ADJECTIVES

Identifying adjectives

An adjective is a word that refers to a characteristic of a noun. How can you identify an adjective?

If you can put a word between the and a noun (like boy, or idea), then that word is an adjective.

Quick tip

If you can put a word between the and a noun (for example, the _____ boy), then that word is an adjective.

For example, since we can say the tall boy, tall is an adjective. Similarly, we can say the silly boy, the interesting boy, and the young boy. Therefore, silly, interesting, and young are alladjectives.

A number of adjectives, all used in the phrase the ________ boy are listed below. The adjectives are underlined:

1. the brilliant boy

2. the embarrassed boy

3. the blonde boy

4. the hungry boy

5. the delightful boy

Compare these phrases to*the very boy,*the a boy, and*the talk boy. Very, a, and talk are not adjectives.

What do adjectives actually do? Adjectives always tell us something about a noun.

Another way of saying this is that they modify a noun. In the phrases we’ve just looked at, the underlined adjectives tell us something about, or modify, the noun boy.

Answers

Answers

As we’ve said, a good way to decide if a word is an adjective is to see if it can be placed between the and a noun. But that doesn’t mean that that’s the only place where an adjective can occur; it’s just a way to test a word to see if it’s an adjective.

Here are some sentences where the adjective is in a different place. In each case, the adjective is underlined.

6. He is a tall boy.

7. My best friend loves chocolate cake.

8. The house had a low roof.

9. Large cars are harder to drive than small cars.

Let’s make sure that each of the underlined words above passes the adjective test, that is, that it can appear between the and a noun.

10. tall: the tall boy

11. best: the best movie

12. chocolate: the chocolate bar

13. low: the low ceiling

14. large: the large window

15. small: the small window.

As you can see, each of these words passes the adjective test. Notice also that each of these words describes a characteristic of a noun.

Answers

What do you notice about the underlined adjectives in the phrases below?

16. the delicious rich cake

17. my tall, red-haired, entertaining friend

18. a bright, colorful, blue, striped pattern

As you can see, a noun can have more than one adjective modifying it. In fact, there is no limit to the number of adjectives that can modify a noun (except the patience and tolerance of the listener!).

Answers

Remember that sometimes a word can function as one word category, or part of speech, in one sentence, and as another word category in another sentence (see Concrete and abstract nouns). For example, let’s look at the word cream. In the sentence I brought the cream, cream is a noun. But in the sentence That’s a cream cake, cream is an adjective, telling us more about the noun cake.

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Answers

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مواضيع ذات صلة

Grammatical Relations Subjects and objects

Form, meaning, and use Conclusion

Grammar as a system of rules

Analyzing Grammar Grammatical form Form, meaning, and use

Implied subjects: commands

Indirect objects

Direct objects

Subjects

SUBJECTS AND OBJECTS

Tense

Progressive be

Perfect have