Lesson 152

Parts of the Sentence - Adjectives

Adjectives modify or affect the meaning of nounsA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: man, city, book, and courage.  Source: Lesson 16 and pronounsA pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or a group of words used as a noun.
Source: Lesson 21 and tell us which, whose, what kind, and how many about the nouns or pronouns they modify. They come before the noun or pronoun they modify except for the predicate adjective which comes after a linking verbLinking verbs (state of being verbs) show that something exists; they do not show action. Some common linking verbs include: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, seem, look, feel, and become.
Source: Lesson 2 and modifies the subjectThe subject tells who or what about the verb.  Source: Lesson 91.

Examples of adjectives:
The big brown bear grabbed the scared small man.
(The, big, and brown modify the subject bear and the, scared, and small modify the direct object man)

Examples of predicate adjectives:
The big bear is brown. The brown bear was big.
(brown and big come after the linking verbs is and was and modify the subject bear)

 
 
 

There are seven (7) words in the English language that are always adjectives. They are the articles a, an, and the and the possessivesSome personal pronouns are called possessives because they show whose something is. They are the following pronouns: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, and theirs.
Source: Lesson 23 my, our, your, and their. (The possessives are from the possessive pronoun list but are always used with nouns as adjectives.) Being only seven in number, one should memorize them so they are immediately recognized as adjectives.

Adjectives that point out what kind are most common and too numerous to list. Big, brown, scared, and small above are examples.

 
 
 

Instructions: Find the adjectives that tell what kind in these sentences and tell what they modify.

1. The tall man is a professional baseball player.

2. That lovely old lady wrote realistic short plays.

3. A loud and noisy group greeted the returned missionary.

4. The small but strong man helped the cute little girl.

5. A tall slender girl won the beauty contest.