Adverb (Part of speech)

Adjectives Adjectives are the words that describe nouns. Think about your favorite movie. How would you describe it to a friend who’s never seen it? You might say the movie was funny, engaging, well-written, or suspenseful. When you’re describing the movie with these words, you’re using adjectives. An adjective can go right before the noun it’s describing (I have a black dog), but it doesn’t have to. Sometimes, adjectives are at the end of a sentence . Adjectives modify nouns Most students learn that adjectives are words that modify (describe) nouns. Adjectives do not modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives. Margot wore a beautiful hat to the pie-eating contest. Furry dogs may overheat in the summertime. My cake should have sixteen candles. The scariest villain of all time is Darth Vader. In the sentences above, the adjectives are easy to spot because they come immediately before the nouns they modify. Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing shines? Grammarly can check your spelling and save you from grammar and punctuation mistakes. It even proofreads your text, so your work is extra polished wherever you write. But adjectives can do more than just modify nouns. They can also act as a complement to linking verbs or the verb to be. A linking verb is a verb like to feel, to seem, or to taste that describes a state of being or a sensory experience. That cow sure is happy. It smells gross in the locker room. Driving is faster than walking. The technical term for an adjective used this way is predicate adjective. Uses of adjectives Adjectives tell the reader how much—or how many—of something you’re talking about, which thing you want passed to you, or which kind of something you want. Please use three white flowers in the arrangement. Three and white are modifying flowers. Often, when adjectives are used together, you should separate them with a comma or conjunction. See “Coordinate Adjectives” below for more detail. I’m looking for a small, good-tempered dog to keep as a pet. My new dog is small and good-tempered. Degrees of comparison Adjectives come in three forms: absolute, comparative, and superlative. Absolute adjectives describe something in its own right. A cool guy A messy desk A mischievous cat Garrulous squirrels Comparative adjectives, unsurprisingly, make a comparison between two or more things. For most one-syllable adjectives, the comparative is formed by adding the suffix -er (or just -r if the adjective already ends with an e). For two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, replace -y with -ier. For multi-syllable adjectives, add the word more. A cooler guy A messier desk A more mischievous cat More garrulous squirrels Superlative adjectives indicate that something has the highest degree of the quality in question. One-syllable adjectives become superlatives by adding the suffix -est (or just -st for adjectives that already end in e). Two-syllable adjectives ending in -y replace -y with -iest. Multi-syllable adjectives add the word most. When you use an article with a superlative adjective, it will almost always be the definite article (the) rather than a or an. Using a superlative inherently indicates that you are talking about a specific item or items. The coolest guy The messiest desk The most mischievous cat The most garrulous squirrels Coordinate adjectives Coordinate adjectives should be separated by a comma or the word and. Adjectives are said to be coordinate if they modify the same noun in a sentence.