For ESL Students: Adjectives- The Qualifiers

Words used to tell the qualities of a noun or pronoun are referred to as Adjectives. For better understanding let us break the word Adjective as ‘Ad+ject; i.e., adds to the subject’. So it can be said that words that add to the subject are known as adjectives. Adjectives are words that modify, and add more meaning to the noun or the pronoun. E.g.: lazy girl. (What kind of girl is Rani? The answer is lazy. The word ‘lazy’ is an adjective as it gives more information about the noun Rani.) The naughty boy was punished. (Which boy was punished? The answer is naughty. The word ‘naughty’ is an adjective.)

Adjectives can be used:

1) Attributively: When an adjective is used along (before) the noun it is said to be used attributively. E.g. The beautiful lady is the President., The tall girls are basket ball players.

2) Predicatively: When an adjective is used along with the verb ‘is’ and is a part of the predicate, it is said to be used predicatively. E.g. She is afraid of ghosts, Rani is a lazy girl.

Kinds of Adjectives

• Adjectives of Quality: Adjectives of quality, as is clear from the name, tell a quality of the subject. E.g. India is a beautiful country, He is a tall boy.
• Adjectives of Quantity: Quantitative Adjectives answer the question how much? E.g. He is a little stupid, I had some tea.
• Adjectives of Number: As the name implies, Adjectives of number denote numbers. They can be:
  • Definitive Numeral Adjectives: Used to denote exact numbers; E.g. Give me five pencils, I have one pencil with me.
  • Indefinite Numeral Adjectives: Do not denote a specific number; E.g.Give me some pens, Several students attended the meeting.
  • Distributive Numeral Adjectives: Distributive Adjectives refer to each one of a number. Words like each, every, either and neither fall in this category. E.g. Each of the students is to pay a fine, Our country expects every man to do his duty.
• Demonstrative Adjectives: Demonstrative Adjectives point at a specific person or thing; =E.g.=This boy is my brother. (Which boy?), These apples are spoiled.
• Interrogative Adjectives: When words like what, which, whose are used with nouns to ask questions; they are known as Interrogative Adjectives; E.g. Whose car is this?, Which] movie did you watch?

Let us try to do a small exercise on Adjectives. Underline the adjectives in the passage mentioned below.

"It was a dark night. The white moon was shining bright in the sky. The stars looked like small children beckoning one. The breeze was cool and misty. I decided to take a walk on the road winding through the manicured lawns of the hotel. Suddenly, I heard an eerie sound from behind a tree. The cool breeze ruffled through my uncovered hair……"

Degrees of Adjectives:

Adjectives can be used to express degrees of modification.

E.g. Ram is a tall boy but Shyam is taller, and Nitin is the tallest amongst the three.

All the italicized words in the above sentence are Adjectives. Adjectives change their form to show comparison. Most of the adjectives occur in three degrees:

• Positive Degree – It is used to state the quality of the subject. In the above example the adjective tall is in the positive degree as it simply states that Ram is a tall boy.
• Comparative Degree – This degree is used to make comparisons between two things. The adjective taller helps us to compare the height of Shyam and Ram; it is in the comparative form;
• Superlative Degree – This degree denotes the highest form of quality. It is used to compare more than two things. When it is said that Nitin is the tallest …, the superlative form of the adjective is being used.

 

Formation of Comparative and Superlative Degrees

• Most of the adjectives form their comparative by adding –er to the positive adjective, and by adding –est to form the superlative; E.g. small, smaller, smallest; thick, thicker, thickest; big, bigger, biggest
• When the positive adjective ends in –e , only –r is added to form the comparative and –st is added to form the superlative; E.g. brave, braver, bravest; large, larger, largest; able, abler, ablest
• When the positive adjective ends in –y , –ier is added to form the comparative and –iest is added to form the superlative; E.g. happy, happier, happiest; heavy, heavier, heaviest
• Compound Words form their comparative by prefixing more, and superlative by prefixing most to the positive adjective; E.g. beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful; courageous, more courageous, most courageous
• Irregular Adjectives are adjectives which have different words for their comparative and superlative forms; E.g. Good, Better,Best; Bad, Worse, Worst; little, less, least

Reference: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu; High School English Grammar & Composition

 

Answers:

It was a dark night. The white moon was shining bright in the sky. The stars looked like small children beckoning one. The breeze was cool and misty. I decided to take a long walk on the road winding through the manicured lawns of the hotel. Suddenly, I heard an eerie sound from behind a tree. The cool breeze ruffled through my uncovered hair……