Types of Adjectives with example and how to Use Them

In this lesson, we will discuss about different types of adjective. I am sure you will learn a lot about adjectives in this article.

What is an adjective?

Adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun.

Let me give you an example to make it clear: Raj is a boy.

Here we are able to understand whether Raj is a boy or not, but we are not able to get more details about what kind of boy Raj is.

Now let’s see this example: Raj is a good boy.

Here we are describing the quality of Raj by telling that he is a good boy, so good is an adjective here.

Different types of adjectives

Adjectives are divided into various types. We will look into main six types of adjectives. These are

Adjective of Quality.
Adjective of Quantity.

Adjective of Number.
Demonstrative Adjectives.
Interrogative Adjectives.

Possessive Adjectives.

Now let’s look into them one by one.

1. Adjective of Quality:

These are the words that describe the quality of noun or pronoun.

For Example: I have a nice shirt.

Here what is the quality of shirt? It is nice. They generally answer the question of what kind in any sentence.

Now, can you think of more such qualities of shirt? Someone may say that this shirt is of brown color, or someone may say it is an awesome shirt, or it is very beautiful. So Brown awesome and beautiful are the qualities of shirt.

Adjective of quality is also referred to as descriptive adjectives.

2. Adjective of Quantity:

They are the words that describe the quantity of nouns or pronouns.

Example: I have enough money.

Here enough describes the quantity of money I have.

Questions the generally answer are ‘how much?’ in any sentence.

Some more examples of them are:

I have some money.
I have very little amount of money.
I have more money.

So remember the Define the quantity of noun, not the exact amount.

3. Adjective of Number:

They are the words that describe exact number of noun.

For example: Alia has four apples.

Here four is the exact number of Apple Alia has.

They generally use the answer of the question “How many?” in any sentence.

If there is only one apple, then we can say Alia has an apple. One, four, five or any such exact number describe this adjectives.

So remember this, whenever you have any exact number that is describing noun or pronoun, it is adjective of number.

4. Demonstrative Adjectives:

Words that point out a person, thing or animal.

For example: This book is mine.

Some more example of them are: That, these and those.

5. Interrogative Adjectives:

Interrogative Adjectives are ‘Wh’ Words which are used with nouns to ask questions.

(What are ‘Wh’ words? ‘Wh’ words include who, whom, whose, which and what.)

For Example: Which book is yours?

Here, which is used before book and is asking question, so it is an Interrogative Adjectives.

Now we discussed about interrogative pronouns, and they sound similar to these adjectives, but there is a difference.

Let me give you the example of interrogative pronoun: Which is your book?

Here verb is used before which so it is a pronoun. And in the above example noun book is used, so it is an adjective.

6. Possessive Adjectives:

Possessive Adjectives are the words that are used to show ownership.

For Example: Shamik left his book at home.

Here his word is used to show us that it is his book, so it is a Possessive Adjectives.

Some more example: My, our, her and their.

Possessive pronouns they sound similar to possessive adjectives, but they are not. They both are used in different context.

Example of possessive pronoun: The bat next to the window is his.

Here his is not describing noun it is used instead of noun, so it is a pronoun.

Whenever you are in confusion, whether the word is adjective or pronoun remember this formula-

If the word is used instead of noun, then it is a pronoun.
if it is used for describing noun, then it is an adjective.

Now let’s quickly remember what we have learnt in this article.

We discussed about types of adjective. We will go through the six types of adjectives with one example of each.

Types of Adjective	Example	Explanation
Adjective of quality	Baby has a soft skin.	Here soft describe the quality.
Adjective of quantity	Shamik have enough knowledge.	Here enough describes the quantity of knowledge Shamik have.
Adjective of Number	Shamik came first in the class.	Here first is the exact rank or number Shamik got in the class.
Demonstrative Adjective	That book is mine.	Here we are pointing out to that book.
Interrogative Adjective	Whose bicycle is this?	Here we are asking question by using whose.
Possessive Adjective	My father is here.	Here using my we are showing ownership.