Adjectives play a colorful role.
• Adjectives change the pictures of the mind.
• Adjectives help you see, feel, taste, hear, and smell the experiences you read about.
• A heavy rainstorm ruined parts of Washington, DC.
• Why did ancient dinosaurs become an extinct species?
• Our ship was hit by a weaker beam.
The job of the ADJECTIVE
Adjectives make comparisons.
They separate one noun from another by making direct or indirect comparisons.
Close your eyes and imagine a car.
Think about the type of car it is?Think about the color of the car.
Think about the sound that it makes.How does it feel when you are riding in it?
What type of car did you imagine?
(Don’t write, just imagine.)
Is this the car that you imagined?
What if I had said,
“Imagine a damaged car.”
When you add an adjective to a sentence, you are distinguishing
one item from another.
Many common adjectives are formed from common nouns.
NOUNS ADJECTIVES
rain rainy
scene scenic
beauty beautiful
rock rocky
Proper Nouns make Proper Adjectives.
Proper Nouns
Proper Adjectives
China ChineseMars Martian
America American
ArticlesThe articles a, an, and the are adjectives.
• An anaconda can swallow its prey whole.
• The dinosaur walked the earth a long time ago.
Example of a proper noun functioning as a proper adjective
A Chicago museum is home to the skeleton of one of these ancient beasts.
Common Adjectives
• A common adjective is any adjective that is not proper.
• The common adjective is never capitalized, unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.
Adjectives answer questionsWhat kind?
heavy backpack
sturdy tent
spicy stew
Which one?
last hamburger
third hike
every lantern
How many?
two flashlights
many insects
little moonlight
Craig carried the heavy, torn backpack.
Use a comma to separate two or more adjectives that answer the question, “What kind?”
about the same noun.
Do not use a comma to separate adjectives when they each answer a
different question.
Craig carried the heavy green backpack.
I want to pick up those two orange shoes.
Comma Test for Adjectives
• Reverse the order of the adjectives
The trashed, messy apartment needed cleaning.
The messy, trashed apartment needed cleaning.
Another Comma Test for Adjectives
Insert “and” between the adjectives
The trashed, messy apartment needed cleaning.
The trashed and messy apartment needed cleaning.
Check your work:
1. Does the sentence still make sense? YES
2. Does changing the adjectives around affect the meaning or coherence of the sentence? NO
If you answered both questions correctly, insert a comma.
A demonstrative adjective points out a particular noun.
Demonstrative adjectives answer the question, “Which one(s)?”
This and these point out something nearby.
That and those point out something far.
This and that are singular. These and those are plural.
One thing to remember…
When a noun does not follow this, these, that, or those it is functioning as a pronoun, not as an adjective in the sentence.
Indefinite adjectives give the appropriate information, but they do not tell exactly
how many or how much
Some mammoths were heavier than today’s elephant.
Some does not tell you exactly how many mammoths.
Indefinite = not sure
adjectives that follow linking verbs and describe the subject
Buffalo abundant, but now they extinct.
Linking verbs the subject to the predicate.
• Compound adjectives are made up of two or more words.
• Sometimes compound adjectives are hyphenated.
Example: snow-covered mountain
Forms of Adjectives
Base Form Comparative Superlative
brave braver bravest
fast faster fastest
awful more awful most awful
dangerous more dangerous most dangerous
thin thinner thinnest
Base Form
describes a noun or pronoun without comparing it to anyone or anything else.
The rhino is large.
Superlative
(-est or most)
compares three or
more nouns or pronouns.
The dinosaur is the
largest of them all.
Nouns are sometimes used as adjectives.
Rock climbers practice indoors.(“Rock” modifies climbers.)
There was a rock wall separating the two countries.
(“rock” modifies wall.)
There is a rock separating the two countries.
(“rock” is a noun)