English Grammar: 10 Types of Adjectives You Should Know to Communicate English well
on July 7, 2020
English is a beautiful language. You want to sound eloquent but concise. It will give enjoyable conversations and thought-provoking prose, and it might even help convince people for business deals.
But learning it involves numerous grammar patterns and topics you need to master to communicate well. One grammar lesson you should master to make that happen is using proper adjectives.
What is an Adjective?
For every sentence, you need to describe specific details to let your readers feel or imagine what you’re trying to convey. And adjectives will help you do just that.
An “adjective” is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. So to bring life to your sentences, adjectives are necessary. Instead of saying, “I love the soccer ball.” You can further describe it with adjectives like, “I love the blue soccer ball.” “Blue” is an adjective.
But there are so many types of adjectives in the English language. Here is a quick guide for the 10 types of adjectives you should know to communicate English well.
Descriptive Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives are the most common adjectives you can use. As the name suggests, it describes the noun or pronoun in the sentence. It gives a noun a quality or attribute.
So like our example sentence above, it’s not just a soccer ball. It’s a “blue” one. Here are some examples:
- “The chubby cat is so cute.”
- “The beautiful flower garden is giving me peace of mind.”
- “The paradisiacal beaches of the Philippines will not disappoint you.”
Proper Adjectives
If you remember, Proper nouns are names used for a person, place, thing, or organization, which is spelled with a capital letter. In the same way, you can use these terms and use it as an adjective. Here are some examples:
- “I like to order Chinese”
- “The furniture she bought has Victorian”
- “The mathematical expression is similar to Euclidian”
Demonstrative Adjectives
A demonstrative adjective is an adjective that pertains to “which” noun you are talking about. Think as if you’re pointing to something. And use the either of the following demonstrative adjectives:
- “This”— pertains to a singular noun close to you.
- “That” — pertains to a singular noun far from you.
- “These” — pertains to a plural noun close to you.
- “Those” — pertains to a plural noun far from you.
Here are some examples:
- “Are you eating this Pecan pie?”
- “Can you pass me that frying pan?”
- “What are these books for?”
- “Those trees are planted thousands of years ago.”
Quantitative Adjectives
Quantitative adjectives describe the number or amount of a noun. Here are some examples.
- “I bought a dozen”
- “There are five subjects we need to study today.”
- “There are 525,600 minutes in a year.”
Indefinite Adjectives
Similar to Quantitative adjectives, Indefinite adjectives also describe the number or amount of a noun. But it doesn’t specify the exact number. Here are some examples.
- “We got a few entries for the raffle later.”
- “There are many participants for the show today.”
- “Why are there no volunteers for the event?”
Sequence Adjectives
Also, relating to numbers, you might want to describe a ranking, order, or sequence from a pattern in your sentences. Sequence adjectives will help you convey that idea. Here are some examples.
- “Billy won first place in the competition.”
- “I will watch the next”
- “The cinema is packed until the last full show.”
Possessive Adjectives
Possessive adjectives show ownership for a noun. The following adjectives are the most common possessive adjectives.
- My, Mine — Belongs to me
- Your, Yours — Belongs to you
- His — Belongs to him
- Her, Hers — Belongs to her
- Their, Theirs — Belongs to them
- Our, Ours — Belongs to us
The difference between the words on the left and the right is the words on the left can stand alone. For example, if we use “My, Mine,” “I love my pen.”
In this sentence, you can’t use “my” (as in “I love my ____”) without a noun immediately following after. In that same sentence, you can use “Mine” if you don’t want to pertain to any noun. For example, someone asks you, “Do you want me to give you a pen?” You can answer, “No, thanks, I love mine.”
Here are some more examples.
- “Is that your book?”
- “The football coach wears his cap sideways.”
- “The victims want to assert their.”
Interrogative Adjectives
As the name suggests, interrogative adjectives are used to “interrogate” or question something. There are three main adjectives that are commonly used.
- What — asking to make a general choice
- Which — asking to choose between a couple of options
- Whose — asking who something belongs to
Here are some examples.
- “What should we bring for the camping trip?”
- “Which of the three should I pick?”
- “Whose bag is this?”
Distributive Adjectives
Sometimes, you need to single out a noun from a group. Distributive adjectives are used for that purpose. It’s used to describe specific members of the group. Examples of these adjectives are:
- Each
- Every
- Any
- Either
- Neither
Here are some sample sentences.
- “Each member should contribute something to the team.”
- “Every ingredient is essential to the recipe.”
- “I would like any of the food options.”
- “I prefer either Japanese or Chinese food for Father’s Day.”
- “Neither proposed solutions are helping the program.”
Articles
There are only three articles in the English language: a, an, the. And even though they are “articles,” they also function as adjectives because they modify nouns.
There are two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an) articles. Using articles is quite easy. Here are some sample sentences.
- “I want the latest Playstation 5 console.”
- “A good idea should not be kept within ourselves.”
- “Our goal is to learn an English word per day.”
To check out more information about Articles, check out this guide!
Conclusion
If you want to learn and practice adjectives more, feel free to book your classes today with LingualBox. LingualBox offers 1-on-1 English tutoring sessions for as low as $2 per class. Learn English regardless of your skill level with high caliber English tutors you can trust.
It’s time to describe the world with beautiful adjectives! Cheers to learning English!
More Related Articles:
What’s the Difference between Active and Passive Voice in English Writing?
English Grammar: 5 Instances When You Don’t Use Articles to Modify Nouns
English Grammar: Quick Guide to the Most Common Types of Verbs
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