At a glance
Kinds of adjectives
- Quality: what kind?a red car, a kind man
- Quantity: how much?some milk, enough time
- Number: how many?three cats, the first day
- Demonstrative: which one?this book, those shoes
- Possessive: whose?my bag, their house
- QuestionWhich color? Whose pen?
- Proper: from a nameJapanese food, English tea
Where adjectives go
- Before a nouna tall tree
- After be, look, seem, feel…The tree is tall.
- After something, nobody…something new
Adjectives describe nouns
a big elephant
a small mouse
a sour lemon
a beautiful red rose
- Adjectives never take -s: one big dog, two big dogs (not
bigs dogs).
Before the noun or after the verb
a tall tree
The tree is tall.
After the verb, use be, look, seem, feel, sound, taste, smell, become, get.
Some adjectives only go after the verb: afraid, alone, asleep, awake, alive, alike, aware.
The baby is asleep.
a sleeping baby (not an asleep baby)
After something, anyone, nothing
- I want to try something new.
- Is there anyone else?
- Nothing special happened.
Proper adjectives
Japanese food (Japan)
Italian pizza (Italy)
French bread (France)
Bangladeshi tea (Bangladesh)
- Proper adjectives always start with a capital letter.
Nouns as adjectives
A noun can describe another noun: a cotton shirt, a bus stop, a school bag, an apple pie.
Adjective endings
| Ending | Examples |
|---|---|
| -ful / -less | useful, useless |
| -ous | famous, dangerous |
| -al / -ic | national, economic |
| -ive | active, expensive |
| -able / -ible | comfortable, possible |
| -y / -ish / -ly | rainy, childish, friendly |
Practice
Answer the questions. Get 7 out of 10 to finish this lesson.