Adjectives

A Brief Overview

An adjective is a part of speech that describes

a noun, compares two or more things, or tells the reader “how many”

Does it tell you what kind of person, place, or thing it is? Then it is an adjective!

What is an adjective?

Common adjectives modify nouns

Large herds of bison live on the fertile plains. What kind of herds? Large ones. What kind of plains? Fertile ones.

When you are not sure where the adjective is, find the noun. Is the noun described? You’ve found your

adjective!

Common Adjectives

Proper adjectives are often used to describe

people, places, or things from a specific nation The Italian restaurant is on the other side of the

street. How can you identify a proper adjective?

They are always capitalized! They describe a noun’s nationality

Proper Adjectives

Comparative adjectives compare two nouns.

Ex: better, happier, taller, shorter Mary is taller than her friend. That show is funnier than the others.

Superlative adjectives compare three or more nouns. Ex: best, happiest, tallest, shortest

Comparative and Superlative