Looking for the perfect adjective? Zia can help

Whether we're appreciating the morning sky or just talking about how our day went, adjectives help us express our thoughts clearly. Adjectives enable us to describe the people, places, and things in our lives and in our work.

Without adjectives, we wouldn't know if you had a serene vacation or a disastrous one. We couldn't tell which projects or documents were urgent and important. Let's look at some guidelines that can help you choose the right descriptive words for clear, effective communication.

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Adjectives different degrees
Descriptive adjectives
Quantitative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives
Possessive adjectives
Interrogative adjectives
Compound adjectives
Which adjective works best?

Adjectives come in three different degrees:

Absolute, Comparative, Superlative.

Absolute adjectives

describe a single noun.

For example:

A messy desk or a mischievous cat.

Comparative adjectives

give us a comparison between nouns and lets us know which noun has more or less of a particular characteristic.

For example:

Their desks are messier than mine.
My cat is more mischievous than yours.

Superlative adjectives

indicate the highest form of the quality or quantity of the noun in question.

For example:

He had the messiest desk in the room.
That was the most mischievous cat I've ever seen.

Note: Articles used with superlative adjectives will almost always use the definite article (the) rather than a or an.

To review the most common rules:

These three degrees of adjectives are further classified into different types as follows:

Comparative
Superlative
One syllable adjectives
Comparative Formed by adding the suffix -er (or just -r if the adjective already ends with an e).
Superlative Formed by adding the suffix -est (or just -st for adjectives that already end in e).
Two syllable adjectives
Comparative For adjectives ending in -y, replace -y with -ier.
Superlative For adjectives ending in -y replace -y with -iest.
Multi-syllable adjectives
Comparative Formed by adding the word "more" before the adjective.
Superlative Formed by adding the word "most" before the adjective.

Descriptive adjectives

Any words you use to describe the general characteristics of a noun (a person, place, or thing) are called descriptive adjectives.

For example:

Margot wore a beautiful hat to the pie-eating contest.
The scariest villain of all time is Darth Vader.

In the sentences above, the adjectives are easy to spot because they come immediately before the nouns they modify.

They can also act as a complement to linking verbs or the verb to be.

For example:

The desk sure is messy.
It smells gross in the locker room.
Driving is faster than walking.

Quantitative adjectives

As the name suggests, it describes the quantity of something. In other words, they answer the question "how much?" or "how many?" Numbers and words like many or half fall in this category.

For example:

"How many children do you have?" "I only have one daughter."
"Do you plan on having more kids?" "Oh yes, I want many children!"
"I can't believe I ate that whole cake!"

Demonstrative adjectives

The most common demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, and those. It refers to the noun or pronoun in a sentence and describes whether it's near or far, singular or plural.

For example:

This pair of jeans fits me well. "This" indicates it's relatively close by or prominently visible.
That flower is beautiful. "That" may indicate it's relatively far away or in a less obvious position that needs to be pointed out.

For plural nouns, "this" would be replaced with "these" and "that" would be replaced with "those" followed by the plural form of the noun or pronoun.

For example:

These clothes fit me well.
Those flowers are beautiful.

Special cases of demonstrative adjectives

Other words like "one," "other," "former," and "latter" are also used as demonstrative adjectives. They can refer to things that have already been mentioned.

For example:

I want to go out for a walk. On the one hand, I have lots of homework to do, but on the other hand, the weather is too nice to stay indoors.
Our two options are getting a cat or a dog. The former is preferable for the family, but the latter is what I personally want.

Numbers can also act as demonstrative adjectives

Ordinal numbers (such as third, fourth, and fifth) can also act as demonstrative adjectives. There are an infinite number of these adjectives.

For example:

The first paycheck I received was for $500.
We had a long meeting on my second day at work.

Possessive adjectives

They sit before a noun and indicate who or what owns the noun in the sentence.

