Three Little Questions for Adjectives by Susan Thurman
The textbook definition of an adjective is “a word that modifies a noun or pronoun.” Said a different way, an adjective describes, elaborates on, or gives more information about a person, place, or thing.
One way to determine if a word is an adjective is to ask yourself if the word in question gives you more information about a noun or pronoun.
During the earthquake, the framed picture came crashing down.
You think the word framed is an adjective, and you ask yourself if it gives you more information about a noun. Since framed gives you information about picture, and picture is a thing (a noun), framed must be an adjective.
If that method of checking for an adjective doesn't work for you, try this one: Ask yourself if the word answers which one, what kind of, or how many? In the example, you can see that framed answers both which one? (which picture? the framed one) and what kind? (what kind of picture? the framed one), so it must be an adjective.
Try the interactive quiz on adjectives at these Web sites:
tinyurl.com/yl97x2 |
tinyurl.com/hvsjm |
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A special category of adjectives — articles — consists of just three words: a, an, and the. A and an are called indefinite articles because they don't indicate anything specific (a house, an honor); the is called a definite article because it names something specific (the owl, the transit system).
Another subcategory of adjectives is called determiners. These are adjectives that make specific the sense of a noun; they help determine to which particular units the nouns are referring (e.g., the country, those apples, seven pencils).
When you're trying to decide if a word is an adjective, examine the way it's used in your sentence. Take a look at these sentences:
I'll go to either the basketball or the football game.
In the first sentence, either gives more information about (modifies) the noun game; so it's used as an adjective. In the second sentence, either is an indefinite pronoun (referring to the word game). Look at these sentences:
The tense situation became much more relaxed when the little boy arrived.
What is the tense of that verb?
In the first sentence, tense describes situation(a thing), so it's an adjective. Looking at it another way, tense answers the question what kind? about situation (a thing), so it's an adjective. In the second sentence, tense is simply a thing, so it's a noun.
