Adjectives Part II

Adjectives Part I <-- click here 

4. Demonstrative Adjectives - These adjectives are used to point out or indicate a particular noun or pronoun using the adjectives - This, That, These andThose. 

o   That bag belongs to Neil. 

o   Try using this paintbrush in art class.

o   I really like those shoes.

o   These flowers are lovely. 

5. Interrogative Adjectives - These adjectives are used to ask questions about nouns or in relation to nouns, they are - Where, What, Which and Whose.

o   Where did he say he was going? 

o   What assignment did I miss out on?

o   Which is your favorite author?

o   Whose pen is this? 

In some instances, we find that we need to use more than one adjective to describe a noun in a satisfactory manner. In these cases, commas are used to separate the adjectives but some series of adjectives do not require a comma. Therefore, we need to know the difference between Coordinate and Non-coordinate Adjectives -

Coordinate Adjectives - Are those words which can be re-arranged in the series easily and are still grammatically sound. This kind of series makes use of commas. This series can also insert ‘and’ between them and still be correct. 

She was a kind, generous, loving human being.

She was a generous, loving, kind human being.

She was a loving, kind and generous human being.

Here we can see that all three sentences are grammatically correct. In this case, the adjectives only need to be separated by commas.

Non-coordinate Adjectives - These are those adjectives which cannot be rearranged in the series. These do not use commas to separate the adjectives.  Also, this kind of series do not make sense if we insert ‘and’ between them.

She has two energetic playful dogs.

She has playful two energetic dogs.

She has energetic and playful and two dogs.

Here we see that only the first sentence makes sense and is grammatically correct. The second and third ones are incorrect. Hence, the sentence uses non-coordinate adjectives and does not need commas. 

There are certain rules regarding the placement of different kinds of adjectives in a sentence. The general order followed is -

1. Determiners – These are the various articles (the, a, an), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), possessives (my, mine, your, yours, -‘s), quantifiers (all, many etc.),  numerals (one, twenty, thirty-seven etc.) and distributives (each, every, neither, either)

                                

2. Observations/Quantity and Opinion - Then come the adjectives that give a quantity (also known as post-determiners) and subjective opinion to the noun, telling ‘how much’ and ‘how was’ the noun.

Few, Most, One, Three/ Beautiful, Ugly, Difficult etc. 

The beautiful house.                                                          

3. Size - The position after Observations is for the adjectives that tell about the size of the noun, they can be used for an object as well as living thing.

Huge, Little, Bulky, Thin, Vast, Tiny, Lean etc

The beautiful little house.

4. Age -Then is the turn of the Adjectives that tell about the age of a noun either by itself or in relation to another noun. 

Young, Old, Teenage, Mature, Recent, Bygone etc.

The beautiful little old house.

5. Shape - Next are the adjectives that tell about the shape or appearance of the noun.

Circular, Crooked, Triangular, Oval, Wavy, Straights etc.

The beautiful little old square house.

6. Colour - After that are the adjectives that tell the shade and hue of a noun.

Pastel, Red, Blue, Metallic, Colourless, Translucent etc. 

The beautiful square blue coloured house.

                                                              

7. Origin - Next are the adjectives that show the different geographical locations associated with a noun.

Southern, Northern, Lunar, Mexican, French etc. 

The beautiful blue coloured Mexican house.                                                         

8.  Material - Next are the adjectives that talk about the raw material or texture of the objects or the behaviour of the living nouns.

Wooden, Plastic, Steely, Metallic, Cottony etc. 

The beautiful Mexican limestone house.

                                                              

9. Qualifier – Lastly, the qualifier or the grammatical modifier comes, which is an additional word or phrase provided to change the meaning of the noun in a sentence.

Pink + eye, Royal + treatment, Hot + fudge etc. 

The beautiful Mexican limestone doll house.