Adjective ingredients add color and detail, bringing a noun to life in your grammar potion.

Descriptive adjectives modify nouns and pronouns by describing physical or emotional qualities. I refer to these as true adjectives.

Adjective Questions

Adjectives answer:

• How many?
• Which one?
• Whose?
• What kind?

Position of Adjectives

1. Attributive Position

Attributive adjectives appear before the noun.

• a red apple

2. Postpositive Position

Postpositive adjectives appear after the noun.

This position is less common in modern English and often appears in:

• borrowed words from French or Latin
• fixed or formal phrases

Common categories include:

• military titles → attorney general, court martial
• government or legal terms → heir apparent, body politic

Articles and Adjectives (Review Connection)

In Lesson 6, we learned “a” and “an” depend on the first sound, not the first letter.

This rule applies when adjectives come before the noun:

• An eagle
• An angry eagle
• An honest man (silent “h”)
• A man
• A university (begins with a /y/ sound)

Noun Phrase Structure

Noun Phrase → (Determiner Phrase) + (Adjective Phrase) + Noun

Abbreviations: NP → (DetP) + (AdjP) + N 

A pronoun may replace an entire noun phrase.

Limiting Adjectives vs. Descriptive Adjectives

In this course, limiting adjectives are treated as determiners. Some grammar resources include them as adjectives but separating them helps clarify structure.

• Determiners (limiting adjectives) come first
• Descriptive adjectives (true adjectives) come after

Regardless of perspective, limiting adjectives belong to the determiner phrase, which we will explore more deeply in later lessons.

Descriptive Adjectives

• attributive
• predicate
• proper adjectives
• nominal adjectives
• collective adjectives
• personality adjectives
• degrees of comparison

Limiting Adjectives

Also taught as determiners:

• demonstrative
• interrogative
• indefinite
• cardinal numbers

Order of Adjectives

When multiple adjectives are used, they follow a general order. Think of this like adding ingredients to your potion in the correct sequence.

In Lesson 20, you will learn how coordinate adjectives can break this order when they are equal in strength. These equal ingredients can be separated by commas or joined with “and.”

1. Determiners (Limiting Adjectives)

• Pre-determiners
• Central determiners
• Post-determiners

2. Opinions / Quality / Observation

• General opinion adjectives can be used with all nouns: beautiful, nice
• Specific opinion adjectives are limited in use: delicious, comfortable
• General comes before specific, when both appear in the adjective phrase.

3. Measurements (No Numerals)

• Size, height, length, and weight
• General adjectives come before specific adjectives when both are in the adjective phrase: big tall giraffe

4. Shapes

• Round, square, narrow

5. Conditions

• Describes emotional or physical state: good, bad, broken, happy

6. Age (No Numerals)

• Some adjectives describe only people, some only things, and some both: old, young, new

7. Colors

• Basic: red, yellow, blue
• Approximate: reddish, bluish
• Properties: transparent, translucent, opaque
• Properties come before color when both are in the adjective phrase

8. Patterns

• Patterns of materials or animals: striped, spotted, floral

9. Origins

• Where the nouns are from: American, French, Asian

10. Materials

• What the items are made of: wood, metal, plastic

11. Purposes

• What is the item used for: sleeping bag, running shoes

Boxing in Phrases

Adjectives work together inside the adjective phrase, which fits inside the larger noun phrase.

Words of Wisdom

“Many people unintentionally reveal their character through what they say.”