Types of Adjectives

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe or modify a noun. There are three types of adjectives: descriptive, possessive, and qualitative. Descriptive adjectives provide information about the noun, such as its size, shape, colour, or type. Possessive adjectives indicate that something belongs to the noun, such as John’s computer. Qualitative adjectives describe the quality of the noun, such as beautiful flowers. In this brief note on types of adjectives, we will explore each type in more detail!

Types of Adjectives

There are three primary types of adjectives in English: descriptive, compound, and cordinate. Let us read about them in detail.

Descriptive Adjectives 

Descriptive adjectives are single words that modify nouns or pronouns. They are often physical characteristics like blue, soft, or round. Sometimes they can be emotional characteristics, like anger, jealousy, or silly. Other times they might tell us when something happened, like annual, monthly, or daily.

Compound Adjectives

A compound adjective is two or more adjectives that work together as one to modify a noun or pronoun. These adjectives usually come before the noun they’re modifying. For example, we might say “a soft-spoken woman” or “a well-known actor.”

Compound adjectives are usually hyphenated, but not always. If you’re not sure whether to hyphenate a compound adjective, you can consult a dictionary.

Coordinate Adjectives

Coordinate adjectives are two or more adjectives that each modify a noun or pronoun independently. That is, they could each appear alone and still make sense. For example, “She’s a smart and successful woman.” In this sentence, “smart” and “successful” each independently modify “woman.”

We usually don’t hyphenate coordinate adjectives unless they come before a noun. For example, we would say “She’s a smart and successful woman,” but “She’s a smart, successful woman.”

When to Use Adjectives 

Adjectives are a great way to add detail and colour to our writing. But it’s important not to overdo it. A few well-chosen adjectives can enhance a sentence, but too many can make it feel cluttered and confusing. As a general rule, if you can remove an adjective without changing the meaning of the sentence, it’s probably not necessary.

That said, there are no hard-and-fast rules about adjective usage. The best way to know whether an adjective is needed is to read your sentence aloud. If it sounds natural, keep it. If it sounds awkward or forced, erase it.

Common Errors: Adjectives vs. Adverbs 

One common error is to use an adjective when you need an adverb. Remember, adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

For example, the sentence “He’s a slow driver” is correct. “Slow” is an adjective that modifies the noun “driver.” But “He drives slow” is incorrect. In this sentence, “slow” is an adverb that modifies the verb “drives.”

Similarly, the sentence “She speaks softly” is correct. “Softly” is an adverb that modifies the verb “speaks.” But “She’s a soft speaker” is incorrect. In this sentence, “soft” is an adjective that modifies the noun “speaker.”

When you’re not sure whether to use an adjective or adverb, try reading the sentence with the word in question left out. If the sentence still makes sense, you probably need an adverb. For example, “He drives” still makes sense, so we know we need an adverb to modify “drives.” On the other hand, “She speaks” doesn’t make sense, so we know we need an adjective to modify “speaker.”

Conclusion

Adjectives are basically describing words. To have a strong foundation for adjectives, students need to understand its different types. By understanding what type of adjective they are using, writers and speakers can be more precise with their words and make their language more effective.