• An adjective describes or modifies a noun or a pronoun.

• To modify means to change slightly or make the meaning more definite.

• Adjectives usually answer one of the following questions about the nouns and
pronouns they modify.
What kind? Which one(s)? How many? How much?

new car every page one hamburger much rain

happy children seventh grade five rupees full tank

sunny day any book several rides little food

Article Adjectives
 A, an, and the are known as the article adjectives.
 These are the most commonly used adjectives.
 They stand in front of nouns and pronouns and answer the question which one?
 The is the definite article because it refers to someone in particular.
 Examples: the principal, the canoe, the wool sweater.
 A and an are indefinite because they refer to someone or something in general.
 Examples: a dog, an apple
 Use a in front of a word that begins with a consonant sound.
 Example: a unicorn, a pencil, a book, a humorous person
 Use an in front of a word that begins with a vowel sound.
 Example: an old map, an uncle, an honest person
Nouns Used as Adjectives
• When a noun modifies another noun or pronoun, it is considered an adjective.
• It will usually come directly before another noun and will answer the questions
what kind? or which one?
Nouns Nouns Used as Adjectives

football football games (what kind)

shoe shoe salesperson (what kind)

wedding wedding day (which day)

bean bean soup (what kind)

Proper Adjectives
 •Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns and begin with a capital letter.
•There are two types of proper adjectives:
– A proper noun used as an adjective
– An adjective formed from a proper noun
When proper nouns are used as adjectives, they do not change form.
- However, when an adjective is formed from a proper noun, it does change form.

Proper Nouns Used as proper adjectives

Truman, Reagan, Clinton The Truman Library (which one)

Florida Florida wetlands (what kind)

December December weather (what kind)

Proper Nouns Proper Adjectives from Proper nouns

America American history (what kind)

Africa African continent (what kind)

Compound Adjectives
• A compound adjective is made up of more than one word and may be
hyphenated or written as a compound word.
Hyphenated One word

a well-known actress basketball game

a full-time job fiberglass wall

Pronouns Used as Adjectives

• A pronoun is used as an adjective if it modifies a noun.
• A possessive adjective shows ownership or relationship.
• The following possessive pronouns are often called possessive adjectives. They
will come in front of the noun they modify and will answer the question which
one?
• Examples: my, its, your, our, her, their
• Bobby fixed his bicycle.

• Demonstrative adjectives are also pronouns that are used as adjectives.

• The demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, those.
 • Examples: We saw that man yesterday. That car is a good buy. These apples are
rotten.
• Interrogative adjectives are also pronouns that can be used as adjectives.
• The interrogative adjectives are which, what, whose.
• Examples: Which prize do you think she will choose?
• Whose umbrella can that be?
Predicate Adjectives
• If an adjective follows a linking verb in a sentence, it is called the predicate
adjective.
• The predicate adjective is the complement in the sentence.
• Examples: Mark is nice. (nice is the predicate adjective)

There are different types of adjectives in the English language:

 Numeric: six, one hundred and one etc.

 Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough etc.
 Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.
 Possessive: my, his, their, your etc.
 Interrogative: which, whose, what etc.
 Demonstrative: this, that, those, these etc.

!Note - The articles a, an, and the are a special kind of adjective called articles, and the
possessives my, our, your, and their are sometimes known as possessive adjectives.

Colour

Adjectives can be used to describe colour.

blue, red, green, brown, yellow, black, white, etc.

For Example:

 "The blue bag." or "The blue bags".

Opinion

Adjectives can be used to give your opinion about something.

good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad, full, soft, hard etc.

For Example:

 He was a silly boy. / She was a silly girl.

Size

Adjectives can be used to describe size.

big, small, little, long, tall, short, same as, etc.

For Example:

 "The big man." or "The big woman".

Age

Adjectives can be used to describe age.

For Example:

 "He was an old man." or "She was an old woman."

Shape

Adjectives can be used to describe shape.

round, circular, triangular, rectangular, square, oval, etc.

For Example:

 "It was a square box." or "They were square boxes."

Origin

Adjectives can be used to describe origin.

For Example:-

 "It was a German flag." or "They were German flags."

Material

Adjectives can be used to identify the material something is made of.

 "A wooden cupboard." or "Wooden cupboards."

!Note - In English we often change nouns into adjectives.

For Example: glass - a glass vase / metal - a metal tray etc.

Distance

Adjectives can be used to describe distance.

l -- o -- n -- g / short

long, short, far, around, start, high, low, etc.

For Example:

 "She went for a long walk." or "They went for lots of long walks."

Temperature

Adjectives can be used to describe temperature.

cold, warm, hot, cool, etc.

For Example:

 "It was a hot day" or "We eat ice cream on hot days."

Time

Adjectives can be used to describe time.

late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning, night, etc.

For Example:

 "She had an early start."

Purpose

Adjectives can be used to describe purpose. (These adjectives often end with "-ing".)

For Example:

 "She gave them a sleeping bag." or "She gave them sleeping bags."

!Note - Have you noticed how the adjective stays the same, whether it is describing a
masculine, feminine, singular or plural noun? Nice huh?

When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a
conjunction (and) or by commas (,).

For Example:

 "Her hair was long and blonde." or "She had long, blonde hair."

More examples:
 Adjective Pretty Serious Fast Quiet
For She is a pretty He was a serious It could be a fast They were quiet
Example: girl. boy. car. children.

!Note - Adjectives that go immediately before the noun are called attributive adjectives.

Adjectives can also be used after some verbs. They do not describe the verb, adverbs do that.

Adjectives after a verb describe the subject of the verb (usually a noun or pronoun).

For Example:

 "Lynne looks tired."

The subject (in this case Lynne) is being described as tired not the verb to look.

There is also the adjective used to, which is such a beast that it gets its own section - Used
To.

Ordering multiple adjectives

When a number of adjectives are used together, the order depends on the function of the
adjective. The usual order is:

Quantity, Value/opinion, Size, Temperature, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material

What the adjective expresses Examples

Quantity four, ten, a few, several
Value/Opinion delicious, charming, beautiful
Size tall, tiny, huge
Temperature/Condition hot, cold,Clean,wet, rich
Age old, young, new, 14-year-old
Shape square, round
Color red, purple, green
Pattern spotted
Swedish, Victorian, Chinese
Origin
glass, silver, wooden
Material

Purpose Cleaning

Examples

 They have a lovely old red post-box.

  The playroom has six small round plastic tables.
 I bought some charming Victorian silver ornaments at the flea market.
 She is selling her flashy 3-year-old Italiancar.
 It was a beautiful cold day.

Name Ordering Adjecti v e s

CCSS.L.4.1.D |© www.EnglishWorksheetsLand.com
Order of Adjectives
We often use more than one adjective to describe a noun, and when we do,
there is a
proper order for the adjectives. The table below shows the proper order in
which you
should put adjectives before a noun.

number opinion size age shape condition color pattern origin

material purpose NOUN
eight pretty big round old ratty red checkered American cloth waterproof ponchos
Directions: Use the table above to practice putting adjectives in the proper order. Choose
the correct order for the adjectives below.
Write the letter of the correctly ordered string of adjectives on the line.
Adjectives Noun
1. A) pink short B) short pink skirt
2. A) durable, camping B) camping, durable gear
3. A) big, fat B) fat, big pimple
4. A) clever, old B) old, clever man
5. A) flimsy, red, cloth B) cloth, red, flimsy purse
6. A) German, dark B) dark, German beer
7. A) exciting, young, English B) English, young, exciting teacher
8. A) two, full, perfume B) full, perfume, two bottles
9. A) tiny, yapping B) yapping, tiny dogs

10. A) American, eight, young B) eight, young, American athletes