ADJECTIVE

An Adjective is a word which describes people, things, events, etc. 

Examples:- 

Mohan is a smart boy. 

Priya is a beautiful girl.

Here, 'smart' is describing 'boy' and 'beautiful' is describing 'girl '. So, smart and beautiful are Adjectives. 

               KINDS OF ADJECTIVE 

There are eight kinds of Adjectives:- 

1. Proper Adjective 

2. Descriptive Adjective or Adjective of Quality 

3. Quantitative Adjective or Adjective of Quantity 

4. Numeral Adjective or Adjective of Number 

5. Demonstrative Adjective 

6. Distributive Adjective 

7. Interrogative Adjective 

8. Possessive Adjective 

1. Proper Adjective:- Proper Adjectives are made from Proper Nouns and start with Capital letters. 

Examples:-

Proper Noun            Proper Adjective 

India                            Indian 

England                      English 

China                          Chinese 

France                        French 

Italy                             Italian 

Portugal                     Portugese 

Nepal                          Nepalese 

Pakistan                     Pakistani

Tibet                            Tibetan,  etc. 

2. Descriptive Adjective:- Descriptive Adjectives define the quality, state, colour,  condition taste, size, etc.of a noun. It is also called Adjective of Quality.

Examples:- 

Quality- true, untrue, false, difficult, interesting  etc. 

Colour- blue, red, green, white, black, dark, light, etc. 

Condition- good, bad, new, clean, dirty, strong, weak, fresh, happy, healthy, etc. 

Taste- sweet, sour,bitter, etc. 

Size- long, small, tall, high, short, wide, etc. 

Shape- round, flat, square, circular, even, etc. 

Feelings- hard, soft, dry, hot, loud, etc. 

Behaviour-kind, cruel, gentle, polite,clever, etc

General Impression- nice, pretty, beautiful, smart, great, pleasant, little, big, etc. 

3. Quantitative Adjective:- It refers to the quantity of a noun. It is used only before Abstract Nouns and Material Nouns. It is also called Adjective of Quantity. 

Examples:-

Some, any, much, little, less, more, whole, no, all, a great deal of, most of, a bit of, a large quantity of, enough, sufficient,  plenty of,  etc.. 

Examples:-

I don't have much money. 

A little sugar is left. 

4. Numeral Adjective:- It refers to the number of a noun. It is also called Adjective of Number. It is of two kinds:-

1. Definite Numerals:- one, two, three, four.............hundred. 

2. Indefinite Numerals:- some, any, few, many, several, all , more, a lot of, lots of, most of, majority of, both, etc. 

3. Numerals of Order- first, second, third,  fourth,  .....................hundredth, etc. 

5. Demonstrative Adjective:- This, that, these, those, yonder, certain, such, same,  etc. are Demonstrative Adjectives. 

Examples:-

This book is mine. 

Some certain people will go there. 

6. Distributive Adjective:- Each, every, either, neither are Distributive Adjectives. 

Examples:-

Each student will get a certificate. 

Every child is a gift of God. 

7. Interrogative Adjective:- What, which, whose are Interrogative Adjectives. They come just before a Noun to ask a question. 

Examples:-

Which book do you want?

Whose watch are you wearing?

8. Possessive Adjective:- My, our, your, his, her, its, their are Possessive Adjectives. 

This is my book. 

That is your book. 

        POSITION OF ADJECTIVES 

1. Attributive  and Predictive Use:- 

An Adjective is used in two ways:-

a. Adjective +Noun ( Attributive Use )

    As- Tom is a rich man 

           This is a beautiful place. 

b. Verb+Adjective ( Predictive Use )

     As- I am hungry. 

            They are careless. 

             You look ill. 

2. Present Participles ( V+ing /V4 )and Past Participles ( en or ed form of Verb/V3 ) are also used as Adjectives and they are known as Participial Adjectives. 

Examples:-

The rising sun is red.

I saw a burning train. 

Look at the moving car. 

He is a retired school teacher. 

Time misspent is time lost.

A burnt child dreads fire.

3. Adjectives Used As Nouns:-

The + Adjective with Plural Meaning 

Examples:- The rich - the rich people 

                     The poor - the poor people 

                     The young - the young people 

                     The healthy - the healthy people   

The sick were in the hospital. 

The blind are helpless. 

But

The sick man was in the hospital. 

The blind man is helpless. 

4. Agreement of Adjective:- 

    I am a good boy. 

    I am a good girl. 

    We are good boys. 

    They are good girls. 

Here, Singular, Plural, Masculine, Feminine- in all the cases, 'good ' is the same. It does not change form. So, it's in Agreement. 

5. Adjectives used in One Position only:-

    a. Adjectives + Nouns 

Some Adjectives are used before Nouns. 

Examples:- elder, eldest, indoor, outdoor, chief, main, principal,  former, utter, only, upper, etc. 

He is my elder brother. 

He is our Chief Minister. 

Chess is an indoor game. 

      b. Verbs + Adjectives 

Some Adjectives are used after Verbs. 

Examples:- ill, well, asleep, alive, awake, afraid, ashamed, alone, alike, pleased, glad, content, fine, unwell, etc. 

He is ill. 

The baby is asleep. 

The man is alive. 

My mother is well. 

6. Order for Placing different Adjectives:-

Quality  - Size, Shape, Length - Colour - Noun or Gerund- Noun 

Examples:-

That is a beautiful high brick wall. 

It is an old square gold watch. 

7. Degree of Comparison:- 

Degree of Comparison comes in respect of Adjectives and Adverbs. 

Here, the similar quality of two persons or things is compared. 

Degree is of three kinds:-

1. Positive Degree - an Adjective in its 

    original form. As- tall, small, good, etc. 

2. Comparative Degree- quality compared as 

    less than or more than. As - taller, smaller, 

    better, etc. 

3. Superlative Degree- best of all or least of all.

As - tallest, smallest, best, etc. 

Degree of Comparison in detail in the next chapter.