectives of one
syllables (sometimes two syllables)
Positive Comparative Superlative

Short Shorter Shortest

Great Greater Greatest

Small Smaller Smallest

 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
2. If the short adjective ends with consonant
and y, change the y to i and add –er and est.
Positive Comparative Superlative

Lucky Luckier Luckiest

Heavy Heavier Heaviest

Silly Sillier Silliest

 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
3. If the short adjective ends with e add –r
and -st

Positive Comparative Superlative

Fine Finer Finest
Wide Wider Widest
 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
4. Put more (less) and most (least) in front of
longer adjectives (with two or more syllables)
to show comparison.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Appealing Less appealing Least appealing

Remarkable More remarkable Most remarkable

Beautiful More beautiful Most beautiful

 COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES
Some adjectives are irregular adjectives and
don’t follow the rules. They change form
considerably from one degree to the next.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Bad/ill Worse Worst
Good/well Better Best
Many/much More Most
Little Less Least
!
Never use er or est at the same time you
use more or most. These are incorrect.

more shorter most shortest

more older most oldest

more uglier most ugliest

more smaller most smallest

 ADJECTIVE ORDER/
In many languages, attributive adjectives usually occur in a specific
order or the order of adjectives in a series

The categories are:

1.Determiner/Quantity or number
2.Quality or opinion – observation
3.Size and Shape – adjectives subject to objective measure
4.Age – adjectives denoting age
5.Color – adjectives denoting color
6.Origin – adjective denoting source of noun (proper adjective)
7.Material – adjective denoting what something is made of
8.Qualifier or purpose – final limiter often regarded as part of the noun
Examples of the sequence of the Multiple adjectives
in chart form:
Observati
Determiner
/ on/ Physical Characteristics Qualifier/Pur
Quantity Quality Size Shape Age Color Origin Material pose Noun

ten smart huge young black Arabian racing horses

several excellent tiny square old brown Chinese leather reference books

some shiny medium round antique white Indian gold arm bracelets
one pretty tall young English fashion model
hand
few made large oval red Persian wool carpets

some expensive big round white African diamond

famous grand classic brown European wooden piano

one nice small orange Swedish brick cottage house

Series of Adjectives

D-O-S-Sh-A-C-O-M-Q-N
D=Determiners — articles , pronominals, and numerals ( ordinal-cardinal )
O=Observation — relating to opinion (e.g., a real hero, a perfect partner) or
adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
Series of Adjectives

D-O-S-Sh-A-C-O-M-Q-N
Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g.,
wealthy, large, round)
Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)
Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
Series of Adjectives

D-O-S-Sh-A-C-O-M-Q-N
Origin — adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American,
Canadian)
Material — adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen,
metallic, wooden)
Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun( participles-
rocking chair, hunting cabin, and noun adj.- passenger car, book cover)
When adjective belong to a same class (especially quality),
they become coordinated adjectives. We need to put a
comma between them.

Examples:
The expensive, comfortable black English leather shoes can be found in
ShoeMart.
(expensive and comfortable belong to the same class ‘quality’)

The beautiful, expensive red Chinese silk dress is on sale.

 D-O-S-Sh-A-C-O-M-Q-N
Drill #1: Rearrange the adjectives by numbering the them sequentially.
1. Her boyfriend has just bought red, new, sports, a car.
2. Mrs. Sia told us about Asian, her, exciting, tour.
3. Where did you place candle, antique, my, silver holder?
4. I occasionally experience sleepless, some nights.
5. Twenty-seven-year-old, good looking, dance, a, Finn instructor teaches
my sister ballet .