Adjectives

… ARE WORDS OR PHRASES THAT MODIFY OR DESCRIBE NOUNS OR PRONOUNS.

A noun by itself does not offer much information. If a man wanted to buy a shirt in a shop, he would need to narrow down what he was looking for by using descriptive words like thin or silky. These words are known as adjectives.

• If you are unsure whether a word is an adjective or something else, see if it answers questions such as: What kind? Which one? How much? How many?
• Adjectives should be used sparingly, for effect. Too many adjectives can make a sentence difficult to follow.

The weary painter took off his blue, green and white overalls and ate a day-old Chinese meal because he felt ravenous.

Describing words

Most adjectives describe attributes (characteristics) of nouns or pronouns and answer the question What is it like? They are used to compare one person or thing to other people or things. Adjectives are usually placed directly in front of the noun – a position known as the attributive position.

the weary painter

Listing adjectives

If one word is not enough to describe something, use several adjectives. Each adjective should be separated from the next by a comma. If there is a list of adjectives at the end of the clause, the last adjective must be preceded by and.

blue, green and white overalls

Compound adjectives

Compound adjectives are made up of more than one word. When two or more words are used together as an adjective in front of a noun, they are usually hyphenated. This shows that the two words are acting together as a single adjective.

day-old meal

“Proper” adjectives

Some nouns can be modified and used before other nouns s adjectives. These include proper nouns, such as the names of places. Adjectives formed from proper nouns should always start with a capital letter. The often end in -an, -ian, and -ish.

Chinese

Australian        English

Roman

Predicate adjectives

Many adjectives can also be placed at the end of a sentence, following a verb. This is known as the predicate position. A verb used in this way is called a linking verb, because it connects a subject with a descriptive word. Common linking verbs include seem, look, feel, become, stay and turn.

he felt ravenous

Adjective endings

Many adjectives can be recognised by their endings. Knowing these endings can help to distinguish adjectives from adverbs and verbs. Common endings are –able (comfortable, remarkable), –ible (horrible, edible), –al (fictional, logical), –ful (peaceful, beautiful), –ic (dramatic, fantastic), –ive (attractive, persuasive), –less (careless, useless) and –ous (ravenous, famous).