Adjectives

This part of speech adds colour, vividness and details

Nouns generally are the subject of a sentence, while verbs describe the action or state of being. But if used in effective and correct ways, the adjectives can enhance many sentences by adding hue, lucidity, vividness, and details of description, thereby increasing manifold interest in an otherwise mundane sentence.

An adjective is a part of speech (or word class) that modifies a noun or a pronoun. 

In addition to their basic forms, most adjectives have two other forms: comparative and superlative . They many often serve as modifiers, providing additional information about another word or word group, such as a noun or noun phrase. But adjectives also sometimes act as nouns in a sentence.

Types of Adjectives

Absolute Adjectives

An absolute adjective is one with a meaning that cannot be intensified or compared. It is also known as an incomparable, ultimate, or absolute modifier.   Example:
They are married. She is born.
He is dead.

In the sentences above, the words married, born, dead are  absolute adjectives. 
The persons are either married or they are not. The person is either born or she is not. The person is either dead or he is not. 
One  cannot be more married, more born or deader than someone else and also one cannot be the most married/born or deadest among a group. Absolute adjectives are always in the superlative degree except a few that can be quantified by the addition of the word almost, nearly, or virtually.

Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

An attributive adjective usually comes before the noun it modifies without a linking verb.
For example, 

“In those tender years, the Common room of the hostel was full of laughing, joking, boasting, and bragging.”

The word tender is an attributive adjective because it precedes and modifies the noun years. Attributive adjectives are direct modifiers of nominals.

A predicative adjective usually comes after a linking verb rather than before a noun. It is also a subject complement. 
For example,
The fox is brown.

In general, when adjectives are used after a verb such as be, become, grow, look, or seem, they’re called predicative adjectives.

Appositive Adjectives

An appositive adjective is  an adjective or a series of adjectives that follows a noun and, like a nonrestrictive appositive, is set off by commas or dashes. 
For example:
My friend Neetu was a pretty girl, slim, fair and hazel-eyed.
John, my class mate was a smart boy, tall, strong, and broad-shouldered. 

As in these the example above, appositive adjectives often appear in pairs or groups of three, called tricolons.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

The comparative adjective is the form of an adjective involving the comparisons of more or less as well as greater or lesser.

Comparative adjectives are either marked by the suffix -er or identified by the word more or less .
Almost all one-syllable adjectives, along with some two-syllable adjectives, add –er to the base to form the comparative. In most of them with two or more syllables, the comparative is identified by the word more or less.

The superlative adjective, by comparison, is the form or degree of an adjective that indicates the most or the least of something.

Superlatives are either marked by the suffix -est (as in “the fastest bike”) or identified by the word most or least (“the most difficult job”). Similar to comparative adjectives, almost all one-syllable adjectives, along with some two-syllable adjectives, add -est to the base to form the superlative. 
And in most of them with two or more syllables, the superlative is identified by the word most or least. Not all adjectives have superlative forms.

After a superlative, in or of along with a noun phrase can be used to indicate what is being compared.
For example: We dwelt for a year in “the tallest building in the world”. My wife and myself enjoyed “the best time of our lives here”.

Compound Adjectives

A compound adjective is made up of two or more words (such as part-time and high-speed) that act as a single idea to modify a noun (a part-time employee, a high-speed chase). Compound adjectives are also called phrasal adjectives or compound modifiers.

As a general rule, the words in a compound adjective are hyphenated when they come before a noun (a well-known actor) but not when they come after (The actor is well known). Compound adjectives formed with an adverb ending in -ly (such as rapidly changing) are usually not hyphenated.

Demonstrative Adjectives

A demonstrative adjective is a determiner that comes before and points to a particular noun. A demonstrative adjective is usually called a demonstrative determiner. 
For example: 

Jill my dear, lift this stick and drive that bull out of sight.

Son, take this bat and hit that ball out of the park.

There are four demonstratives in English:
Near ones:            this and these
   Far ones:              that and those
   Singular ones:       this and that
   Plural ones:           these and those

Denominal Adjectives

A denominal adjective is formed from a noun, usually with the addition of a suffix—such as hopeless, earthen, cowardly, childish, and Picturesque.

 For example: 
Our new neighborhood seemed romantic  somehow, and very New Yorkish, especially to a couple of young people who hailed from Sydney.

In this sentence, the proper noun New York is altered with the suffix –ish to form the denominal adjective.

These kinds of adjectives can heighten the dramatic and descriptive nature of a sentence.
For example: 

“The Prime Minister Modi’s speech at Red Fort was…Gandhian in its cadences, and in some ways, was the final, impassioned, heart-felt rebuke to all those, including his opponent, who tried to portray him as somehow an NRI.“
– Subhas C Chakra, “Blog for Indians.”  , Aug. 15, 2018.

Nominal Adjectives

The term nominal adjective refers to an adjective or group of adjectives that function as a noun. Nominal adjectives are generally preceded by the word the and can be found as the subject or the object of a sentence or clause. For example:
The elderly are a great source of wisdom.

