Main content
Grammar
Course: Grammar > Unit 4
Lesson 1: Introduction to adjectives and articlesIntroduction to adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe stuff. They add more detail to nouns, like the color or quality of something. For example, in the phrase "the blue bear", "blue" is an adjective that modifies (meaning describes) the noun "bear". Adjectives are not essential for a sentence to make sense, but they make do make sentences more interesting.
Want to join the conversation?
- Okay...so in the sentence "I am super awesome" the adjective would be super
?(38 votes)- Technically, super is an adverb which describes awesome in this sentence. If super were an adjective, it'd be "You're super and awesome." Worded the way it is, super is an adverb modifying the adjective awesome.(6 votes)
- Is the d in Adjective silent?
For a couple of weeks no one is answering my questions in khan academy :((16 votes)- The "d" in "Adjective", if sounded at all, is touched very lightly.
In which curricula are your questions going unanswered? Certainly not here in Grammar!(20 votes)
- Adjectives describe nouns, so what if i say "The cat is under the table" under describing the place of the cat. Is 'under' the adjective in that sentence?(12 votes)
- 'Under' is what we call a preposition. It describes how one thing is in relation to another. The cat is under/ above/ behind the table. Adjectives are used to add specifics about the nouns. Examples ... The grey/ fat/ sleepy cat is under the brown/ wooden/ kitchen table. I hope that helps.(10 votes)
- correct me if i'm wrong but isn't an adjective something that describes something like paper was white white would be the adjective right ?(10 votes)
- No need to correct you, Fatbob. You've nailed it!(6 votes)
- Atisn't friendly an adverb? 0:43(5 votes)
- The word "friendly" looks like an adverb (because it ends in "-ly", which many adverbs do), but in this sentence it is an adjective because it is modifying a noun, "bear".
I just tried to imagine using "friendly" as an adverb, and could think of nothing at all.(8 votes)
- In the sentence "She's smart and caring", would the adjective(s) be smart and caring?(4 votes)
- Yes, smart and caring would be adjectives as adjectives describe a person and smart and caring DESCRIBE the girl. Hope this helps.(9 votes)
- What part of speech is the word not?(4 votes)
- "Not" is a negating word used to modify adjectives (not handsome) and verbs (not to be confused with Usnavi, who is very handsome). Therefore, it fits the criteria to be considered an adverb. "Not"'s counterpart, "No", is usually used as an adjective, but can sometimes also be used as an adverb.(8 votes)
- At, was that a Steven universe reference? I would just like to know. 1:31(7 votes)
- Should I know the definition of adjectives.(3 votes)
- Yes. You should. You'll learn it in the lesson. I recommend that you give this your time and attention.(8 votes)
- oliva is correct like in this sentense right here "I hope mom is not tired or asleep..."
the adjective would be asleep or tired(5 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] So,
grammarians, we have this class of words called adjectives, and what they do is they change stuff. Adjectives... change stuff. Adjectives change stuff. They're part of this
larger category of words that we call modifiers. Because that's what they do, they modify, they change things. So let's say I were to draw you a bear, a kinda human-looking,
standing on two legs kinda bear, sure. I could refer to this bear
and I could say, the bear. But I could also refer to this bear with a description,
like, the friendly bear. But if that bear were blue, for instance, I could describe the
bear as the blue bear. And in the blue bear the
word blue modifies bear. Blue is an adjective that describes bear. So adjectives change stuff
and they describe stuff. And if that bear were a
different color it would be, you know, the red bear. And now that bear is red. Actually more of a salmon color, frankly. Let's put this into action
with some sentences. Steven is Connie's best friend. Now what is the word that describes or changes another word in this sentence? If you guessed best, you were correct. Best modifies friend. So Steven is Connie's best friend. What is Steven? A friend. What kind of friend is he? The best friend. The enormous pie is not for sale. Now what's the adjective in that sentence? If you guessed enormous
you would be correct. Enormous, which means very big, is modifying or changing the word pie. And I thought a little bit of word origins might be kind of useful here if we go back to the Latin. Now you don't, obviously you don't need to speak Latin in order to
make sense of English, but I thought it would
be cool to look at what adjective literally means. The word part, ad-, comes from the Latin meaning to or toward or on. And the -jective part comes
from a Latin word, jacere. It means to throw. So, an adjective is
something that's kind of thrown on or thrown on top of something, because you don't necessarily need adjectives in order for
a sentence to make sense the way that you need to have a verb or the way that you need to have a noun. Adjectives are a little bit extra, they're thrown on top. These sentences would work on their own without the adjectives in them. Steven is Connie's friend. The pie is not for sale. You know, they would work. But what's nice about adjectives, and modifiers of all
kinds, is that they add something extra, they add more detail. They change and describe stuff. That's what adjectives do. You can learn anything. David out.