CHAPTER 4 : ADJECTIVES
1. DEFINITION AND CLASSFICATION:
Adjectives are words which describe or modify nouns or pronouns.
There are six main kinds of adjectives: -
(a) Demonstrative – This, that, these, those.
(b) Distributive – Each, every, either neither
(c) Quantitative – Little/a little, few, a few, some, many, much, six e.t.c
(d) Interrogative – Which, what, whose
(e) Possessive – My, your, his, her, its our, your, their
(f) Qualitative e.g. clever, dry, fat good, heavy e.t.c
We shall closely look at each of these when examining the functions of
adjectives.
2. POSITIONS OF ADJECTIVES:
The normal position of an adjective is directly before the noun it modifies.
e.g. The dirty worn out book was thrown out.
However, for stylistic reasons, adjectives may come after the noun they
modify
e.g. The book, dirty and worn out was thrown out.
When an adjective comes before the subject of the sentence (or immediately
after the subject and before the verb) we say it is attributive.
An attributive adjective comes at the subject position.
A predicative adjective is separated form the word it modifies by a verb.
e.g. The girl is fast and meticulous.
Adj
Predicative adjectives occur at the predicate position.
As observed in chapter one nouns, some words may be used as both
adjectives and pronouns.
, These include all the relative pronouns (i.e. who, that, whose, those, which),
all, another, any, both, each, either, many, more neither, one, other, several,
some, these, this, those, what, e.t.c.
e.g. Which pen do you want?
Adj.
Which do you want
Pronoun.
I want more food
Adj.
I want more
Pronoun
3. PARTICIPLES USED AS ADJECTIVES
Both present participle (verb + ing) and past participles (verb + ed) can be
used as adjectives.
e.g. Amusing incident
Tiring exercise
When they are used, they mean ‘having this effect’
Past participle adjectives (e.g. amused audience, tired students e.t.c.) are
passive and means ‘affected in this way’
Agreement of adjectives:
Adjectives in English have the same form for singular and plural; masculine
and feminine.
e.g. A good boy good boys
A good girl good girls
The only exceptions are demonstrative adjectives, this and that which take
these and those in plural nouns.
1. DEFINITION AND CLASSFICATION:
Adjectives are words which describe or modify nouns or pronouns.
There are six main kinds of adjectives: -
(a) Demonstrative – This, that, these, those.
(b) Distributive – Each, every, either neither
(c) Quantitative – Little/a little, few, a few, some, many, much, six e.t.c
(d) Interrogative – Which, what, whose
(e) Possessive – My, your, his, her, its our, your, their
(f) Qualitative e.g. clever, dry, fat good, heavy e.t.c
We shall closely look at each of these when examining the functions of
adjectives.
2. POSITIONS OF ADJECTIVES:
The normal position of an adjective is directly before the noun it modifies.
e.g. The dirty worn out book was thrown out.
However, for stylistic reasons, adjectives may come after the noun they
modify
e.g. The book, dirty and worn out was thrown out.
When an adjective comes before the subject of the sentence (or immediately
after the subject and before the verb) we say it is attributive.
An attributive adjective comes at the subject position.
A predicative adjective is separated form the word it modifies by a verb.
e.g. The girl is fast and meticulous.
Adj
Predicative adjectives occur at the predicate position.
As observed in chapter one nouns, some words may be used as both
adjectives and pronouns.
, These include all the relative pronouns (i.e. who, that, whose, those, which),
all, another, any, both, each, either, many, more neither, one, other, several,
some, these, this, those, what, e.t.c.
e.g. Which pen do you want?
Adj.
Which do you want
Pronoun.
I want more food
Adj.
I want more
Pronoun
3. PARTICIPLES USED AS ADJECTIVES
Both present participle (verb + ing) and past participles (verb + ed) can be
used as adjectives.
e.g. Amusing incident
Tiring exercise
When they are used, they mean ‘having this effect’
Past participle adjectives (e.g. amused audience, tired students e.t.c.) are
passive and means ‘affected in this way’
Agreement of adjectives:
Adjectives in English have the same form for singular and plural; masculine
and feminine.
e.g. A good boy good boys
A good girl good girls
The only exceptions are demonstrative adjectives, this and that which take
these and those in plural nouns.
