Adjective Modifiers
Adjective: an adjective modifies the meaning of a noun or pronoun by providing information to give it a more specific meaning. Adjectives answer the questions "Which, What Kind Of and How Many or How much"? Adjectives are descriptive words that usually precede the words they describe in English. When two or more adjectives are used together before a noun, they are usually arranged in a recognizable order (not separated by commas). An article will always be first, a noun used as an adjective will always come last, directly before the noun or pronoun being modified.
example: I bought a small old red hand-blown French wine bottle.
Typical Order for Adjectives Example
1. Article or pronoun used as an adjective a
2. Size small
3. Age old
4. Color red
5. Participle hand-blown
6. Proper adjective French
7. Noun used as an adjective wine
noun that is being modified bottle
Articles: The most commonly used adjectives are the articles, a, an, and the. The is called the "definite article" because it calls attention to a specific person, place, or thing. A and an are known as "indefinite articles" because they refer to things without being specific as to which particular thing. Use a before words beginning with a consonant sound (a cat, a dog) and use an before words beginning with a vowel sound (an artist, an elephant). It is the pronounced sound, not the letter, which determines whether a or an should be used (a uniform, an L-shaped room, an 18th century creation).
Compound Word Adjectives: hyphenated compound words can also function as adjectives that often answer the question "what kind of?". e.g. A many-sided issue. A life-and-death struggle. Yosemite-like mountains.
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