"I was reading the dictionary. I thought
it was a poem about everything."
                     --Steven Wright

Parts of Speech: Adjective

Adjective:
An adjective is a part of speech (word) that modifies a noun or a pronoun by qualifying, specifying or describing it.

Adjective বলতে এমন এক ধরণের শব্দমালাকে বোঝায় যারা কোন Noun বা Pronoun এর যোগ্যতা, স্বতন্ত্রতা, বা বর্ণনা সম্পর্কে ধারণা দিয়ে থাকে।

Generally an adjective modifies a noun by answering one of these following questions:
Which? What kind? How many?

Example:
- Foxes are cunning animal. (Answer the question “What king of animal?)
- Five or six gunmen attack the area. (Answer the question “How many gunmen?)
- The one eyed man tells him the story. (Answer the question “Which man?)


Adjective Classification:

Following are the different types of adjectives

  • Qualitative Adjective or Descriptive Adjective or Adjective of quality
  • Quantitative Adjective or Adjective of quantity
  • Numeric Adjective or Adjective of Number
  • Demonstrative Adjective
  • Distributive Adjective
  • Possessive Adjective
  • Interrogative Adjective


i. Qualitative Adjective or Adjective of quality:

Expresses the qualities of something or someone.
Such as great, good, bad, wise, poor, nice, happy, pretty, angry, blue, etc.

Example:
- He gives me a great idea.
- Mr. Rahim is a good person.
- He is a bad guy.

Adjective of quality answer the question: what kind?



ii. Quantitative Adjective or Adjective of quantity:

Expresses or indicates the quantity of a noun or pronoun.
Such as some, little, much, enough, whole, sufficient, all, none, more, half, no, etc.

Example:
- I have enough money to but he car.
- The whole countrymen congratulated the president.
- She wants all the money.

Adjective of quantity answer the question: How many or much?



iii. Numeric or Adjective of number:

Express the number or order of something or someone. Such as one, two, three, ………., first, second, third, ……………, single, double, triple, quadruple, twofold, threefold, fivefold, ………… etc.

Example:
- He can eat ten eggs at a time.
- She is the first girl in the class.
- The house owner does not rent the room to the single person.

Adjective of number is to types Definite and Indefinite.

Definite Numeric adjectives are of three kinds.
Such as
- Cardinal (one, two, ….),
- Ordinal (first, second, ……),
- Multiplicative (Single, double, ……..)



iv. Demonstrative Adjective:

Specifies noun or pronoun. Such as this, that, those, these etc.

Example:
- This boy is good.
- That is her room.
- These are the book to follow.



v. Distributive Adjective:

Express the distributive state of nouns. Such as every, each, neither, either, both etc.

Example:
- Every movie in the series is popular.
- Both the boys are appreciated by them.
- Each person will get the reward.


vi. Possessive Adjective:

Shows the possession or belongingness in the sentence. Such as his, her, him, my, our, your, their, etc.

Example:
- This is her cell phone.
- I have seen their house.
- Our house is tow stored house.


vii. Interrogative Adjective:

Interrogative Adjective modifies nouns in interrogative sentence. Such as which, what, whose, etc.

Example:
- What kind of man he is?
- Whose phone is this?
- Which program are you listening?