GRAMMAR & STRUCTUREAdjectives

   

Definition

An adjective gives more information about a noun.

Example

Dave has a red car.

  adjective  

Explanation

Adjectives --

give more information about nouns. "He drank a fine, Spanish wine."

give information about someone's opinion. "This is delicious food."

give information about age. "This is an old book."

give information about colour."She is wearing a green coat."

give information about size and measurement."She is wearing a short skirt."

give information about shape."Dave has a round face."

give information about origin."Dena has an Italian boyfriend."

give information about characteristics."He is wearing a soft sweater."

give information about what something is made of."He has a leather jacket."

give information about purpose."He teaches at a driving school."

do not change form for plural nouns."He has two leather jackets."

go before the nouns they describe. follow the verbs "to be," "to feel," "to taste," "to smell," "to look," and "to

sound.""This jacket feels soft."

can show possession."This is my jacket."

follow the verb "get" to show a change to the situation."It is 8:00 at night. It is the end of the day. The sun is gone. It is getting dark."

GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE — ExamplesAdjectives

   

Sentences using adjectives

Example Explanation Other Examples

John is a tall man. "Tall" gives information about size.

Other examples of size and measurement adjectives: short, small, big, long, wide

John is a young man.

"Young" gives information about age.

Other examples of age adjectives: old, ancient, new

John is a handsome man.

"Handsome" gives information about a person's opinion of John's appearance.

Other examples of opinion adjectives: expensive, beautiful, lovely, cheap, boring, delicious, quiet, ugly, terrible

John is a Canadian man.

"Canadian" gives information about origin, where something comes from.

Other examples of origin adjectives: Japanese, Mexican, German, Greek, Spanish, Korean, Taiwanese. NOTE: These words begin with Capital Letters.

John has a blue car. "Blue" gives information about colour.

Other examples of colour adjectives: red, white, yellow, green, black, brown

His car is blue. "His" gives information about possession.

Other examples of possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, our, their

John has two blue cars.

"Two blue" gives information about the

Other examples of numbers: three, four, five, six blue cars

number. There is no change in the adjective form.

John has a round face.

"Round" gives information about shape.

Other examples of shape adjectives: square, triangular, circular, straight, crooked

John has a soft face.

"Soft" gives information about the characteristics of an object.

Other examples of characteristic adjectives: sharp knife, hard bed, solid table, gentle touch, rough surface

John has a steel car.

"Steel" gives information about the material and about what something is made of.

Other examples of material adjectives: plastic, wooden, metal, leather, cotton

John has a racing car.

"Racing" gives information about the purpose.

Other examples of purpose adjectives: baseball (bat), doll (house), drawing (pencil), reading (glasses)

John feels happy. "Happy" describes a feeling. Adjectives follow the verb "to feel."

Other examples of verbs that are followed by adjectives: to seem: dark, strange, different, new, cold to become: cold, dark, light, tired, angryto taste: sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, deliciousto look: good, bad, different, nice, beautiful to smell: sour, rotten, sweet, good, bad

to sound: loud, quiet, interesting, boringto be: good, bad, new, sad, happy, cheerful

It gets cold in the winter.

"Get + cold" describes a change in the weather from not cold to cold.

Other examples of "get + adjective": get tired, get hungry, get angry, get excited, get fat, get old

 

GRAMMAR & STRUCTURE — ExercisesAdjectives

   

Answer the following questions to check your knowledge of adjectives.

Choose the adjectives in the following sentences.

ExampleKaty is a hard worker.

Katyworkerhardis

The correct answer is "hard".

1. This sandwich tastes delicious.  This  delicious  sandwich  tastes     2. Vera is taking a Spanish course.  Spanish  Vera  taking  course     3. The CN Tower is a tall building.  tower  tall  building  is     4. My pillow is very soft.  pillow  very  is  soft     5. Grady does not like black cats.  Grady  black  cats  like     6. Choose the correctly written sentence.  We have a table wooden.

  We have a wooden table.     7. Choose the correctly written sentence.  Our table is wooden.  Our wooden table is.     8. Choose the correctly written sentence.  We have two woodens tables.  We have two wooden tables.     9. Choose the correctly written sentence.  The table is Canadian maple.  The table is maple Canadian.     10. Choose the correctly written sentence.  The wooden table looks beautiful.  The wooden table beautiful looks.