Types Of Adjectives

Types Of Adjectives: Adjectives collectively are words that we use to modify or describe a noun or pronoun. We use adjectives to describe a place, person, or thing. It is one of the eight important parts of speech in the English language.

Adjectives add more clarity and meaning to a sentence. For better understanding and being fluent in the English language, it is important that you understand what Adjectives are and recognize them whenever they are used in a sentence.

For a better understanding of Adjectives, you need to know the types of Adjectives. Based on their similarities, Adjectives are divided into thirteen different types. Let’s have a look at them.

Comparative Adjectives
Superlative Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives
Attributive Adjectives
Predicative Adjectives
Proper Adjectives
Demonstrative Adjectives
Participial Adjectives
Compound Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
Numeral Adjectives
Indefinite Numeral Adjective
Limiting Adjectives
Quantitative Adjectives
Interrogative Adjectives
Distributive Adjectives

Comparative Adjectives

As it is clear from the name itself, comparative Adjectives are used while doing a comparison between two things. We use comparative Adjectives to describe the change or how one thing depends on another. Let’s understand it better by having some examples. The words in bold are Adjectives.

Comparative Adjectives to describe a change:

I need bigger clothes.
She is doing better.

Comparative Adjectives to describe when something changes, we use ‘and’ between two Adjectives :

He is looking more and more upset.
The interest amount is getting bigger and bigger.

Comparative adjective ‘than’ when comparing two things:

He is doing better in class than his sister.
She runs faster than him.

Comparative adjective to describe how a thing depends on another. We use the term ‘the’.

The deeper you go in the woods, the darker it gets.
The faster you finish, the sooner we can leave.

We use the basic Adjectives to form a comparative adjective. There are some rules that apply to this conversion.

For one or two-syllable words.

For words ending with a consonant, we add -er to the end. For example fast becomes faster and dark becomes darker.
For words ending with a ‘y’, we sometimes replace the y with ‘i’ and add -er. For example, the cry becomes crier and pretty becomes prettier. However, for some words, we leave the ‘y’ as it is and add -er to the end. For example shy can be either shyer or shier.

For two or more syllable words we just add more and less before the adjective. For example: more beautiful or less clever.

Superlative Adjectives

Superlatives Adjectives are used to describe the topmost degrees of any quality. Whenever we do a comparison between three or more items or people, we use a superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality anyone possesses. While doing a comparison, we mostly use ‘the’ before the adjective. Let’s take a look at some examples.

She is the smallest member of her family.
The Pacific is the deepest ocean.

Antarctica is the coldest country.

Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive Adjectives are terms that are used to describe the quality or trait of a noun or pronoun. This is the most common type of adjective and most Adjectives are of this type. Let’s take a look at some examples.

She is a nice girl.
He is a player.

Descriptive Adjectives can be further divided into two subtypes- attributive and predicative.

Attributive Adjectives

A descriptive adjective that we use beside the noun to attribute a quality while forming a sentence is an attributive adjective. It is also defined as an adjective in the first place which is placed before a noun, however, it can also be used just after a noun. Let’s understand it more clearly with a few examples.

The red car approached us.
The heat made me dizzy.

Predicative Adjectives

Descriptive Adjectives that do not come just after the noun but have a linking verb between them and the noun are predicative Adjectives. It is also known as an adjective in the second position after the noun. Let’s take a look at some examples.

This dress is green. (noun- dress, verb- is)
He seems skeptical of the ride. (noun- he, verb- seems)

Proper Adjectives

Proper Adjectives also describe or modify a noun. What makes them different from others is the fact that proper Adjectives are words that are made of proper nouns and that means whenever you use a proper adjective, you need to capitalize it.

Proper Adjectives are used to describe something about a particular place or person. Let’s understand what these are by looking at some examples.

Proper Adjectives based on places.

Italian people have a great fashion sense.
I love eating Indian food.

Proper Adjectives based on people.

He is playing a part in a Shakespearean play.
She is Christian.

Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative Adjectives are words that we use in a sentence to point out a specific noun or pronoun. The demonstrative adjective refers to the relative position of a noun in space and time. There are four demonstrative adjectives that we use in the English language:

This
That
These
Those

Let’s look at some examples:

This is the place where I live.
These people are her friends.
He likes that car.
Those are my shoes.

Types Of Adjectives

Participial Adjectives

In the English language, participles are words that end with ‘en’, ‘ed’ or ‘ing.’ When these participles are used as Adjectives in their exact form to modify or describe a noun or pronoun, they are known as participial Adjectives. This might be a little confusing to you. Let us understand it better with the help of a few examples.

I was really bored during the wait. (past participle adjective)
The class is boring. (present participle adjective)
This show is more boring than the previous one. (comparative adjective)
This is the most bored I have ever been on a flight. (superlative adjective)

Compound Adjectives

An adjective is a compound of two or more words separated by a hyphen to link them and considered as a single adjective. When we use a compound word to describe a noun or pronoun, then that word is called a compound adjective. Let us take a look at some examples to better understand this.

The box of pickles is air-tight.
She was wearing a brand-new dress at the office today.
His excuses for getting late are a never-ending story.
That middle-aged man was looking creepily at me.

Possessive Adjectives

Whenever we have to describe the ownership or possession of anything, we use words like my, his, her, their, your, our, whose and its. All these words which define ownership are possessive Adjectives. Let us look at how we can use possessive Adjectives in a sentence with some examples.

Her dog is overly dramatic.
My colleague is coming over to my house today.
My neighbors went somewhere, their door was locked.
Our house is right at the end of the block.

Numeral Adjectives

Words that we use in a sentence to express the order or number of any noun are numeral Adjectives. These Adjectives answer the questions like ‘how many, and in ‘what order’. Numeral Adjectives can be further subdivided into two types.

Definite Numeral Adjective

When the number of order that we are describing is specific then it is a definite numeral adjective. Here are some examples for you to clarify what definite numeral Adjectives are.

In the class, there are seventy-three students.
The second car won the race

Indefinite Numeral Adjective

When the order or number is not specific and gives a general idea about something by answering the question- ‘how many, then it is an indefinite numeral adjective. Take a look at these examples.

Many businesses suffered due to lockdown.
students were late to school due to heavy rains.

Limiting Adjectives

Words that we use to limit or restrict a noun or pronoun are limiting Adjectives. Rather than modifying a noun or pronoun, a limiting adjective defines it. Articles ‘a’, ’an’ and ’the’ also act as limiting Adjectives sometimes. Some of the possessive Adjectives and demonstrative Adjectives are also limiting Adjectives. Let us understand it better by looking at some examples.

There are some sandwiches left in the fridge.
We rescued a dog last month.
I have three candies.

Quantitative Adjectives

Words that we use in the English language to define the quantity of a noun or pronoun are quantitative Adjectives. These words provide answers to the question of ‘how much. ‘Little’, ‘enough’, ‘sufficient’ are some of the quantitative Adjectives. Let us take a look at some examples to understand this better.

I ate little food because of the time crunch.
He doesn’t have sufficient money to last the month.

Interrogative Adjectives

Adjectives that we use in a sentence to ask questions while describing a noun are interrogative Adjectives. The most common type of interrogative Adjectives that we use to ask questions are:

Which
What
Whose
Why
How
Where

Let us understand interrogative Adjectives with the help of some examples.

Which house is yours?
Whose car is this?
What cuisine do you prefer?
How many times did you eat today?
Why did she leave?

One important thing that you need to remember is to never confuse interrogative pronouns with interrogative Adjectives. For example:

‘Which is your car?’

In this sentence, the term ‘which is an interrogative pronoun as it does not describe or modify anything

‘Which car is yours?’

In this the sentence ‘which’ is an adjective as it modifies the term ‘car’

Distributive Adjectives

It is often that we have to describe every individual in a group of people, that is when we use distributive Adjectives. There are seven distributive Adjectives that we use to indicate persons or things belonging to the same group. These are: