Kinds of Adjectives

Posted by Manjusha. Filed in English Grammar

Adjectives are words that describe things.

• We need round tables.
• Tokyo is a big city.

Adjectives can answer the question "What kind?" (round tables; big city), “How much?” (some rice, little effort) “Which one?” (red shirt, second wife), and “How many?” (two boys, ten books).

Kinds of adjectives

Possessive Adjectives

A possessive adjective modifies a noun by telling whom it belongs to. It answers the question "Whose?"

Examples are: his, her, its, my, our, their, and your.

• You can share my rice.
• Have you seen their house?
• This is his room.
• They are our friends.

Demonstrative Adjectives

The demonstrative adjectives that, these, this, those, and what answer the question "Which?"

• I'm going to open that present.
• Whose is this bag?
• These mangoes are very sweet.

A demonstrative adjective may look like a demonstrative pronoun, but it is used differently in the sentence: it is an adjective, used to modify a noun or pronoun.

Interrogative Adjectives

The interrogative adjectives are used with nouns to ask questions. Examples are what, which and whose.

• What movie do you want to see?
• Which leaves turn color first?
• Whose son is he?

An interrogative adjective may look like an interrogative pronoun, but it is used differently in the sentence: it is an adjective, used to modify a noun or pronoun.

Indefinite Adjectives

An indefinite adjective gives indefinite, or general, information. Often, it answers the question "How much?" Some common indefinite adjectives are all, any, each, every, few, many, and some.

• Many children like dinosaurs.
• Did you want some bananas?
• Is there any water in the bottle?

An indefinite adjective may look like an indefinite pronoun, but it is used differently in the sentence: it is an adjective, used to modify a noun or pronoun.

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