Adjective
(An Introduction To What It Is & How To Use It)
What Is An Adjective?
n Traditional English Grammar — The Term “Adjective” is classified as one of the so-called “Parts Of Speech” — or sometimes, as a “Word-Class”. However — those traditional Terms are imperfect, and also lead to the confusion that so many people experience with English Grammar.
herefore — in The Grammar Of The Common Tongue — I have replaced those imperfect Terms, whith the more suitable and precise Term: “Grammatical Unit”. The Adjective is one of the eight “Base Grammatical Units” in The Common Tongue Of The English Language.
Bonus! — To comprehend why this change of Terms was necessary — simply click any of the links in the explanation above, or anywhere else on this page to read the proper, logical, & correct descriptions of the Grammatical Terms used in this article. 😉
he word “Adjective” is the Grammatical Term which is used to refer to specific types of words in The English Language. These are the words which indicate and describe the “things” that we communicate about. They describe Nouns, Phrasal-Nouns, Noun-Phrases, & sometimes other Adjectives.
hey are sometimes words which answer the questions: “Which One(s)” or “How Much” / “How Many” (of the thing). But more-often — they are words which describe one’s “Opinion About” or “Judgement Of” the “Qualities” and / or “Characteristics” of a particular thing.
hey are words which describe how a thing: “Looks”, “Smells”, “Sounds”, “Feels”, or “Tastes”. And they describe that thing’s: “Size”, “Age”, “Shape”, “Color”, “Origin”, “Material Make-Up”, or the “Type” of thing that it is (when that thing is in a larger group that contains multiple different types).
djectives can even describe a thing by indicating “What That Thing Is “Doing” or “What State It Is In”! (This is not considered-so in Traditional Grammar, but is logically true. There-fore, it is acknowledged in The Grammar Of The Common Tongue.) 😎
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“The big brown bear (the one that was waving to the people) smelled horribly-bad, but he was really cute & fuzzy and was a very nice fellow, in-deed.”.
How Are Adjectives Used?
sually — Adjectives are used to describe Nouns. But they can also be used to describe the Pronouns which refer to a specific Noun. And they also, very-often, describe or modify other Adjectives.
aturally — Adjectives also describe all of the Phrase & Phrasal forms of the other Grammatical Units which they describe: Noun-Phrase / Phrasal-Noun; Pronoun-Phrase / Phrasal-Pronoun; Adjective-Phrase / Phrasal-Adjective.
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Notice! — The Adjective “Cute” describes the Pronoun “He” — which actually comes BEFORE the full Adjective-Phrase that describes it.
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Usually Adjectives & Adjective-Phrases come before the Noun or Pronoun that they describe. This is called an “Attributive Adjective” . It is an “Attribute” of the Noun or Pronoun.
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When the Adjective or Adjective-Phrase comes AFTER the Noun or Pronoun it describes (such as with the example described above), it is called a “Predicative Adjective”. It is still an attribute of the Noun or Pronoun — but it is part of the “Predicate” of the Sentence.
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(This information may not help you to communicate properly in English, but it may be helpful if you are tested on this information, or if you come across these terms elsewhere) 😉
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here are many words in The English Language which are ONLY Adjectives. But there are a lot of other types of words — like Nouns, and even Verbs which can act AS an Adjective. And there are also words that can BECOME an Adjective, simply by the addition of a Prefix, a Suffix, or Both!
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In The Phrase: “smelled horribly-bad”….
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The word “Smelled” is a Verb. But it is not describing an action. Instead, it is acting “Adjectively” in the Phrase, to describe the condition of the Bear — which is represented by the Pronoun “He”.
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The word “Horribly” is an Adverb. But it, also, is not acting to modify a Verb. Instead, it is modifying the Adjective “Bad”, and actually becomes part of the Phrasal-Adjective “Horribly-Bad”.
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And the entire Phrase “smelled horribly-bad” is then, an Adjective-Phrase.
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“The fact that the bear smelled horribly-bad, made him rather unappealing. But since he was such a very nice fellow, he was still adorable in his own unique way.”.
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In The Sentence Above:.
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The word “Unappealing” is made into an Adjective by the addition of both the Prefix “un-“ & the Suffix “-ing”.
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This is because the Root-Word — “(to) Appeal” is a Verb. But by adding the “-ing” Suffix — it is transformed into what (in Traditional Grammar) is called a “Stative Verb”.
In The Grammar Of The Common Tongue — we call this an Adjectival-Verb. This is a word which is classified as a Verb, but which does NOT describe action. Instead, it acts “Adjectively” to describe the current perceived a “State” of that “thing”.
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(And since — there is really no-such-thing as a “State Of Being” — as all things are constantly moving & vibrating — at-least at a molecular level — then it makes more sense to call it an “Adjectival-Verb” rather than a “Stative Verb”.)
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And the Prefix “un-“ simply negates that “State Of Being” — making it the opposite of what it normally is — or by reversing some quality or condition.
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Therefore — The bear has qualities which would make him “Not Appeal” to someone; he is “unappealing“.
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And the word “Adorable” is made into an Adjective by the use of the Suffix “-able”. This is because the Root-Word — “(to) Adore” is also a Verb. But by adding the Suffix “-able” — it is transformed into an Adjective to describe that the bear has the qualities which make him “Able To Be Adored”.
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Bonus! — Another way to more deeply & truly Know & Comprehend what an “Adjective” actually IS… is in the name itself. Since Nouns and Pronouns are always either a Subject or and Object — And the Suffix “-ive” means: “Relating To” — Then an “Ad-ject-ive”: Adds Information Relative To The Subject Or Object that it is modifying.
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Pretty simple, huh? I bet none of your other English teachers ever told you that before. (I know mine didn’t) 😎
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Stay Tuned! There Is More To Come…
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Have An Excellent Day!
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