Mengenal Adjectives

What is an Adjective?
An adjective is a word that describes a noun
Here are some examples: (the adjectives are red; the nouns are blue)

Order of adjectives

As mentioned previously, more than one adjective may be stringed together before the noun it (they) describes. When they do, they have a correct order they must appear in, according to category.

1. Determiners — articles (a, an, the…) and other limiters.

2. Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)

3. Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)

4. Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)

5. Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)

6. Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian)

7. Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)

8. Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover).

Example: The large, black, metallic rocking chair is in my room.

The adjectives in this sentence are in proper order.

There are seven main types of adjectives. Here they are:

1.      Possessive Adjectives

Examples: My, your, his, her, its, our, their

Example in a sentence: The ballerina spins on her toes.

“Her” describes the word “toes,” telling us whose toes are being talked about.

Ø  Note that the possessive pronoun form “mine” is not used to modify a noun or noun phrase.

2.      Demonstrative Adjectives

Examples: This, these, that, those, what

Example in a sentence: The sweaters are in that drawer.

“That” describes the word “drawer,” telling us which drawer is being talked about

3.      Adjectives of Degrees

These adjectives express the degrees of modification/comparison

There are three degrees (from lowest to highest): positive, comparative, and superlative.

For example, if the adjective “rich” is used to describe people, these would be the adjectivesof different degrees.

Rich = Positive

Richer = Comparative

Richest = Superlative

4.      Participle Adjectives

Participles are verb forms acting as adjectives. Examples of participle adjectives are bold-faced in the paragraph below to give a good idea of how they are used.

“He remembered…the floating snow of blossoms. He knew the inchoate sharp excitement of hot dandelions in young earth; in July, of watermelons bedded in sweet hay, inside a farmer's covered wagon; of cantaloupe and crated peaches; and the scent of orange rind, bitter-sweet, before a fire of coals. He knew the good male smell of his father's sitting-room; of the smooth worn leather sofa, with the gaping horse-hair rent; of the blistered varnished wood upon the hearth; of the heated calf-skin bindings; of the flat moist plug of apple tobacco, stuck with a red flag; of wood-smoke and burnt leaves in October; of the brown tired autumn earth; of honey-suckle at night; of warm nasturtiums, of a clean ruddy farmer who comes weekly with printed…” (http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm

5.      Interrogative adjectives

They are words used to ask questions that indicate the noun that is being talked about. It asks which or what.

Examples: which, what

Example in a sentence: Which bike is yours?

“Which” describes the word “bike.”

6.      Indefinite Adjectives

Usually answers the question, “how much?”

But it doesn’t specify a particular quantity (like four or thirteen).

Examples: Many, any, few, all, some, each, every

Example sentence: “Many of my friends have pets.”

“Many” describes “friends,” letting us know approximately how many of the friends have pets.

7.      A-adjectives

They start with an “a” and describe nouns as normal.

The most common of these are: ablaze, afloat, afraid, aghast, alert, alike, alive, alone, aloof, ashamed, asleep, averse, awake, aware

They usually show up after a linking verb (like were, was, am).

They usually come after the noun they describe.

Example sentence: I was ashamed.

“Ashamed” describes “I” (myself) in this sentence.