7.1.1: Descriptive Adjectives (People and Places)
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What is an Adjective?
An adjective modifies a noun. In other words, it gives more information about the noun, such as what kind, how many, or which one. Look at the phrases below and identify the adjective and noun...
- Rolling hills
- Majestic mountains
- Sparkling lakes
Answers
- The adjective was "rolling," the noun was "hills"
- The adjective was "majestic," the noun was mountains
- The adjective was "sparkling," the noun was "lakes"
Descriptive Adjectives
Descriptive adjectives can appear in two places in the sentence. Find the adjectives in these sentences...
- San Diego has sandy beaches
- The beaches in Sand Diego are sandy
Answers
- The descriptive adjective (sandy) comes before the noun (beaches)
- The descriptive adjective (sandy) comes after the linking verb (are)
Recognizing and Creating Adjectives
There are many adjectives in English. Adjectives make your writing more interesting, vivid, and rich. Add adjectives to your vocabulary by using them as you learn them. You can also sometimes recognize adjectives by their endings...
- -able/ible; incredible, doable, readable
- -ful; helpful, restful, doubtful
- -less; restless, helpless, doubtless
- -ic; alcoholic, realistic
- -ive; creative, active
- -al; natural, practical
- -ous; suspicious, decorous
- -ish; childish, selfish
Using Adjectives in Sentences
Adjectives usually come before the noun they modify.
beautiful weather, hot days, hard work, small children, fast cars, old buildings, red dresses, happy days
Sometimes more than one adjective is used to describe only one noun.
fat and happy elderly men sunny, hot, and humid day small cute children
lively little puppies small wooden table shiny, new, red car
Adjectives are never plural in English. In other words, never add an S to an adjective. Notice in the following noun phrases how the adjective does not change from singular to plural despite the nouns changing.
big car / big cars old lady / old ladies rich person / rich people hot dog / hot dogs
Sometimes adjectives are used after the verb “to be” (am, is, are, was, were) and other non-action verbs (verbs that are “inside” the person and don’t show any action) and modify the subject of the sentence.
- The boys are young and handsome.
- I feel old.
- The girl looks happy.
- The milk smells bad.
- We were tired after playing basketball.
- My stomach feels sick.
Exercise 1:
Underline the adjectives and circle the nouns they modify in the following sentences.
1. The girl wore an expensive watch on her left wrist and beautiful bracelets on her right wrist.
2. A good, nutritious meal is better than a sweet unhealthy meal.
3. The affectionate girls kissed their frail old grandmother good-bye when she left.
4. The graceful Asian dancer moved through the air like a beautiful bird on a sunny day.
5. Enthusiastic students are usually happy students; apathetic students are usually lazy students.
Adjectives can also be created from verbs. Some past participles and present participles can be used as adjectives...
| Verb | Past Participle Adjective | Present Participle Adjective |
| Interest | Interested | Interesting |
| Tire | Tired | Tiring |
| Amaze | Amazed | Amazing |
| Fascinate | Fascinated | Fascinating |
| Bore | Bored | Boring |
Adjective Order
Adjectives usually follow a specific order in English. The order is below...
- Determiner: A/an/the, this/that/these/those, my/your/his/her/our/their, many/both/some... etc.
- Opinion: Beautiful, ugly, hard-working, useful... etc.
- Size: Large, small, tiny, huge... etc.
- Age: Old, vintage, new, brand-new... etc.
- Shape: Round, long, thin, square... etc.
- Color: Blue, yellow, gray... etc.
- Origin: Italian, Mexican, Chinese... etc.
- Material: Woolen, cotton, wooden... etc.
- Purpose: Wedding, sleeping, swimming... etc.
It's unusual to use more than two or three adjectives before a noun
Try describing a dress, a car, and a mountain. Use at least two adjectives in the correct order. You can use adjectives from below or write your own...
- A ___________ ____________ dress
- A ___________ ____________ car
- A ___________ ____________ mountain
Adjectives To Choose From
|
Blue Huge Beautiful Mexican Large |
Gray New Small Square Tiny |
Ugly Hard-working Brand-new Italian Chinese |
Old Long Useful Fast Yellow |
- Watch this video for a clear definition of adjectives...
- Watch this video for more details about adjectives...
Parts of this page were adapted from Grammar the Way You Like It by Dan Bissonnette. Licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
Past and Present Participle Adjectives was adapted from Grammar Quizzes Licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license