ADJECTIVES

Different Kinds of Adjectives

Adjectives
• A lot of the words that you have used in your cline are words that describe or tell
something about a certain object, place or person. Looking back on your past lessons
in English, we call these words that describe as adjectives.

• Adjectives are words that describe nouns and pronouns. To describe is to tell
something about the physical appearance, number, color, size, kind, and even
behavior and attitude. Thus words that do tell us information about these are
adjectives.
Adjectives of Quality
These adjectives are used to describe the nature of a noun. They give an idea
about the characteristics of the noun by answering the question ‘what kind’.

Honest, Kind, Large, Bulky, Beautiful, Ugly, and others

A. New Delhi is a large city with many historical monuments.

B. Sheila is a beautiful woman.
Adjectives of Quantity
These adjectives help to show the amount or the approximate amount of the
noun or pronoun. These adjectives do not provide exact numbers; rather they tell us the
amount of the noun in relative or whole terms.

All, Half, Many, Few, Little, No, Enough, Great, and others
A. They have finished most of the race.

B. Many people came to visit the fair.

Adjectives of Number
These adjectives are used to show the number of nouns and their place in an order.

One, Two, Twenty, Thirty-Three etc. also known as Cardinals.

First, Second, Third, Seventh etc. also known as Ordinals.

Some, Many, Few, Any, Several, All, and others .

Demonstrative Adjectives
This, That, These and Those
A. That bag belongs to Neil.

B. Try using this paintbrush in art class.

C. I really like those shoes.

D. These flowers are lovely.

Interrogative Adjectives
These adjectives are used to ask questions about nouns or in relation to nouns.

Where, What, Which and Whose

A. Whose pen is this?
B. What assignment did I miss out on?
Determiners
These are the various articles (the, a, an), demonstratives
(this, that, these, those), possessives (my, mine, your, yours, -‘s),
quantifiers (all, many etc.), numerals (one, twenty, thirty-seven
etc.) and distributives (each, every, neither, either)
Observation/Opinion Adjectives
Adjectives that give a quantity (also known as post-determiners) and
subjective opinion to the noun, telling ‘how much’ and ‘how was’ the noun.

Few, Most, One, Three/ Beautiful, Ugly, Difficult, and others

Size
The position after Observations is for the adjectives that tell
about the size of the noun, they can be used for an object as well
as living thing.

Huge, Little, Bulky, Thin, Vast, Tiny, Lean, and others.

Age
Adjectives that tell about the age of a noun either by itself
or in relation to another noun.

Young, Old, Teenage, Mature, Recent, Bygone, and others.

Shape
Adjectives that tell the shape and appearance of an object.

Circular, Crooked, Triangular, Oval, Wavy, Straights , and

others
Colour
Adjectives that tell the shade of hue or color of a noun

Pastel, Red, Blue, Metallic, Colourless, Translucent , and others

Origin
Adjectives that show the different geographical locations
associated with a noun

Southern, Northern, Lunar, Mexican, French , and others

Material
Adjectives that talk about the raw material or texture of the
objects or the behaviour of the living nouns.

Wooden, Plastic, Steely, Metallic, Cottony, and others

Exercise 1: Identifying Adjectives
Determine the type of the boldfaced adjectives by choosing from the types provided in the lecture. Write
your answers after each sentence.

1. These Japanese dolls are really adorable.

2. These books need a bit of dusting! They are so dirty.
3. The honest gentleman returned the woman’s leather handbag.
4. The family’s trip to Palawan was really an exciting experience.
5. The vast ocean is filled with so many mysteries.
6. The witches’ crooked nose is covered with warts and moles.
7. His recent journey to the African safari made him appreciate nature more.
8. Her wavy hair really suits the 80’s inspired party.
9. Whose feet are covered with mud and dirt?
10. They have explored one-third of the rainforest on their last trip.
Exercise 2: Identifying Adjectives
1. Research on the internet articles about famous Africans.
2. Go over the articles and select ten sentences that contain adjectives.
3. Copy these sentences and underline the adjectives present in each.
4. Determine the types of the adjectives you have identified.
Exercise 3: Using Adjectives
My Description:

Let’s practice using adjectives! Look at

the pictures below showing different
places and people of Africa. Describe
each using the different kinds of
adjectives on the list above.
Using Adjectives
My Description: My Description:
Using Adjectives
My Description My Description