Adjectives

• Predicative adjective


  Follows a linking verb and modifies a noun or pronoun.
• Attributive adjectives


  Stand before a noun
• Attributive adjectives


  More than one adjectives modify nouns in this position.
• Attributive adjectives can replace relative clauses that contain the linking verb to be.

  
  

  The story, which is silly, amused the children. --> The silly story amused the children.
• Predicate nominative


  A noun that follows a linking verb.

  e.g., The winner was a man.
• Predicate nominative


  A noun that further describes the subject of the sentence.
• Adjectives can modify the subject and the predicate nominative.

  e.g., The winner was an athletic man from Holland.
• Predicate nominative

  A sentence with a predicate nomative can reverse its position with the subject - only with linking verbs.

  e.g., The eventual winner was an athletic man from Holland --> An athletic man from Holland was the eventual winner.
• Some adjectives can only be used as predicate adjectives.

  e.g., afraid, alive, etc.
• An adjective can describe the state or condition of something.
• Some adjectives when used as predicate adjectives should be followed by predicate nominatives.

  "The main entrance is on the left." --> "The entrance is the main one."
• Predicate adjective 


  Describes the state or condition.
• Attributive adjective 


  Identifies or renames the noun
• Possessive adjectives


  Limit the modified nouns in terms of ownership.

  
  

  e.g., My new car is a Ford. (Ownership is limited to me)
• Demonstrative adjectives


  Limit the modified noun to the one idenfitied by the speaker.

  e.g., This book is hard to understand (only the specified book is hard)
• Indefinite adjectives


  Provide general information about the nouns they modify by answering the questions how much? or how many?

  e.g., All work must be completed by noon. (how much work?)
• Interrogative adjectives


  Modify nouns used in questions

  e.g., What airline are you taking to Brazil?
• Cardinal adjectives


  Limit nouns they modify by specifying an amount.

  e.g., One boy scraped his knee on the ground.
• Ordinal adjectives


  Limit the nouns they modify by specifying numerical order.

  
  

  Jake is the twelfth boy in line
• Proper adjectives


  Words that are proper nouns but act as modifiers of other nouns.
• Proper adjectives

  Must be capitalised even when used as adjectives.
• Infinitives


  Can function as an adjectives, following the noun or pronoun it modifies.
• Qualifying a noun

  A qualifier (adjective) specifies the characteristics or distinguishes a noun from other nouns.