Adjective and Adverb

Sri Widyarti Ali

 Adjective
• Definition of Adjective
• Adjective is the part of speech (or word class)
that modifies a noun or a pronoun.
• Adjectives are describing words. Large, black
and friendly are all examples of adjectives. In
the examples below, these adjectives are used
to describe an elephant. Examples:
Large elephant
Black elephant
Friendly elephant
 Types of Adjective

• There are different types of adjectives based

on their effect on a noun and what they tell
about the noun; Descriptive, possessive,
demonstrative, relative, interrogative, number
or quantity, etc.
1. Descriptive Adjectives Or Adjective Of Quality.
Descriptive adjectives are those adjectives which describe
nouns or the noun phrases. For example: 'A beautiful day'. In
this case, 'beautiful' is the adjective which qualifies or
describes the noun 'day'. Descriptive adjectives have several
forms as discussed below.
• Colors as adjectives: Black, Blue, White, Green, etc.
• Touch as adjective: Slippery, Sticky, etc.
• Feelings as adjectives: Happy, Sad, Angry, etc.
• Sizes as adjectives: Big, Small, Thin, Thick, etc.
• Origin as adjectives: European, Latin, Greek, etc.
• Shapes as adjectives: Triangular, Rectangular, Square, Circular,
etc.
• Qualities as adjectives: Good, Bad, Average, etc.
• Time as adjective: Yearly, Monthly, etc.
• Age as adjectives: Young, Ancient, Old, etc.
• Material as adjectives: Wood, Cotton, Gold, etc.
• Opinions as adjectives: Pretty, hot, expensive, etc.
 ADJECTIVE ORDER CHART

Opinion Size Age Shape Color Nationality Material Purpose Noun

expensive small German racing car

pretty antique gold mirror

tiny round yellow flowers

long blonde hair

medium square checker board

little blue cardboard doll house

strong young American baseball player

tasty Italian food

noisy 4-year-old white Siamese cat

2. Possessive Adjective
Possessive adjective is used where the sentence shows
possession or belongings. They are similar to possessive
pronouns and, in this case, are used as adjectives which
modify a noun or a noun phrase. Here words such as, our,
my, your, his, her, it's and their, are used. For example:
• Have you seen their house?
• This is his room.
3. Demonstrative Adjective
• Demonstrative adjectives are used when there is a need to
point specific things. The adjectives function as a way to
demonstrate something and are similar to demonstrative
pronouns. Here, words such as this, that, these, are used.
Take, for instance, the sentence: 'If I hear that sound again,
I will call the Police'. Here 'that' refers to a specific sound.
Other examples are as follows:
• Whose is this bag?
• These mangoes are sour.
4. Relative Adjective
A relative adjective is basically a relative pronoun that is used within
a sentence as an adjective, ultimately modifying or describing a
noun or pronoun.
It is a pronominal adjective that introduces a clause qualifying an
antecedent, as which in “our next meeting will be on Monday, at
which time a new chairman will be elected”, or a clause functioning
as a substantive as which in “I do not know which course I should
follow”. Other examples:
• He is a man whose behavior is notorious.
• I’ll return at six, by which time the work must be finished.
5. Interrogative Adjective
An Interrogative adjective modifies a noun or a noun phrase and is
similar to the interrogative pronoun. It does not stand on its own
and includes words such as, which, what, whose For example:
'What dress are you wearing?' Here, 'what' modifies the noun
'dress' and is the object of the compound verb 'are wearing'. Other
examples:
• Which leaves turn color first?
• Whose son is he?
6. Adjective of number or quantity
Adjective of number or quantity talks about the quantity of
the noun being talked about and provides answer to the
question of 'how much'. It shows the quantity or the
numbers present in the sentence. For example: 'there were
three boys playing in the ground'. Here the word 'three'
signifies the quantity or the number of boys playing. Other
examples are:
• He has little intelligence.
• Sunday is the first day of the week.
7. Predicative Adjective
Predicative adjectives are those which follow a linking verb
and not placed before a noun. Predicative adjective does
not act as a part of the noun it modifies but serves as a
complement of a linking verb which connects it to the noun
of the sentence. Take for instance 'The bag is heavy'. Here
the predicative adjective 'heavy' is associated with the verb
'is' and links to the noun 'bag'. Other examples are:
• The weather will be cool and dry.
• That child is young.
8. Indefinite Adjective
Indefinite adjectives are used when the sentence has
nothing to point out or specify. These adjectives are
formed from indefinite pronouns and do not indicate
anything in particular. It uses words such as, any, many,
few and several, etc. Here is an example explained in
detail: 'The chief has heard many people make the
same promise'. The word 'Many' is an indefinite
adjective which does not specify the quantity of people
and modifies the noun 'people' without pointing out
exactly who all have made the said same promise.
Other examples:
• Many children like dinosaurs.
• Is there any water in the bottle?
 The Three Forms of Adjective
• Adjectives also have three forms: Simple,
Comparative, Superlative.
• Simple: rich
difficult
• Comparative: richer
more difficult
• Superlative: richest
most difficult
• Comparative adjectives are those which imply increase or
decrease of the quality or quantity of the nouns. It is used
to compare two things in a clause. Adjectives are generally
made comparative by adding 'er' to the original work like
nicer, taller, smarter, etc; there are some exceptions also.
Other examples are:
• The detective is younger than the thief
• Science is more important than math in these days.
• This school is better than the last one I attended.