For example:

This is my water bottle. That's her water bottle.
These are our water bottles. Those are your water bottles.

All these adjectives, except the ones his and her, can only be used before a noun. You can’t just say “That’s my,” and leave off the noun. You have to say “That’s my pen.” When you want to leave off the noun or pronoun being modified, use these possessive adjectives instead: mine, his, hers, theirs, yours, and ours.

For example:

Whose dog is that? He's mine.

Commonly confused words

Its vs it's

It's literally means "it is" or "it has". It has nothing to do with possession. On the other hand, its indicates possession.

The durability of the toy depends on its quality.
The durability of the toy depends on it's quality.

Your vs you're

Similarly, you're means "you are" and yours refers to something that belongs to you.

Are you sure this is your scarf?
Are you sure this is you're scarf?

Their vs they're vs there

They're means "they are," there is used to refer to a place or position, and their indicates possession.

This is there dog
This is they're dog
This is their dog

Whose vs who's

Likewise, who's means who is or who has, and whose refers to someone who is in possession of something.

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
Never go to a doctor who's office plants have died.

If the owners are all females, then we can say "Each owner is responsible for her dog.

If the owners are all males, then we can say "Each owner is responsible for his dog"

Each owner is responsible for its dog.
Each owner is responsible for their dog.

Note:

The English language historically did not have a singular non-gender-specific adjective that could be used with people, but today it has become commonly accepted to use "they" or "their" for this purpose.

Interrogative adjectives

Interrogative adjectives are always followed by a noun or a pronoun, and are used to form questions. Common interrogative adjectives include:

Which: Presents a choice between options.
What: Asks to make a choice (in general).
Whose: Asks who something belongs to.

When do you use "what" and "which"?

The difference between the interrogative adjectives "what" and "which" is subtle.

Use "what" when the options are unknown.

For Example: What will the presentation be about?

In this example, the speaker does not know the topic of the presentation, and there is not a specific set of options. "What" is sometimes referred to as a general determiner.

Use "which" when the options are known.

For example: There is a choice of three desserts on the menu. Which dessert would you like?

In this example, the options are known.

Compound adjectives

If you want to describe your noun further, you can use compound adjectives to add extra information.

For example: This is a man-eating shark.

Here, "man" and "eating" form a compound adjective to describe the shark. When the compound adjective comes before the noun, you'll typically connect the words with a hyphen. If the compound adjective is after the noun, skip the hyphen.

Which adjective works best?

There are countless different words you can use for descriptions, but choosing the right one can be tricky.

Good writing is concise, so it's important to use the right words to convey your message. You definitely can't describe a blue ocean without the adjective "blue", but in some cases choosing the right noun can eliminate the need to tack on an adjective.

For example: It's a big house can potentially be replaced with it's a mansion.

Ensure that every word in your writing counts. So if you really don't need to use an adjective, scrap it. Otherwise, your readers will end up struggling to swim their way through an ocean of unnecessary adjectives.

Having said all this, it can still be tricky to figure out which adjective to use or if an adjective is even necessary. Here's an easier way: Why don't you sit back, relax, and let Zia find the right words for you?

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Looking for the perfect adjective? Zia can help

Adjectives come in three different degrees:

For example:

For example:

For example:

Descriptive adjectives

For example:

For example:

Quantitative adjectives

For example:

Demonstrative adjectives

For example:

For example:

Special cases of demonstrative adjectives

For example:

Numbers can also act as demonstrative adjectives

For example:

Possessive adjectives

For example:

For example:

Commonly confused words

Its vs it's

Your vs you're

Their vs they're vs there

Whose vs who's

Note:

Interrogative adjectives

When do you use "what" and "which"?

For Example: What will the presentation be about?

For example: There is a choice of three desserts on the menu. Which dessert would you like?

Compound adjectives

For example: This is a man-eating shark.

Which adjective works best?

For example: It's a big house can potentially be replaced with it's a mansion.

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