Adjective

An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It's easy to understand simple adjectives. They're words like "big", "green", "young", and "expensive". Other adjectives are harder to spot.

Simple Adjectives

Adjectives tell something about a noun, like:

• size

  three small holes

• color

  a black jacket

• age

  the old tree

• emotion

  a scared kitten

• value

  your cheapest pair of sunglasses

...and many other qualities.

Adjective Phrases

Sometimes several words can work together to act like an adjective. For example:

the man on the roof

In this example, the phrase "on the roof" describes the location of the man. So although it's several words, it's activn like an adjective.

Adjective Position

Simple adjectives mostly come before the noun like in the examples above. But they can also come at the end of the sentence when connected by a verb like "is", "looks", "seems", "sounds", etc.:

He's incredibly tall.

This spot seems OK.

That sounds great! 

Adjective phrases usually come after the noun:

 I like coffee with cream and sugar.

Or at the end of the sentence, connected by "is", "seems", and so on:

She is out of her mind!

It's possible for an adjective phrase to come before a noun, but in that case it's usually hyphenated:

an over-the-top action movie

PhraseMix lessons about adjectives

Visit the "adjectives" category for dozens of example sentences which feature adjectives.