Adjectives (Descriptive Language)

Adjectives

Descriptive Writing and Language

Multiple Choice

Which of these uses descriptive language?

• There was a colorful sunset tonight.

• Bright oranges, pinks and yellows streaked the sky at sunset.

Adjectives are words that describe nouns.

Adjectives answer such questions as:
What kind? Which one? How many?

Fill in the Blanks

Multiple Choice

Identify the descriptive adjectives in the following sentence.

Sarah wore a beautiful dress and a pair of red heels to Allison's grand birthday party.

• beautiful, red, grand

• wore, red, grand

• beautiful, red, grand, party

• Sarah, Allison, birthday

Adjectives can be used to describe:

Colour

e.g. blue, red,
green, brown,
purple, yellow,

black.

Opinion

e.g. good, pretty,

right, wrong,

funny, light, happy.

Size

e.g. big, small,

long, short.

Age

e.g. Old, young

Shape

e.g. round,

triangle,

rectangular,
square, oval.

Origin

e.g. German,

Malaysia

Material

e.g. glass, metal.

Distance

e.g. long, short,

near, far

Temperature

e.g. cold, warm,

hot, cool

Time

e.g. late, early.

Types of
Adjectives

1. Qualitative
/ Descriptive

Adjective

2.

Quantitative

Adjective

3.

Demonstrative

Adjective

4. Possessive

Adjective

5.

Interrogative

Adjective

6. Distributive

Adjective

7. Compound

Adjective

1. Qualitative/Descriptive Adjectives

1. The tall girl is my classmate.
2.

The

students

achieved

excellent

results.

To describe the quality of a person

or thing, for example, its size,

general description (physical), age,
shape, colour, material, origin and

purpose.

Examples: tall, excellent, slim,

young, square, plastic

Multiple Choice

Identify the descriptive adjectives in this sentence.

I have a green book above my table.

• have

• green

• book

• above

• table

2. Quantitative Adjectives

1. She found many pens under the table.
2. There was no milk in the jug.
3. There are thirty seven students in this class.

To indicate the number or amount

of things

Examples: some, much, little,
enough, all , no, any, whole,

several

Multiple Choice

Identify the quantitative adjectives in the sentnece.

She found many pens under her desk.

• found

• many

• pens

• desk

• her

3. Demonstrative adjectives

1. This is my friend, Dina.
2. Those books belong to her.

To point out nouns.

Examples: this, these, that, those

Multiple Choice

Identify the demonstrative adjective in the sentence.

This is me!

• This

• is

• me

5. Possessive Adjectives

1. This is her hat.
2. Their parents came to my house

yesterday.

Used to show possession.

Examples: my, your, his her, our,

their, its.

Multiple Choice

Identify the possessive adjective in the sentence.

This is her book.

• this

• is

• her

• book

6. Distributive Adjectives

1. Each participant was asked to complete a survey.
2. Either of these movies would be interesting to me.

To show that the persons or

things are counted collectively.

Normally used with singular

nouns.

Refer to members of a group as

individuals.

Examples: each, every, either, and

neither.

Multiple Choice

Identify the distributive adjective.

Each student has to bring his own sanitizer.

• each

• student

• bring

• sanitizer

4. Interrogative

Adjectives

1. Whose pen is this?
2. Which way shall we go?

Used with noun to ask questions.

Examples: what, whose, where,

why, how and which

Multiple Choice

Identify the interrogative adjective.

Where should we go today?

• Where

• should

• we

• go

7. Compound Adjectives

1. We have to be open-minded about things.
2. The lady is wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes.

Made up of two or more words.

Often linked together with
hyphens to link the words

together to show that it is one

adjective.

Examples: light-weight, duty-free,

four-foot, part-time, cold-

blooded, well-behaved.

Multiple Choice

Identify the distributive adjective.

Each student has to bring his own sanitizer.

• each

• student

• bring

• sanitizer

Multiple Choice

Identify the compound adjectve in the sentence.

We are a generation of heritage guardians and global thinkers. We are open-minded and patriotic.

• generation

• heritage

• thinker

• open-minded

• patriotic

Comparison of adjectives

• There are three forms of

comparison:

- positive
- comparative
- superlative

A - Comparison with -er/-est

positive

comparative

superlative

clean

cleaner

cleanest

dirty

dirtier

dirtiest

clever

cleverer

cleverest

simple

simpler

simplest

Narrow

narrower

narrowest

We use -er/-est with the following adjectives:

B - Comparison with more - most

positive

comparative

superlative

difficult

more difficult

(the) most difficult

beautiful

more beautiful

(the) most beautiful

C - Irregular adjectives

positive

comparative

superlative

comment

good

better

best

bad

worse

worst

much

more

most

uncountable nouns

many

more

most

countable nouns

little

less

least

little

smaller

smallest

D - Special adjectives

positive

comparative

superlative

clever

cleverer / more clever

cleverest / most clever

common

commoner / more common

commonest / most common

likely

likelier / more likely

likeliest / most likely

polite

politer / more polite

politest / most polite

simple

simpler / more simple

simplest / most simple

Some adjectives have two possible forms of comparison (-
er/est and more/most).

Multiple Choice

Choose the best sentence for image above.

• Both men in suit are pointing at each other.

• Neither of the men are pointing at each other.

• Every man is pointing at the crates.

Multiple Select

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. There is as many fish in the sea as there are people in the world. Do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.

Which one of the following is descriptive adjective?

• Brave

• English

• Beautiful

• Victorian

Multiple Choice

Identify the adjective in the sentence.

I went into the duty-free shop but I did not buy anything.

• went

• into

• duty-free

• buy

Poll

How are you feeling about adjectives?

• Bring it!

• I can handle some of it

• Meh

• What's an adjective again?