K Raj's English Speaking Classes

Adjectives

An
adjective
modifies a noun or pronoun by providing descriptive or specific detail. Unlike adverbs, adjectives do not modify
verbs, other adjectives, or adverbs. Adjectives usually precede the noun or pronoun they modify. Adjectives do not have to
agree in number or
gender with the nouns they describe. Adjectives answer the following questions: W
hat kind?, How many?,
or W
hich ones?
Example:
Tom bought a
used
car. (
used
describes
what kind
of car Tom bought.)
Sally baked
ten
pies for the school bake sale. (
ten
tell
s
how many
pies Sally baked.)
Bob climbed
that
tree in the backyard. (
that
specifies
which
tree Bob climbed.)
Types of Adjectives
Descriptive Adjectives
A
descriptive adjective
names a quality of the noun or pronoun that it modifies.
Example:
brown
dog
bigger
house
fluffy
cat
Proper Adjectives
A
proper adjective
is derived from a proper noun.
Example:
French
class
Spanish
food
European
car
Limiting Adjectives
A
limiting adjective
restricts the meaning of the word it modifies.
Example:
that
car
this
room
the
tree
Interrogative Adjectives
An
interrogative adjective
is used to ask a question.
Example:
Whose
book is this?
Coordinate Adjectives
A
coordinate adjective
consists of two or more adjectives separated by a comma instead of by a coordinating
conjunction.
Example:
a
cold, rainy
day
To determine if you can replace the coordinating conjunction with a comma, see if the adjectives can be reversed or if
and
can be added between the adjectives without changing the meaning. If the adjectives can be
reversed, they are
coordinate and a comma can be used.
Example:
The clowns arrived in a
bright, shiny
car.
The clowns arrived in a
shiny, bright
car. (Reversing
bright
and
shiny
does not change the
meaning.)
The clowns arrived in a
bright
and
shiny
car (Adding
and
between
bright
and
shiny
does not
change the meaning.)
Southeastern Writing Center
Celebrating the Writer’s Voice
383
D. Vickers Hall
(985) 549
-
2076 ~
[email protected]
http://www.selu.edu/acad_research/programs/writing_center
However, if the adjectives cannot be reversed or if
and
cannot be used, a comma cannot be used.
Example:
The clowns arrived
in
two colorful
cars.
The clowns arrived in
colorful two
cars. (Reversing
two
and
colorful
changes the meaning.)
The clowns arrived in
two
and
colorful
cars. (Adding
and
between
two
and
colorful
changes the
meaning.)
Compound Adjectives
Compound
adjectives
consist of two or more words that function as a unit. Depending on its position within the
sentence, the compound adjective is punctuated with or without a hyphen. When a compound adjective comes before
the noun it modifies, use a hyphen to join
the adjectives. When a compound adjective follows the noun it modifies, do
not use a hyphen to join the adjectives.
Example:
She is taking a class on
nineteenth
-
century
literature. (The adjective
nineteenth
-
century
precedes
the noun
literature
so a hyphe
n is used.)
She is studying literature from the
nineteenth century (The adjective
nineteenth century
comes
after the noun
literature
so no hyphen is used.)
Determiners as Adjectives
Determiners, such as articles, pronouns, and numbers, can function as
adjectives. When a determiner is used as an
adjective, it restricts the noun it modifies, like a limiting adjective. Determiners functioning as adjectives tell
Which
one
?,
How many
?, and
Whose
?
Articles (
a, an, the
)
Possessive pronouns (
my,
our, your, his, her, its, their
)
Relative pronouns (
whose, which, whichever, what, whatever
)
Demonstratives (
this, these, that, those
)
Indefinite pronouns (
any, each, other, some
, etc.)
Cardinal Numbers (
one, two, three
, etc.)
Ordinal Numbers (
last, first,
second
, etc.)
Possessive proper nouns (
Bob’s, Sarah’s
)
Example:
Bob’s
house is only
three
blocks from
that
house. (
Bob’s
answers the question: Whose house?
Three
answers the question: How many blocks?
That
answers the question: Which hous
e is three blocks from
Bob’s house?)
Placement and Order of Adjectives
A single noun can be described as a list of adjectives. When more then one adjective is used to modify a noun, it is important to
consider the order in which the adjectives appear. Gen
erally, the adjectives most important in completing the meaning of the noun
are placed closest to the noun. Following is the usual order of adjectives in a series:
1.
Determiners: articles (
a, the
), demonstratives (
this, those
), and possessives (
his, our,
Mary’s, everybody’s
), amounts
(
one, five, many, few
), order (
first, next last
)
2.
Coordinate adjectives (subjective evaluations or personal opinions):
nice, nasty, packed, pitiful
3.
Adjectives describing size:
big, huge, little, tiny
4.
Adjectives describing shape
:
long, short, round, square
5.
Adjectives describing age:
young, old, modern, ancient
6.
Adjectives describing color:
blue, green, red, white
7.
Adjectives describing nationality:
Italian, French, Japanese
8.
Adjectives describing architectural style or religion:
Greek, Gothic,
Catholic, Jewish, Muslim
9.
Adjectives describing material:
cardboard, plastic, silver, gold
10.
Nouns functioning as adjectives:
soccer
ball,
cardboard
box,
history
class
Example:
a big brick
house (article, size, and material)
these old brown c
ardboard
boxes (demonstrative, age, color, material)
a beautiful young Italian
woman (article, personal opinion, age, nationality)

