Universidad Autnoma del Baja California

Facultad de Idiomas, Ensenada

Tronco Comn

Morfosintaxis en Ingls
Adjectives
Samara Castro
Octavio Quezada
Lilia Saldaa
Fernanda Lpez

What are Adjectives?

Adjectives are modifiers.
They modify nouns or pronouns.
This means they change the image of a noun or
pronoun.
Adjectives
questions:

can

be

located

What kind?
Which one?
How many?
How much?

by

asking

the

Kinds of
Adjectives
DETERMINERS
Definitive

The

LIGHT-MODIFIRES
Descriptive

Articles
a
Indefinite
Possessiv
e
Demonstrativ
e
Interrogative
Indefinite
Proper

an

Opinion
Size
Age
Shape
Color
Origin
Material

Articles
There are three articles
A
An
The

The is called a definite article because it

points out nouns more specifically.
The white old car. (Which car? The white
old car)
The Tree is tall and big. (What is tall and
big? The tree)

A/An
This is used when the noun that we wish
to refer to is unknown to our
listener/reader sawaUFO yesterday.
O Tell meastory.
O Have you ever seenatornado?

The can be used before both

vowels and consonants.
Ex. The ant, the car.
A must be used before consonant
sounds.
Ex. A duck, a fossil, a uniform
An must be used before a vowel
sound.
Ex. An umbrella, an excuse.

Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives show ownership of a noun

Singular
My, Your, His, Her, Its
Plural
Our, Your, Their

Now, It is important to differentiate a

possessive pronoun from a possessive
pronoun.
Possessive pronoun takes the place of the
noun while a possessive adjective
describes a noun.
Possessive pronoun usually goes after a
noun while a possessive adjective can
always be found before a noun.

O Ex.

These
books
are
mine
(possessive pronoun)
O
These are my books (possessive
adjective)

O The house at the end of the street is

theirs.(Possessive pronoun)
O Their house is at the end of the
street(possessive adjective)

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.

Ex.
These shoes fit me very well. (these)
Those shoes are too expensive. (those)
This is the best day of my life. (this)
That dog is so adorable. (that)

Difference between
Demonstrative Adjectives and
Demonstrative Pronouns
A demonstrative pronoun takes the
place of a noun.
Ex.
This room is a mess (adjective)
This is your room (pronoun)

Interrogative Adjectives
Interrogative adjectives are used to ask
questions
Which?
What?
Whose?
Ex.
Whosecar will they give us?
Whatcar will they give us?
Whichcar will they give us?

Difference between
Interrogative Adjectives and
Interrogative Pronouns
O Ex.
O Which one is the guy who beat you?
O What are you talking about?

Proper Adjectives.
One type of descriptive adjective is called
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

Sometimes proper nouns do not change in the

form at all when they become proper adjectives.
Ex. President Kennedy was a good leader. (In
this sentence President Kennedy is a person;
therefore, he is a noun.
Ex. The Kennedy Library is very large. (In this
sentence Kennedy is describing the library;
therefore, it is an adjective.

Degree of Adjectives
O An adjective suffer affixation when

we are comparing.
O Ex.
Positive

Comparing

Superlative

Tall

Taller

Tallest

Big

Bigger

Biggest

Slow

Slower

Slowest

Pretty

Prettier

Prettiest

GOOD

BETTER

BEST

Location of Adjectives
Adjectives can be located in three places in a
sentence.
The most common location is directly in front
of the noun it is modifying.
Ex. The big dog, the new boy.

 Another location is after a linking verb or

verb of condition.
O These are called predicated adjectives.
O
Ex. The game was interesting
The final location of adjectives occurs after a
noun when it is set off by commas.
O
Ex. The book, well-written and
suspenseful, kept my interest

Bibliography.
https://
www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-deter
miners.htm
http://www.really-learn-english.com/english-adje
ctives.html
http://
es.slideshare.net/GabbieAllTheWay7/adjective
s-25091631
The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and
Styleby Bryan Garner. Copyright 1995 by Bryan
A. Garner. Published by Oxford University
Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the
gracious consent of Oxford University Press.