Rules to Use Adjectives as Part of Speech:
- There
are some adjectives which denote absolute positions and of which
comparative and superlative degrees remain the same. Some of these
words are complete, perfect, excellent, chief, ulterior, ideal, major,
superior, junior, posterior, etc.
Examples:
Incorrect – Let’s discuss the most major problem first.
Correct – Let’s discuss the major problem first.
Incorrect – Success is the chiefest motive of my life.
Correct – Success is the chief motive of my life.
- There
are some adjectives which use ‘to’ instead of ‘than’ while making comparisons. These adjectives end in “-ior”: superior, inferior,
ulterior, exterior, posterior, junior, etc.
Examples:
Incorrect – He is junior than you.
Correct – He is junior to you.
- If two adjectives are separated by ‘and ‘, then they must be in the same degree.
Example: Shilpa is the most progressive and wisest member of the union.
- Possessive adjectives are different from possessive pronouns.
Example: This is my (possessive adjective) notebook and this is yours (possessive pronoun).
- 5. Its and their are possessive adjectives.
Examples:
- Its appearance is beautiful.
- Their dog is barking.
- It’s, they’re and there
are not possessive adjectives. It’s is a contraction of it is or it has; they’re is a contraction of they are; there is an adverb of place.
Examples:
- It’s not your camera → It is not your camera.
- They’re my enemies → They are my enemies.
- Kindly go there. (adverb)
- When
two qualities of the same person or thing are compared, the comparative in “-er” form is not used. Instead ‘more’ is used for this purpose.
Incorrect – She is braver than intelligent.
Correct – She is more brave than intelligent.
- Articles
(a, an, the) are words that combine with a noun. Articles are actually adjectives because they describe the nouns that they precede.
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
- The Himalayas cover the northern part of India.
- Sometimes, a word that is normally used as a noun can function as an adjective, depending on its usage.
Example: The history teacher asked us to work on a project. ( History is a noun, but in the sentence, it modifies teacher.)
Similarly, some words that are normally adjectives can function as nouns.
Example:
Ritika is associated with an organization that works for the poor. (
Poor is usually used as an adjective, but here it functions as a noun
with the article ‘the’ preceding it ) Therefore, note that the terms
“adjective” and “noun” are not only about a word’s form but also about