By OFW chief editor: Carlos J Cortes And Renée Miller
Published: September 24, 2012
Are there different types of adjectives?
There are six classes of adjectives in the English language:
Numeric: five, eleven, four hundred
Quantitative: more, all, some, half, enough
Qualitative: red, soft, sweet, thick
Possessive: my, his, their, your
Interrogative: which, whose, what
Demonstrative: this, that, those, these
Each category of adjectives will describe nouns in a different way.
Descriptive adjectives
Numeric, quantitative, and qualitative adjectives modify nouns, adding features, nature, feel, personality, age, or number. Asking of the noun what kind identifies a descriptive adjective.
Paula has a large tree house.
What kind of tree house? A large one.
The pet alligator is spotted.
What kind of alligator? A spotted one.
Common adjectives
These describe nouns or pronouns.
Intelligent man
Red rose
Awesome view
Proper adjectives
These are adjectives formed from proper nouns.
Mexican food
European fashion
Compound adjectives
These are made up of more than one word.
Far-off state
Sage-green dress
Possessive, demonstrative, and indefinite adjectives
These adjectives are similar to possessive, demonstrative, and indefinite pronouns, except that they modify a noun phrase, pronoun, or noun. Asking of the noun whose identifies a possessive adjective
Bart loved his lizard.
Whose lizard? His.
Chloe often gave comfort to her brother.
Whose brother? Her.
Interrogative Pronouns like which, what, who, or whose can act as Determiners.
What referee did Josh offend?
It doesn’t matter which pizza you order.
Which runner arrived last?
He doesn’t know whose wine he drank.
Asking of the noun which identifies a demonstrative adjective.
Are there different types of adjectives?
There are six classes of adjectives in the English language:
European fashion
Compound adjectives
Whose lizard? His.
Whose brother? Her.