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Adjectives
 An adjective is a word that modifies, or describes, a noun or a pronoun.
 Extraordinary weather can cause strange events.
 Extraordinary modifies weather
 strange modifies events
 Adjectives help you see, feel, taste, hear, and smell all the experiences you read about.
 Notice the difference between the sentences:
 1. During a storm, a boat capsized in the waves.
 2. During a violent storm, a large boat capsized in the enormous waves.
 Adjectives answer the questions:
 1. What kind?
 2. Which one?
 3. How many?
 4. How much?
Adjectives
What kind?
A sudden blizzard
A brisk wind
A destructive flood
Which one(s)?
The first warning
The last weather report
How many/How much?
Several tornadoes
The Mexican
earthquake
A few drifts
Six students
 The most commonly used adjectives are the articles a, an, and the.
 A and an are forms of the indefinite article.
 They are used before nouns that name unspecified people, places, things, and ideas.
 Use a before a word beginning with a consonant sound (a ball) and use an before a
word beginning with a vowel sound (an egg).
 Example: A weather radar can predict an obvious storm.
 The is the definite article. It points to a particular person, place, thing, or idea.
 The six o’clock news predicted the tornado.
 Many adjectives are formed from common nouns.
Nouns and Adjective
common noun
common adjective
cloud
cloudy
nation
national
statue
statuesque
friend
friendly
 However, like proper nouns (which refer to specific people, places, things, and ideas) proper
adjective are going to refer to something specific, and they are going to need to be capitalized.
Proper Nouns and Proper Adjectives
Proper Noun
Proper Adjective
North America
North American
Olympus
Olympian
(Queen) Elizabeth
Elizabethan
Honduras
Honduran
 A predicate adjective is an adjective that follows a linking verb and describles the verb’s subject.
 Examples:
 1. Some people are extraordinary.
 2. They are very energetic.
 3. You usually feel lucky to know such a person.
 In addition to their usual uses, many pronouns and nouns can be used as adjectives. They can
modify nouns to make their meanings more specific.
 Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, and those.) can be used as adjectives to
demonstrate.
 This fingerprint is a loop. That fingerprint is a whirl.
 Possessive pronouns (my, our, your, her, his, its, and their) can be used as adjectives when
referring to possession.
 My thumbprint is a double loop, but your thumbprint is a tented arch.
- Indefinite pronouns (such as all, each, both, few, most, and some) can be used to refer to an
indefinite amount of people, places, things, and ideas.
 All fingerprints fit one of seven patterns.
 But each fingerprint is unique.