The word elderly generally acts as a true adjective—an elderly gentleman—but in the previous sentence, it functions as a collective noun and as the subject of the sentence. Nominal adjectives are also known as substantive adjectives.
Possessive Adjectives
The possessive adjectives are my, your, his, her, its, our, their, and whose. A possessive adjective sits before a noun (or a pronoun) to show who or what owns it.

• The possessive adjectives or possessive determiners like my, our, your, his, her, its, their , whose and are generally used at the starting or the middle positions.

Examples of Possessive adjectives in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the examples: Possessive adjectives in the beginning:

• My friend has showed up at last.
• Our country is on the rise.
• Your sister is missing.
• His father is a great orator.
• Her jacket is blue.
• Its fur is white.
• Their college is far away.

Possessive adjectives in the middle positions :

• This is your friend.
• Is our country on the right track?
• Which one is your sister?
• That great orator is his father.
• What is the colour of her jacket?
• I love its white fur.
• Is this their college?

Participial Adjectives

A participial adjective is an adjective that has the same form as the participle (a verb ending in -ing or -ed/-en) and usually exhibits the ordinary properties of an adjective. For example:

“What kind of a man was he to fall in love with a lying thief?”
– Janet Dailey, “The Hostage Bride”

In the sentence, the verb lie is altered by adding the ending -ing to form the participial adjective lying, which then describes the noun thief. Also, the comparative and superlative forms of participial adjectives are formed with more and most and less and least—not with the endings -er and -est.

Order of Adjectives

Compound Adjectives

Extreme Adjectives

Adjectival Observations

Not everyone is a fan of adjectives. According to the famous humorist and author Mark Twain who had some rather negative comments about this part of speech:

“When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart.”​

Personal Pronoun	Possessive Adjective	Example
I	my	I do not choose that my grave should be dug while I am still alive.
you	your	If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
he	his	If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.
she	her	She got her looks from her father. He’s a plastic surgeon.
it	its	Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow. It only saps today of its joy.
we	our	How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.
they	their	Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.
who	whose	The key is to keep company only with people whose presence calls forth your best.

A-D List of Adjective Words

The first part of this list features commonly used adjectives from the first four letters of the alphabet.

adorable	adventurous	aggressive
agreeable	alert	alive
amused	angry	annoyed
annoying	anxious	arrogant
ashamed	attractive	average
awful	bad	beautiful
better	bewildered	black
bloody	blue	blue-eyed
blushing	bored	brainy
brave	breakable	bright
busy	calm	careful
cautious	charming	cheerful
clean	clear	clever
cloudy	clumsy	colorful
combative	comfortable	concerned
condemned	confused	cooperative
courageous	crazy	creepy
crowded	cruel	curious
cute	dangerous	dark
dead	defeated	defiant
delightful	depressed	determined
different	difficult	disgusted
distinct	disturbed	dizzy
doubtful	drab	dull

E-K Adjectives List

There are plenty more often-used adjectives that start with letters in the next part of the alphabet. Review these adjective words that begin with the letters “e” through “k.”

eager	easy	elated
elegant	embarrassed	enchanting
encouraging	energetic	enthusiastic
envious	evil	excited
expensive	exuberant	fair
faithful	famous	fancy
fantastic	fierce	filthy
fine	foolish	fragile
frail	frantic	friendly
frightened	funny	gentle
gifted	glamorous	gleaming
glorious	good	gorgeous
graceful	grieving	grotesque
grumpy	handsome	happy
healthy	helpful	helpless
hilarious	homeless	homely
horrible	hungry	hurt
ill	important	impossible
inexpensive	innocent	inquisitive
itchy	jealous	jittery
jolly	joyous	kind

L-S Adjective Words

Moving forward in alphabetical order, there are still many more adjectives appropriate for use in everyday conversation. Explore these common words that start with the letters between “l” and “s.”

lazy	light	lively
lonely	long	lovely
lucky	magnificent	misty
modern	motionless	muddy
mushy	mysterious	nasty
naughty	nervous	nice
nutty	obedient	obnoxious
odd	old-fashioned	open
outrageous	outstanding	panicky
perfect	plain	pleasant
poised	poor	powerful
precious	prickly	proud
putrid	puzzled	quaint
real	relieved	repulsive
rich	scary	selfish
shiny	shy	silly
sleepy	smiling	smoggy
sore	sparkling	splendid
spotless	stormy	strange
stupid	successful	super

T-Z List of Adjectives

There are plenty more common adjectives throughout the remainder of the alphabet. Explore these common words that start with the letters between “t” and “z.”

talented	tame	tasty
tender	tense	terrible
thankful	thoughtful	thoughtless
tired	tough	troubled
ugliest	ugly	uninterested
unsightly	unusual	upset
uptight	vast	victorious
vivacious	wandering	weary
wicked	wide-eyed	wild
witty	worried	worrisome
wrong	zany	zealous