What are adjectives?
Adjectives are words that describe the quality or state of a noun: such as sad, happy, cold, slow, etc. They can also describe the number of nouns such as little, thousands, many, twelve, etc.
Adjectives modify nouns
Most students know that an adjective is a word that modifies (describes) a noun. Adjectives do not modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives.
Example:
Lily has a beautiful cat.
Thousands of people perished in the storm.
Her car should have four doors.
In the sentence above, adjectives are easy to spot because they are right next to the nouns they modify. But adjectives can do more than just modify nouns. They can also be used as phylogenetic verbs. A systemic verb is a verb used to describe a state of being or a sensory experience sensation.
The cat is sad.
It sounds good to me.
The term for an adjective used in this way is a predicate adjective.
Use adjectives
Adjectives tell the reader what kind of thing you are talking about, what you want to pass on to yourself, or what kind of thing you want.
Lily bought four beautiful kitties. (Four and beautiful are modified kitties)
When adjectives are usually used together, separate them with commas or conjunctions.
Lily’s cat is beautiful and lovely.
Lily bought a lovely, beautiful cat
Degree comparison
Adjectives come in three forms: absolute, comparative, and superlative. Absolute adjectives describe something in themselves.
good person
beautiful woman
fast rabbit
Comparison adjectives compare between two or more things. For most monosyllabic adjectives, comparisons are formed by adding the suffix -er (or only -r if the adjective already ends in e). For two-syllable adjectives ending in -y, replace -y with -ier. For multisyllabic adjectives, add the word more.
better person.
more beautiful woman
faster rabbit
The most advanced adjective indicates that something has the highest degree of level. Monosyllabic adjectives become the highest adjectives by adding the suffix -est (or only -st for adjectives that have ended in e). A two-syllable adjective ending in -y replaces -y with -iest. Multisyllabic adjectives add the most words. When you use an article with the superlative adjective, it almost always determines the article (the), not a. Using the superlative itself indicates that you are talking about one or more specific things.
the best person
the most beautiful woman
the fastest rabbit
Coordinate multiple adjectives
Coordinating the use of multiple adjectives should be separated by commas or words and.
That is a warm, fun weekend.
It is a cold and long night.
But the fact that two adjectives appear next to each other does not mean that they are equal. Sometimes adjectives and nouns form a single semantic unit that is then modified by another adjective. In this case, the comma separation is not applied.
There is a fat black cat over there.
Adjectives and adverbs
As mentioned above, many people in school know adjectives to modify nouns, adverbs to modify verbs. But as we have seen, adjectives can also be used as a complement to connecting verbs. This leads to a common mistake: mistakenly replacing predicate adjectives with adverbs. An example you may have heard of before is:
She feels badly. (Not recommended)
Because "feel" is a verb, it seems to require an adverb rather than an adjective. But "feel" is more than just any verb; It is a verb. Adverbs describe the sensation of performing an action while adjectives describe the overall feeling. "She fees badly" means she's not good at feeling things. If she's forced to do something she doesn't like, then she says "She feels badly." It may make sense. But if she wants to say she's experiencing negative emotions, "She feels bad." that's right.
When a noun becomes an adjective, or an adjective becomes a noun
Regarding an adjective, sometimes a word that is usually used as a noun can be used as an adjective, depending on its location. For example:
She is cleaning her gift box.
gift is a noun. But in this sentence, it embellishes the box.
And some words that are usually used as adjectives can be used as nouns:
We need find a shelter for the homeless.
In the context of this sentence, homeless is a noun. If you only think of adjectives and nouns as words of a specific category, it is difficult to think about this. However, the terms "adjective" and "noun" are related not only to the form of the word, but also to its function.
Adjective usage recommendations
We will end with a few words about adjectives and style. Knowing how to use an adjective is one thing; Knowing the exact use of adjectives is another matter. Good writing is precise and concise. Sometimes you need an adjective to convey exactly what you mean. It's hard to describe a red sports car that doesn't have any "red" words on it. But choosing the right noun eliminates the misuse of the adjective. Is it panda? Or black-white bear? Always remember to value every word in your writing. Use it if you need an adjective, but if it doesn't add color to the article, delete it.
Questions test questions
Mary is ______.
A. long
B. beautiful
C. many
D. much
Difficulty: Simple
Title: Adjective meaning analysis
Answer: B
Parsing: Speculate from Mary and consider the adjectives described to it. The long (long) in A indicates the length of time or distance, or the length of books, letters, stories, etc.; many (many) in C are rare and occasionally used in formal styles or literary styles; much (a large number) in D is usually used for question and negative sentences; bótiful means "beautiful", used as a predicate, contextual, hence B.
He is ______at it.
A. good
C. end
D. nice
Difficulty: Difficult
Answer: A
Analysis: Infer from at, consider the adjectives described by it. B in beauty (pretty), C in fine (good) and nice in D are usually not used with at; good in A means "good", and pairing with at constitutes a fixed usage, indicating "good at doing something", which is contextual, so A is chosen.
I'm sorry. You are so ______.
A. beautiful
B. nice
C. happy
D. late
Answer: D
Analysis: From I'm sorry, it is speculated that the speaker should express a regret. The beauty in A (pretty), nice in B (friendly) and happy in C are all positive and unsympathical; the late in D means "late", which is contextual, so D is chosen.
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