An Adjective is a word which adds something to the meaning of a noun :-
He is a good boy.
This is a dark room.
Give me a little milk.
Many men were present.
(a) Attributive — Adjectives are said to be used attributively when they are placed close to and before the noun which they qualify (Noun); as, a good boy, a red ball, an angry person. An adjective so used is called an Epithet.
A few adjectives, such as, former, olden, etc., can be used only attributively: He is a former teacher of this school. This practice prevailed in olden times.
(b) Predicative — Adjectives are said to be used predicatively when they express what is declared of some person or thing, and come after the verb; as,
The boy is good. The ball is red.
There are a few Adjectives, such as, alone, asleep, afraid, alike, aloof, alive, ashamed, awake, aware, content, etc., which can be used only predicatively. Thus, we can write only:
He is alone. She is asleep. I am content, etc.
❒ Classification — Adjectives may be generally arranged under the following groups:
(a) Proper — derived from some Proper Nouns; as Indian, British, Vedic, Islamic.
(b) Qualitative — describing the quality or state of a thing:
He is an honest boy.
Help the poor man.
The brave man faced the angry crowd.
This is a large city.
The foolish old crow tried to sing.
(c) Quantitative or Numeral — denoting quantity or number :
Give me some sugar. There were many men there. There is little water in the bottle. Any man can do this. He is the first boy of the class. I saw a few men there. Give me two rupees only. All men are mortal. This is his third attempt. He took little care of the thing. He took great pains to do the work. The whole village came out to see him. This is a single storied house.
(d) Distributive — each, every, either, neither:
Each boy was fully prepared.
Give a paisa to every beggar.
Either pen will do.
He will join neither side.
(e) Demonstrative — this, that, such, same:
I know this (or that) man.
Such examples are rare.
This is the same thing as that.
(f) Interrogative — which, whose, and what, when they are used with nouns to ask questions :
Which boy did it? What book do you want? Whose pen is this?
[What is used in a general sense, but which requires a particular person or thing to be pointed out from a group.]
(g) Emphasising — own, very:
This is my own house. I am the master of my own time. I did it with my own hand.
This is the very thing I want. That is the very boy I spoke of.
❒ Most Adjectives of Quality, and four Adjectives of Number and Quantity (much, little, many, few) have degrees of comparison.
(a) The Positive degree is the simplest form of the adjective : tall, beautiful.
(b) The Comparative degree is the form used when a comparison is made between two persons or things: He is taller than you. It is more beautiful than that.
(c) The Superlative degree is the form used when more than two things, or sets of things, are compared: He is the tallest boy in the class. She is the most beautiful of all.
