A word is called an adjective when it is used to make a noun (that is, the name of a thing) mean more than it would all by itself. If you look out the window and say, "There are men in the garden," anyone who hears you gets a certain idea of what you see. If you said, "There are three men in the garden," he would get a better idea. If you say, "There are three tall young men in the garden," he gets a still better idea. Three, tall, and young are all adjectives. They are said to "modify" the word men, which is a noun, because they give a clearer picture of what the noun means. A part of speech is a kind of word that has a particular duty when you say it or write it. Noun is a part of speech; the duty of a noun is to tell what a thing is.
Verb is a part of speech; the duty of a verb is to tell what something does. Adjective is a part of speech; the duty of an adjective is to tell what a thing is like. An adjective is used to modify a noun, which is, to describe it, to tell how it is different from other things that might be thought of when that particular noun is used. Sometimes a noun does not mean anything at all unless there is an adjective to describe it or limit it. If you say, "It is a day," it means nothing. If you say, "It is a cold day," the adjective cold gives your words meaning. the kinds of adjective An adjective is said to be attributive when it comes before the noun it modifies. If you speak of "a sweet apple," sweet is an attributive adjective modifying the noun apple.
An adjective is said to be predicative when it comes after the noun it modifies. If you say, "The apple is sweet," sweet is a predicative adjective modifying the noun apple. A predicative adjective can be used only after the verb to be in one of its forms (am, is, are, was, were, been); or a word that might be replaced by a form of the verb to be, for example seem or become; or after a verb that expresses one of our senses: feel, look, sound, taste, smell. You can say, He is healthy, He looks healthy, He seems healthy. Or, The cloth feels smooth, The apple tastes sweet, The music sounds good, The perfume smells good. Healthy and smooth and sweet and good are predicative adjectives. In the English language, adjectives often appear in other kinds of sentence, different from these, because a word or words that would make it clear that they are adjectives have been dropped out-- being "understood," as it is said-because the sentence is perfectly clear without them.
Sometimes it is a certain noun that is dropped, as in the sentence, for instance, "The blind read with their fingers." If you put the word "people" after blind, you can see that blind is an adjective. In cases like this, the adjective is always preceded by the word the, and its use is called substantive. This is only one of many technical terms in grammar. You do not have to know them all to recognize adjectives and use them properly. comparison of adjectives Often it is desirable for an adjective to show not only what a noun is like, but also to show how it compares with other things of the same kind.
Two automobiles may both be fast, but one will go one hundred miles an hour and the other will go only eighty miles an hour. We can use an adjective to show which is which. When we show this kind of difference between exactly two persons, things, or groups, the word more can be used, or -er can be added to the adjective, as by saying of the automobile that goes one hundred miles an hour, "It is faster than the other." With short adjectives like fast, -er is added. With long adjectives, the word more is used because it is easier to say: "Men are stronger than women; John is more athletic than William." This is called the comparative degree.
