Adjectives 1
Adjectives
An adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent.
They can be modified by adverbs
Example
a very expensive car
linguists today distinguish adjectives from words such as determiners that also used to be considered adjectives.
Example
・He wore a red shirt.
・We need some square tables.
・Each hand has five fingers.
・You are naughty.
・She is a beautiful girl.
・He is an honest boy.
・This is a wooden chair.
・She wore a gold necklace.
・It was an earthen pot.
・Sugar is sweet.
Types of adjectives
・Numeric (Determiner):
Example
three, eleven, one hundred, two thousand and one million …
・Quantitative (Determiner):
Example
more, all, some, half, more than enough
・Opinion
Example
good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad
・Time
Example
late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning
・Purpose
These adjectives often end with "-ing".
Example
・sleeping bag
・frying pan
・work clothes
・Qualitative:
Example
・colour(red, black)
・shape(round, triangular,)
・size(small, huge, thin)
・smell (stinky, burning)
・age (old, young)
・material(cotton, wood, plastic, )
・distance(short, long, far, high)
・Origin:
Example
American, English, Asian, Middle Eastern, African,
・Possessive:
Example
my, his, their, your
・Interrogative:
Example
which, whose, what
・Demonstrative:
Example
this, that, those, these
Adjectives order
Adjective Before Noun
When several adjectives come before a noun, they usually have to be put in a particular order. The rules for adjective order are very complicated, and different grammars disagree about the details. Here are some of the most important rules:
1 Determiners or pronouns used as adjectives
Example a, an ,the, my, his, some, many, three
⇩⇩
2 Opinion
Example interesting, cute, lovely
⇩⇩
3 Size
Example small, big, huge, thin
⇩⇩
4 Shape
Example round, short , long, spuare
⇩⇩
5 Age
Example old, young, antique
⇩⇩
6 Color
Example red, black, blue, green
⇩⇩
7 Origin
Example Italian, Japanese, American, English
⇩⇩
8 Material
Example woodie, plastic, metalic, woolen
⇩⇩
9 purpose
Example sleeping, work, swimming, frying
⇩⇩
10 Nouns
Example
・He had a nice, small, new, square, red, cotton, chinese, sleeping bag.(it's funny)
Adjective after verbs
Adjectives can be placed after be (is, am, are, was, were) and other copular verbs(stative verb) like look, seem, appear, feel etc. In this case, the adjective describes the subject of the sentence.
Example
・She is beautiful.
・Our house is small.
・This car is new, isn't it?
・She looked tired.
・I felt sorry for her.
・The fish tasted awful.
・I was surprised to hear the news.
・She seemed upset.
Adjectives used only in predicate position
1. Some adjectives beginning with the letter 'a-' are used mainly in predicative position.
Example
ablaze
afloat
afraid
aghast
alert
alike
alive
alone
aloof
ashamed
asleep
averse
awake
aware
If you put adjectives before nouns as same meaning, we must use other words.
Example
・Joey fell asleep.
・Jesse saw sleeping Joey. (Not saw asleep Joey.)
・Danny is afraid.
・Danny is a frightened man. (Not an afraid man.)
The adjectives ill and well are most common in predicative position.
we can not use them before noun.
If you put adjective before a noun as same meaning , we must use other words.
Example
・Steph is ill.
・She is an unhealthy child. (Not an ill child.)
・Who looks after the sick girl? (Not ill people.)
・DJ speaks English well.
・DJ can speak good English. (Not well English.)