Using Adjectives

Adjectives as Subject Complements
The
subject complement
is a word that follows a linking verb and modifies
the sentence’s subject, not its verb.
Linking
verbs
:
appear, become, believe, feel, grow, smell, seem, sound, remain, turn, prove, look, taste,
and the forms of the verb
to
be.
Example:
The crowd appeared
calm (The linking verb
appeared
links the noun t
he subject
crowd
with the adjective
calm
)
Adjectives as Object Complements
The
object complement
is a word that follows a sentence’s direct object and modifies that object and not the verb. An object
complement answers the question
what?
after the direct
object.
Example:
Bob considered the experiment a
success (
Success
is the object compliment that modifies the sentences
direct object
experiment)
Adjectives with Past and Present Participle Verbs
Adjectives are frequently formed by using the past
participle (
-
ed,
-
t,
or
-
en
) and the present participle (
-
ing
) verb forms.
Example:
The group of children scared the
sleeping
dog. (
Sleeping
describes the baby.)
The students refused to eat the
dried
fruit. (
Dried
describes the cookies.)

".....About Noun..."

Our Aim In Life Should Be...Like This...

Preposition Notes: -

A preposition is a word or set of words that indicates location (in, near, beside, on top of) or some other relationship between a noun or pronoun and other parts of the sentence (about, after, besides, instead of, in accordance with).

Word Frequency Type
with 1062 (preposition)
at 624 (preposition)
from 622 (preposition)
into 301 (preposition)
during 103 (preposition)
including 58 (preposition)
until 54 (preposition)
against 46 (preposition)
among 37 (preposition)
throughout 27 (preposition)
despite 17 (preposition)
towards 16 (preposition)
upon 15 (preposition)
concerning 3 (preposition)
of 5220 (preposition,auxiliary verb)
to 4951 (preposition,adverb)
in 2822 (preposition,adverb)
for 1752 (preposition,conjunction)
on 1087 (preposition,adverb,adjective)
by 706 (preposition,adverb)
about 451 (preposition,adverb,adjective)
like 324 (preposition,verb,conjunction)
through 235 (preposition,adverb,adjective)
over 170 (preposition,adjective,noun)
before 141 (preposition,adverb,conjunction)
between 137 (preposition,adverb)
after 110 (preposition,adjective,adverb)
since 107 (preposition,adverb,conjunction)
without 89 (preposition,adverb,conjunction)
under 70 (preposition,adverb,adjective)
within 46 (preposition,adverb)
along 45 (preposition,adverb)
following 39 (preposition,noun,adjective)
across 36 (preposition,adverb,adjective)
behind 22 (preposition,adverb,adjective)
beyond 20 (preposition,noun)
plus 14 (preposition,adjective,noun)
except 6 (preposition,conjunction,idiom)
but 626 (conjunction,preposition,adverb)
up 296 (adverb,preposition,adjective)
out 294 (adverb,preposition,adjective)
around 101 (adverb,preposition)
down 94 (adverb,preposition,adjective)
off 74 (adverb,preposition,adjective)
above 40 (adverb,preposition,adjective)
near 13 (adverb,preposition,adjective)

Some other examples of particles:

give in
turn in
pull through
wore out
broke up
go in for
put in for
bring up
found out
blow up
look up
make up
look over