An adjective is a word that describes a person, place, or thing. There are many different kinds of adjectives. There are descriptive adjectives, limiting adjectives such as a, an, and the; demonstrative adjectives such as this, that, those, and these; numbers; possessive adjectives such as his, her, their, our, its, your, and my; and indefinites.
An adjective can be common or proper. Common adjectives are formed from common nouns and are not capitalized.
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COMMON NOUN
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COMMON ADJECTIVE
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Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns and are always capitalized. Sometimes, the word doesn't change at all, as in the examples below.
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PROPER NOUN
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PROPER ADJECTIVE
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Often the form of the proper adjective does change, as in the examples below.
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PROPER NOUN
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PROPER ADJECTIVE
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A descriptive adjective describes a person, place, or thing. Sometimes it answers the question, "What kind?" Descriptive adjectives are italicized below.
noisy parrot
addition problem
tired, grumpy student
Often, descriptive adjectives precede the person, place, or thing, as in the sentences below.
Sometimes, descriptive adjectives follow the noun or pronoun, as in the example below.
Some descriptive adjectives end in suffixes like these:
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—able |
comfortable, lovable, washable, believable |
Descriptive adjectives help us to draw pictures using words. They make our writing more precise and more interesting. For example, clouds can be high, low, scattered, billowy, puffy, wispy, animal-shaped, ominous, gloomy, dark, white, gray, or crimson. When we write, we can use descriptive adjectives to create more detailed pictures.
Limiting adjectives help to define, or "limit," a noun or pronoun. They tell "which one," "what kind," "how many," or "whose." There are six categories of limiting adjectives. They include articles, demonstrative adjectives, numbers, possessive adjectives (both pronouns and nouns), and indefinites.
Articles are the most commonly used adjectives, and they are also the shortest—a, an, and the.
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We use a before words beginning with a consonant sound, and an before words beginning with a vowel sound. It is the sound and not the spelling that determines whether we use a or an:
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WHICH ONE?
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HOW MANY?
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Both pronouns and nouns commonly function as possessives. They answer the question, WHOSE?
PRONOUNS: WHOSE?
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NOUNS: WHOSE?
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HOW MANY?
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Adjectives are often used to compare nouns or pronouns. These comparative adjectives have three forms that show greater or lesser degrees of quality, quantity, or manner: positive, comparative, and superlative. Below are examples of the positive, comparative, and superlative forms of some adjectives.
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POSITIVE small |
COMPARATIVE smaller |
SUPERLATIVE smallest |
The positive degree, or basic form, describes a noun or pronoun without comparing it to any other. (Do not confuse positive with good. In this context, positive simply means "possessing the quality." The quality itself may be good, bad, or neutral.)
Dan is tall.
Martha is wise.
Billy was silly.
The comparative form compares two persons, places, or things.
Dan is taller than Tina.
Martha is wiser than her friend.
Billy was sillier than his brother.
The superlative form compares three or more persons, places, or things.
Of all the students, Dan is the tallest.
Of the three, Martha is the wisest.
Billy was the silliest of all.
How we create the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective depends on how the adjective appears in its positive form. There are three main categories to remember.
We create the comparative form of most one-syllable adjectives by adding er to the end of the word. The superlative form is created by adding est.
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POSITIVE red |
COMPARATIVE redder |
SUPERLATIVE reddest |
Most adjectives with two or more syllables do not have comparative or superlative forms. Instead, we use the word "more" (or "less") before the adjectives to form the comparative, and the word "most" (or "least") to form the superlative.
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POSITIVE genteel timid reliable loyal |
COMPARATIVE more genteel more timid more reliable more loyal |
SUPERLATIVE most genteel most timid most reliable most loyal |
When a two-syllable adjective ends in y, we create the comparative and superlative forms by changing the y to i and adding er or est.
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POSITIVE crazy |
COMPARATIVE crazier |
SUPERLATIVE craziest |
There are exceptions to these guidelines. Below are a few examples of two-syllable adjectives whose comparative and superlative forms are created by adding er or est.
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POSITIVE little (size, not amount) |
COMPARATIVE littler |
SUPERLATIVE littlest |
We check the dictionary if we are unsure how to create the comparative or superlative form of a two-syllable adjective.
When adding er or est to the positive form of an adjective, we often must alter the word's original spelling. We apply the same rules we use when adding ed to form a past-tense verb.
Some modifiers have irregular comparative and superlative forms. We must learn these if we haven't already.
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POSITIVE little (amount, not size) |
COMPARATIVE less |
SUPERLATIVE least |
We use little, less, and least with things that cannot be counted. We use few, fewer, and fewest with things that can be counted.
We use much with things that cannot be counted, and we use many for things that can be counted.
We do not use double comparisons. In other words, we do not use more with er, or most with est.
Some adjectives do not normally permit comparison. Adjectives that represent an ultimate condition (square, round, maximum, equal, fatal, unique, dead, etc.) cannot be increased by degree. (For example, a square can't be "squarer" than another square; it's either square or it's not!) When necessary, careful writers can modify these absolutes by using words like almost, near, and nearly instead of more or less and most or least.