Error Spotting-Adjectives

Adjectives are phrases that assist to alter noun phrases or pronouns. Adjectives are also called describing words as they describe the nouns.

For example:

Today, my daughter was looking extremely pretty.

The lion is a mighty animal.

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that enhances the indication of a noun. Adjectives describe noun phrases by giving information about their structure, coloring, dimensions, maturity level, country of birth, and content, among other things.

Examples of Adjectives:

• It’s a yellow bus. (Color)

• It’s a woollen jacket. (Material)

• It’s a small insect. (Size)

• It’s an English novel. (Origin)

• It’s a new dress. (Age)

• It’s a square biscuit. (Shape)

Types Of Adjectives

• Descriptive adjectives explain the nature and character traits of nouns and pronouns. By responding to the question, they aid us in having to learn the character traits of nouns and pronouns. Kind, large, bulky, thin, beautiful, ugly, and so on are a few of the descriptive adjectives.

• Definite Numeral Adjective: As the title suggests, predefined number system adjectives obviously tell us the number of nouns and their sequence.

• Indefinite Numeral Adjective: Unlike definite numeral adjectives, indefinite numeral adjectives do not specify the exact arithmetical amount of a noun. It just gives some idea of just how much it is.

• Distributive Numeral Adjectives: Distributive numeral adjectives lead a singular noun and a singular verb. Sometimes a plural noun and a singular verb are used together by using either of, every one of, neither of and so on.

• Demonstrative adjectives: These, that, those, this, and other adjectives are used to imply a particular noun or pronoun.

• Interrogative adjectives: These are words that are used to ask questions. In a sentence, it’s used before a noun. Interrogative adjectives include where, which, whose, and what, among others.

• Coordinate adjectives: Coordinate adjectives are used in a series to modify the same noun. These adjectives are spaced by commas and always appear well before the final adjective. They can be arranged in a series.

• Non-coordinate adjectives: These are adjectives that make little sense after inserting commas or and in between. As a consequence, commas or and therefore are not used to separate the words and it can be changed in a series.

• Possessive adjectives are being used to indicate that a noun pertains to someone. My, your, his, her, and their are examples of possessive adjectives.

Rules While Using Adjectives

• Determiners: Adjectives such as article, possessive, demonstrative, numerical, quantifier, and distributive should come first in a sentence.

Example: I have two good. – This sentence makes no sense and is grammatically incorrect.

• Quantity, Number, and Opinion: After adjectives such as articles, personal, expressive, and categorical imperatives, the numerical adjective should always be used.

Example: I have two pretty frocks for Diwali.

• Size: All of the previous adjectives, such as number, article, quality, and opinion adjectives, are preceded by some other adjective that defines the noun’s size.

Example: I have two lovely small cats as pets.

• Shape: To define the form of the noun, many elements are being used to describe the form, such as a circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and so on. We can characterize a person’s appearance if the noun is a person.

Example:  I have two additional rectangular wooden chairs.

• Color adjectives can be applied after the form adjectives have been finished.

Example:  I have two additional rectangular turquoise timber desks.

• To identify the object’s origin, we must use adjectives to identify the location in which the item was obtained or manufactured.

Example:  I have two additional rectangular turquoise Italian chairs constructed from wood.

• To provide a complete description of the product, we should explain the substance it is made of, such as rubber, plastic, steel, wood, and so on. However, if we’re speaking about a person, we’ll need to explain their conduct.

Example:   I just have one small flexible cushion.

Practice Sets:

1. (A) A few lesson/(B) of this subjet/(C) are sure to come/(D) for exams /(E) No error.

Answer: Option (A)

Explanation: ‘lessons’ should be used in place of ‘lesson’. because ‘a few’ is always accompanied by a plural noun.

2. (A) I love dancing/(B) more than/(C) to play/(D) video games/(E) No error.

Answer: Option (C)

Explanation: ‘to play’ is to be replaced with ‘playing’. As, dancing is a gerund and it should be in comparison with a gerund only.

Conclusion

An adjective is a word that qualifies a noun or a pronoun by describing it. For Example, Amy is a dull girl. The word ‘dull’ in the preceding line refers to Amy’s character (ie. It qualifies Amy). Adjectives are of the following types:

• Adjective of quality

• Adjective of quantity

• Adjective of number

• Proper Adjective

• Demonstrative Adjective

• Distributive Adjective

• Interrogative Adjective

• Possessive Adjective

• Emphasizing Adjective

• Relative Adjective

• Exclamatory Adjective

One must be thorough in terms of adjectives so that no error is committed while speaking or writing in English.