Adjectives are one of the four major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adverbs. Examples of adjectives are:big, small, blue, old, richandnice. They give us more information about people, animals or things represented by nouns and pronouns:
That’s abighouse.
Look at thegreyhorse.
Some dogs havelongtails.
She istall.
See also:
Nouns
Pronouns
Meanings of adjectives
Adjectives give us more information. They modify or describe features and qualities of people, animals and things.
Here are some of the common meanings.
examples | meaning |
Other examples: keen (on), near (to), aware (of) | Relations between people and things. These adjectives usually require a word or phrase (complement) to complete their meaning. |
Other examples: talkative, cruel, cooperative, helpful, useful | Descriptions of people and things in terms of their actions. |
Other examples: tall, old, good, rough, true, ugly, red, heavy | Features that will last a long time or will not change (permanent). |
Other examples:
| States and conditions that can change. |
Other examples: organic (vegetables), impressionist (painter), wild (salmon) | Classifying people and things into types. |
See also:
Adjective phrases
Oppositeness
Most common adjectives are members of a pairof opposites (antonyms):
beautiful – ugly | dead – alive | happy – sad | rough – smooth |
big – small | dry – wet | heavy – light | tall – short |
cold – hot | good – bad |
Gradable and ungradable
Many pairs of opposites are gradable, i.e. they have different degrees of the same feature:
Small:
This suitcase isextremely small.
This suitcase isvery small.
This suitcase isquite small.
Hot:
It wasreasonably hotin Italy this summer.
It wasquite hotin Italy this summer.
It waspretty hotin Italy this summer.
It wasvery hotin Italy this summer.
It wasextremely hotin Italy this summer.
One type of adjective is not gradable. These are the adjectives that we use to classify people and things into types:
These vegetables areorganic.
Not:These vegetables are very organic.
I like salmon especially when it iswild.
Not:I like salmon especially when it is quite wild.
See also:
Adjective phrases
Gradable opposites (antonyms)