Types of Adjectives (Explained, with Examples)

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are words we use to describe things. They’re a pillar of language; English would be insufferable (adj.) without the iconic adj. (for short).

English teachers typically explain adjectives as words that “modify nouns in any way, shape, or form.” The dictionary defines them this way: “Any member of a class of words that modify nouns and pronouns, primarily by describing a particular quality of the word they are modifying, as wise in ‘a wise grandmother.’ ”

We can usually identify an adjective by its suffix, which is the ending of a word:

• ful: boastful, beautiful
• ic/ical: diabolical, toxic
• able/ible: reliable, incredible
• ine: asinine, canine
• ile: facile, futile, hostile
• ive: exhaustive, extensive, productive
• al: convivial, superficial, jovial
• an: Haitain, Herculean
• ar: stellar, clear
• ent: different, competent
• ous: tedious, insidious, innocuous
• some: wholesome, tiresome, burdensome
• ant: blatant, militant

With thousands of words that are adjectives, they make up an extensive category and part of speech in English. We categorize different types of adjectives by their role and function in sentences and language.

Types of adjectives

The main categories of adjectives include:

1. Comparative
2. Superlative
3. Predicate
4. Compound
5. Possessive
6. Demonstrative
7. Proper
8. Participial
9. Limiting
10. Descriptive
11. Interrogative
12. Attributive
13. Distributive

Descriptive adjectives

Also called adjectives of quality, descriptive adjectives describe or say something about a noun (i.e., person, place, or thing).

In the sentences, majestic, honest, and sincere tell us something about the subject. These descriptive words provide more information and ascribe specific attributes or qualities to people, places, ideas, and things.

Proper adjectives

Proper adjectives are the adjective form of proper nouns:

Spain is a country and a proper noun. People from Spain are Spanish, which is the adjective form. Like proper nouns, it uses capital letters.

Quantitative adjectives

Adjectives of quantity, or quantitative adjectives, say how much or how little of something there is.

While quantitative adjectives point out an amount or quantity of something, they are not the same as number or numeral adjectives.

Numeral adjectives

Numerals describe ‘how many?’ there are of something. Numerals sometimes point out the order or position (first, second, third.) Number adjectives fall into two types: ordinals and cardinals.

Cardinals are numeral adjectives that point out an exact or definite number: one, two, three, four. Ordinals identify position or rank: first, second, third, and fourth.

Cardinals point out an exact number or amount, whereas ordinals specify the order or position of something in a series. Ordinals typically end in either -st, -th, or -rd.

Demonstrative adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives point out specific things, and tell us which or what thing is being referenced in the sentence:

Yonder also works as a demonstrative adjective! This is for anyone interested in the grammar of antiquity (who isn’t?).

Interrogative adjectives

There are only three interrogative adjectives: whose, what, and which. Interrogative adjectives are joined with nouns to pose a question:

Comparisons vs. superlatives

Have you noticed that people like to compare things? Have you ever stopped to think about the part of language that allows us to draw comparisons? Comparative and superlative adjectives do this job.

What’s the difference between these three statements? The first sentence uses the simple adjective and states that Evan Peters has the quality of humility.

The comparative compares the amount or extent to which a person or thing possesses a quality, relative to something or someone else.

Superlatives make a bold claim: they say something possesses a quality or trait to the greatest extent or degree; she’s the most compulsive liar of anyone I know. A superlative usually ends in -est, and comparatives use -er suffixes.

Learn more about grammar

• What Are Pronouns? (First, Second, and Third)
• Types of Verbs (Modal, Stative, Infinitives, and Transitives)
• Types of Adjectives (Explained, with Examples)
• Parts of Speech (Nouns, Adjectives, Prepositions)
• What’s an Adverb? (Types of Adverbs)
• When to Use A or An (What’s an Article?)
• Types of Nouns (Common, Proper, Abstract, and Concrete)

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