adjective
part of speech
noun (an adjective, adjectives)
meaning for a pupil
1) An adjective is a word that describes a noun, telling us more about a person, place or thing, like «big», «red», «happy» or «three». tree →
2) Adjectives can come before a noun («a tall tree») or after verbs like «is» and «seems» («the tree is tall»). tree →
sense in the lessons
In English grammar lessons pupils find adjectives, use them to make writing more interesting («an expanded noun phrase»: «the gloomy, silent castle»), and learn comparatives and superlatives (big, bigger, biggest; good, better, best). Phrases: «comparative adjective», «superlative adjective», «adjective of size, colour, shape». In maths word problems, adjectives like «each», «every», «more», «fewer» carry number meaning.
examples
- The true adjective for living is ChIA. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- «Fluffy» is an adjective in «a fluffy kitten». tree →
- Add two adjectives to describe the monster. tree →
- «Happy» is an adjective; «happiness» is a noun. tree →
- The comparative of the adjective «big» is «bigger». tree →
- In «The sky is blue», «blue» is an adjective after the verb. tree →
- Use an adjective of colour and one of size: «a small green frog». tree →
- «Good, better, best» are forms of one adjective. tree →
note
Plural «adjectives»; «an adjective». English adjectives do not change for plural: «a red car, two red cars» (not «reds cars»). Order trap: in English the usual order is opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material: «a lovely big old round red French wooden table». Do not confuse with adverbs, which describe verbs: «a quick run» (adjective), «run quickly» (adverb).
In the corpora
- Lily lists adjectives: big, red, happy, quickly.
- An adjective describes a noun: a big dog, a red hat, a friendly girl.
- An adverb describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb: she ran quickly, very tall, super fun.
- Adjectives describe nouns and adverbs often describe verbs, but nouns and verbs carry most of a picture.
- An adjective goes plural with its noun: les yeux bleus, les chats noirs.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «adjective» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.