Adjectives [Butte.edu] Flashcards
Adjectives part 1
ADJECTIVES
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An adjective is a word used to describe, or modify, noun or a pronoun.
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Adjectives usually answer questions like “which one”, “what kind”, or “how many”:
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-“that hilarious” book
-the “red” one
-“several heavy” books
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In English, adjectives usually precede nouns or pronouns.
However, in sentences with linking verbs, such as the to be verbs or the “sense” verbs, adjectives can follow the verb
(for more information on to be or “sense” verbs, see the TIP Sheet “Verbs”):
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-Dave Barry’s books are “hilarious”; they seem so “random”.
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One good adjective can be invaluable in producing the image or tone you want.
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You may also “stack” adjectives–as long as you don’t stack them too high.
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In general, if you think you need more than three adjectives, you may really just need a better noun.
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For instance, instead of saying the “unkempt”, “dilapidated”, “dirty” “little” house, consider just saying the “hovel”.
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(It’s not true that he who uses the most adjectives wins; it’s he who uses the most suitable adjectives.)
Adjectives part 2
Descriptive adjectives
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Descriptive adjectives (“steamy”,”stormy”) call up images, tones, and feelings.
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“Steamy weather” is different from”stormy weather”.
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“Steamy” and “stormy” conjure different pictures, feelings, and associations.
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Many descriptive adjectives come from verbs.
The verb “had broken”, without the helper “had”, is an adjective:
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-a “broken” keyboard.
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Likewise, the “-ing” verb form, such as is “running”, used without its helper “is”, can be an adjective:
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“runningshoes”.
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(For more on “-ed” and “-ing” forms, see the TIP SheetS “Verbs” and “Consistent Verb Tense.”)
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Nouns can be used as adjectives, too.
For instance, the noun “student” can be made to modify, or describe, the noun “bookstore”:
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-the “student bookstore”.
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Nouns often combine to produce compound adjectives that modify a noun as a unit, usually joined by hyphens when they precede the noun.
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When they follow the noun, the hyphens are omitted:
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-He was an “18-year-old” boy, but the girl was only “16 years old”.
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Other compound adjectives do not use hyphens in any case.
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In “income tax” forms,income taxis a compound adjective that does not require a hyphen.
Adjectives part 3
Articles
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“The”, “an”, and “a”, called “articles”, are adjectives that answer the question which one?
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“The” modifies a noun or pronoun by limiting its reference to a particular or known thing, either singular or plural.
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“A” expands the reference to a single non-specific or previously unknown thing.
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“An” is similar to “a”, but is used when the word following it begins with a vowel sound:
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-“the” books on “the” table
-“a” book from “an” online store, “the” one we ordered last week
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See the TIP sheet “Articles” for more information.
Adjectives part 4
“Demonstrative adjectives”
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Demonstrative adjectives answer the question “which one(s)”?
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They are the only adjectives that have both a singular and plural form–“this” and “that” are singular;
“these” and “those” are plural.
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Demonstrative adjectives point to particular or previously named things.
“This” and “these” indicate things nearby (in time or space), while “that” and “those” suggest distance (in time or space):
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“This” novel is the worst I’ve ever read; “these” biographies are much better.
Tell me more about “that” author; why does she write about “those” events?
Adjectives part 5
Possessive adjectives
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Possessive adjectives answer the question “whose”?
They include”my, our, your, his, her, its”, and “their”:
-“our” joke book
-“its” well-worn pages
Adjectives part 6
Indefinite adjectives
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Indefinite adjectives include
“some, many, any, few, several,” and “all”:
-“some” jokes
-“few” listeners
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Note that these words can also be used as pronouns:
-“Some” were in bad taste;
-“few” could carpool.
For more, see the TIP Sheets “Pronouns” and “Pronoun Reference.”
Adjectives part 7
Questioning adjectives
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“Which” and “what” are adjectives when they modify nouns or pronouns:
“Which” joke did you like better, and “what”reason can you give for your preference?
Like indefinite adjectives, the questioning (or interrogative) adjectives can also function as pronouns;
see the TIP Sheets “Pronouns” and “Pronoun Reference.”
Adjectives part 8
Adjective order and punctuation
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Some stacks of adjectives can be rearranged freely without changing the meaning.
They are “coordinate adjectives”, and they are equal and separate in the way they modify a noun.
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For example, we can freely rearrange
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-a “dull”, “dark”, and “depressing” day:
-a “depressing”, “dark”, “dull” day.
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Separate two or more coordinate adjectives with commas (note that no comma goes immediately before the noun).
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Other adjective groups cannot be freely rearranged.
These “cumulative adjectives” are not separated by commas.
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-“Rich chocolate layer”
cake cannot be changed to
-“layer chocolate rich” cake.
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For more on identifying and punctuating coordinate and cumulative adjectives, see the TIP Sheet “Commas.”
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If you were born to English, you may not realize that there are rules for placing adjective groups in order.
For example, the determiner (a,an,the) comes first, then size words, then color, then purpose:
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-“a large, purple sleeping bag”
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You can’t freely rearrange these adjectives and say, for example, “sleeping”, “purple”, “a large” bag without awkwardness, absurdity, or loss of meaning.
The rule is that a stack of adjectives generally occurs in the following order:
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opinion (useful,lovely,ugly),
size (big,small),
age (young,old),
shape (square,squiggly),
color (cobalt,yellow),
origin (Canadian,solar),
material (granite,wool), and
purpose (shopping,running).
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-“scary, squiggly solar flares”
-“lovely, cobalt, Canadian running shoes”
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“Cobalt, running, Canadian, lovely shoes” doesn’t work.
If English is a second language for you, consult an ESL guide for more information.
