Adjectives 101
What are adjectives?
An adjective is a word used to describe or modify a noun. In the last blog we discussed nouns. In case you missed it or need a refresher, a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.
What they are NOT
An adjective cannot be used to describe a verb. Simply put, an adverb describes a verb. Additionally, an adjective cannot be used to describe another adjective.
Where are they in a sentence?
Normally adjectives can be found before the noun, but that isn’t always the case. Nouns can also link with verbs or after a stative verb. The latter is known as a predicate adjective.
Here are some examples
- The wheels on that car look worn.
- That guy smells awful!
- The happy dog wagged its tail.
- The bored lady checked her phone.
Yesterday’s verbs are today’s adjectives
You may have noticed in that first example that I used the past tense form of the word “wear” to describe tires that have seen better days. You can do that with a lot of verbs, thus making a past tense verb an adjective if you use it following a stative verb. Here are some more examples.
- That meat smells rotten.
- He sounds annoyed.
- She looks thrilled.
- It tastes burnt.
The adjective which is also a noun
Sometimes nouns can function as adjectives. This is going to sound confusing at first but it’s much easier if you think of words not as belonging to a category, but thinking about what it is that the word is doing in the sentence. Below are some examples.
- Marvins guide dog started barking.
- The coffee cups are in the cupboards.
- The supply closet is around the corner.
Supply, coffee, and guide are all examples of nouns, but they’re being used to describe the purpose of another noun. This makes the first noun an adjective.
The review
Lets review the answers for the pop quiz above. If you said "old" and "rusted" were the adjectives in the first sentence. That's right, good job! If you said "shredded" for the second sentence, you're on a roll! If you said "busted" and "state" for the third, that's correct as well. You might be wondering, why not "pulled?" It's a past-tense verb that's after the noun. While that is correct, pulled over is a phrasal verb meaning to be taken out of traffic, or out of the way in general. Functionally, pulled over is a verb in this case.
New vocab word
Callous
Adjective
- Having no concern for the feelings, or suffering of others. A lack of care for those who are in pain.
- The hardening of the skin do to stress, usually due to manual labor.
Example:
His father took a particular interest in teaching him about the importance of mercy towards animals. He said "I will not raise a son who is so cold and callous that he can ignore the suffering of an animal."