• Superlative adjectives express the greatest increase or

decrease of the quality; it conveys the supreme value of the
noun in question. For instance, 'He is the richest man in this
town'. Here, the word 'richest' is the superlative adjective
which shows a comparison individually.
• Mary is the tallest of all the students.
• I am in the smallest class in the school.
• This is the most interesting subject for me.
A brief explanation about Adjective Phrase
• An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a
phrase that tells us something about the noun it
is modifying. The head (principal) word in an
adjective phrase will be an adjective
• An adjective phrase consists of an adjective
which may be preceded and/or followed by other
words. The premodifier is always an adverb, but
the post-modifiers can be a prepositional phrase.
Examples:
• These are unbelievably expensive shoes.
• Sarah was fairly bored with you.
• The dog covered in mud looked pleased with
himself.
• The people are angry with the high prices.
 Adverb
• An adverb is a word that changes or qualifies the
meaning of a verb, adjective, other adverb,
clause, sentence or any other word or phrase.
• An adverb can be added to a verb to modify its
meaning. Usually, an adverb tells you when,
where, how, in what manner or to what extent an
action is performed.
• Examples:
• Anita placed the vase carefully on the shelf. (The
word carefully is an adverb. It shows how the
vase was placed.)
• Tara walks gracefully. (The word gracefully is an
adverb. It modifies the verb to walk.)
 Types of Adverb
• The types of adverb are: adverb of manner, adverb of
place, adverb of time, adverb of
degree/quantity/extent, adverb of frequency, adverb of
number, relative adverb, interrogative adverb.
1. Adverb of manner.
An adverb of manner tells us how something is done
or happens. They answer the question "how?".
Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs. Most adverbs
of manner end in –ly such as badly, happily, sadly,
slowly, quickly, and others that include well, hard,
fast, etc.
• He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?)
• They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?)
• James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond
drive his cars?)
2. Adverb of place
Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They
answer the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify
verbs. Adverbs of place include words such as above, below, here,
outside, over there, there, under, upstairs, etc.
• Please sit here. (Where should I sit?)
• They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?)
• Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?)

3. Adverb of time
Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something
happens. Adverbs of Time mainly modify verbs. They can answer
the question "when?":
• He came yesterday. (When did he come?)
• I want it now. (When do I want it?)
Or they can answer the question "how often?":
• They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the
newspaper?)
• We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?)
4. Adverb of degree (quantity/extent).
Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something
happens. They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?".
Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs,adjectives and other adverbs. Words
of adverb of degree are almost, much, nearly, quite, really, so, too, very,
etc.
• She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?)
• Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is
Mary?)
• He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously?
How dangerously did he drive?)
5. Adverb of frequency
• An adverb of frequency tells us how often something is done or happens.
Words used as adverbs of frequency include again, almost, always, ever,
frequently, generally, hardly ever, nearly, nearly always, never,
occasionally, often, rarely, seldom, sometimes, twice, usually, and
weekly.
• They were almost fifty when they got married.
• He hardly ever say something nice to his wife.
• While overseas, he frequently phoned home.
• She is not nearly always right although she thinks she is always right.
• He complained that she never smiled back.
6. Adverb of number
These adverbs answer the question ‘in what order’. These
are separate from adverb of time and degree, referring to
an exact number.
Examples are: firstly, secondly, lastly, once, never, twice,
thrice etc.
• I have seen him only once.
• Secondly, I can’t afford to buy it.
7. Relative adverb
Relative adverb is an adverb (where, when, or why) that
introduces a relative clause, also known as a relative adverb
clause.
• That's the restaurant where we met for the first time.
(where = at/in which)
• I remember the day when we first met.
(when = on which)
• Tell me why you were late home.
(why = for which, but could replace the whole phrase 'the
reason for which')
8. Interrogative adverb
Adverbs which are used for asking questions
are called interrogative adverbs.
• Where is my drink?
• When are you going to do the homework?
• Why are we waiting?
 The Forms of Adverb
• Adverb also has its simple, comparative, and superlative
forms.
• In general, comparative and superlative forms of adverbs
are the same as for adjectives:
• add -er or -est to short adverbs:
Simple:
hard
late
fast
Comparative:
harder
later
faster
Superlative
the hardest
the latest
the fastest
Simple:
quietly
slowly
seriously
Comparative:
more quietly
more slowly
more seriously
Superlative
most quietly
most slowly
most seriously
• There are also two irregular adverbs:
Well – better – best
Badly – worse – worst
Examples in sentences:
• Jim works harder than his brother.
• Everyone in the race ran fast, but John ran the fastest of all.
• The teacher spoke more slowly to help us to understand.
• Could you sing more quietly please?
A brief explanation about Adverb Phrase
• Adverb phrase is a word group with an adverb as
its head.
• An adverb phrase can modify a verb, an adjective,
or another adverb, and it can appear in a number
of different positions in a sentence. Examples:
• The players responded surprisingly well to all the
pressures of the playoffs.
• The cat walks quite slowly.
• As quickly as possible we cleaned the fish and
placed them in coolers.
• Snow fell much earlier than usual.
• Only occasionally is there a rumble in the sky or a
hint of rain.
Thank You