Descriptive Adjective

Why Use Adjectives?

To be an effective writer or speaker, it is necessary to build sentences that will catch a person's attention regardless of how dull the topic may seem. One way to enhance the appeal of a topic is by including a variety of adjectives. Adjectives are words that modify nouns and pronouns by describing specific qualities about them.

A noun is a person, place, or thing such as 'Jan,' 'airport,' or 'toy.' A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, such as 'she,' 'this,' or 'that.'

Surrounding nouns and pronouns with adjectives can completely transform a sentence. For example, instead of saying 'I went to the park and ate lunch with Jan,' you could say 'I went to a beautiful park yesterday and ate an amazing picnic lunch with Jan.' Adjectives added more appeal to what was otherwise a very basic retelling of something that happened in a person's day.

Kinds of Adjectives

There are several kinds of adjectives, each with a specific function. Let's take a closer look at what they are as well as some examples.

First, a descriptive adjective describes qualities of a noun or pronoun, such as smell, taste, texture, appearance, and shape. For example, 'Erica showed us her shiny ring' or 'The contents of the round package were a mystery.'

An adjective that answers the questions 'How many?' or 'How much?' is known as a quantitative adjective. For example, 'Thirty-five stamps were needed for the invitations' or 'Susan asked the teacher for more water.'

A demonstrative adjective points out a noun or pronoun and always comes before the word being modified. For example, 'Jason wanted that toy' or 'Are you going to see this movie?'

An adjective that shows ownership or possession and always come before the word being modified is called a possessive adjective. For example, 'That is my seat' or 'Jose took his keys and drove away.'

Finally, interrogative adjectives ask questions and are always followed by a noun. For example, 'Which book is your favorite?' or 'What animal do you want to see at the zoo?'

Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives are the most commonly used type of adjective that add meaning to a noun or pronoun by describing its qualities. There are thousands of descriptive adjectives that exist in the English language, so it is not difficult to come up with one. They can tell what size something is, how something tastes, what something smells like, and so much more. Let's look closer at a few examples:

Some adjectives that describe size are immense, miniature, petite, and pudgy. Adjectives that describe texture include rough, scaly, bumpy and smooth. Some adjectives to use when describing odor are putrid, fragrant, acrid and sweet. When describing sound, you can use the adjectives thundering, faint, muffled or shrill. Adjectives that describe appearance include stunning, muscular, attractive and hideous. And, finally, some adjectives that describe character are funny, dependable, courageous and dishonest.

Let's look at a few examples of how to use different kinds of descriptive adjectives. First, here are two examples describing size:

• The huge dog pulled the small boy down the street.
• Jim bought a large house in my neighborhood.

Next, here are two examples describing character:

• The soldiers that died were very courageous.
• I have to sit next to a very annoying girl in class.

Finally, here are two examples describing appearance:

• I have a stunning dress to wear to the dance.
• Sally's cute puppy licked my hand.

While descriptive adjectives make a wonderful addition to any story, essay, or everyday conversation, overusing them can have negative results. A person can get bogged down in the descriptions, and the main point can become lost. Also, you risk sounding too wordy if you overuse descriptive adjectives.

For example, instead of saying: 'The tall, boring, bald, sweaty old man was my history teacher,' you could narrow it down and play with the structure of this sentence to say, 'The bald, sweaty man was my boring history teacher.'