What are the different types of adjectives? Examples provided.
TYPES OF ADJECTIVES – This part of speech is used to describe a noun or a pronoun that acts as a subject, and here are its various types.
What is an adjective? The Collins Dictionary defines it as “a word such as ‘big’, ‘dead’, or ‘financial’ that describes a person or thing or gives extra information about them. Adjectives usually come before nouns or after link verbs.”
When it comes to writing or speaking, adjectives provide a flowery look, just like a visual treat. However, using too much can lead to vagueness or confusion, and the key to avoiding this is to learn the skill of how, when, and where to use such beautiful descriptive words.
Happy, ugly, depressed, hardworking, lonely, successful, sloppy, pretty, and healthy are some of the simple examples of an adjective.
Here are its different types:
| TYPES | DEFINITION | EXAMPLES |
| Possessive | used to show possession of a quality | my, your, his, her, their, its, whose, etc |
| Interrogative | used to modify a noun or a pronoun by asking a question | whose, what, which |
| Demonstrative | used to describe the position of a subject in space or time | this, that, these, those |
| Compound | made up of two or more words to modify the subject | blue-collar, short-term, grass-fed, seasick, waterproof, etc |
Meanwhile, there are also three forms of adjectives or degrees of comparison:
- Positive Degree – the original form of the adjective and it does not compare
- Comparative Degree – comparing two nouns that possess the same qualities
- Superlative Degree – the subject has the most or least in terms of quality when compared to three or more entities
Examples:
| Positive Degree | Comparative Degree | Superlative Degree |
| happy | happier | happiest |
| tall | taller | tallest |
| hardworking | more hardworking | most hardworking |
There are exceptions to the rules, as some adjectives have irregular forms for comparison, and some of the most common are:
| Positive Degree | Comparative Degree | Superlative Degree |
| good | better | best |
| bad | worse | worst |
| far | farther/further | farthest/furthest |
| many/much | more | most |
| little | less | least |