Adjectives

The parts of speech: adjectives

In the last lesson, you learned that nouns are the “people, places, or things” of English. But how do you describe nouns? These description words are called adjectives. For example, you may say that a basketball player is tall or an idea is wonderful. Adjectives are necessary to provide more information; without them, English would be very boring.

Adjectives answer questions about nouns and pronouns.

(for example, what, which, how many, or how much)

an honest man (What kind of man is he?)
two boxes (How many do you have?)

An adjective usually comes before the noun it modifies.

I am glad to answer your questions.

Adjectives can also come after nouns:

The students seemed cheerful yesterday.

Several adjectives can modify one noun.

We found his old red sweater.
Did you see those lovely, delightful decorations?

Follow the typical order of adjectives when using more than one.

For more practice, describe someone you know. Make a list of ten adjectives about that person. Look up any words you do not know in a dictionary. Write them down so you can remember later.