An adjective is a word that tells you something about a NOUN. An adjective describes the Noun
by telling you: What kind of noun/ Which noun / How many
In this sentence, there are no adjectives: Mrs. Brown ate sushi. If you look carefully,
you can see there are two nouns: Mrs. Brown, and sushi. If you want to add words that describe
the nouns, you will need a few adjectives. “Pretty, slim and fit, Mrs. Brown ate the
fresh, delicious sushi.” In this sentence there are three words that describe Mrs. Brown,
a proper noun: Can you find them?... Pretty, slim, and fit! Right! These words are called
There are also another group of words that describe the second noun, sushi.
Can you find those?... Fresh and delicious describe the noun sushi. So Fresh and delicious
are adjectives.When an adjective describes a word, sometimes you will hear this phrase:
it modifies the noun. Pretty modifies Mrs. Brown. That means that the word “pretty”
changes the meaning of Mrs. Brown just a tad. Here is another way to use modify: What noun
does the word delicious modify? Sushi! Because sushi is a noun, the word delicious is an
Think of words that could describe the noun elephant in this sentence:
The elephant looked for water.That elephant could be any age: The baby elephant looked
for water. Or from any country: The African elephant looked for water. It could be a star:
The circus elephant looked for water. Depending on the words you use to describe a noun, the
meaning can change. In each of those sentences, the words: baby, African, and Circus are adjectives
because each one tells you “what kind” of elephant.
Now there are words that may not look like adjectives, but they also modify the noun
because they tell you WHICH ONE: My elephant looked for water. Can you find the adjective
here? This is tricky. The word “My” is a possessive pronoun, telling you WHICH ONE:
so in this sentence, the word “my” modifies elephant, and it’s being used as an ADJECTIVE.
That elephant looked for water. Can you spot the adjective? THAT! The word “that” tells
you WHICH ONE so it’s being used as an ADJECTIVE Three elephants looked for water. Do you see
the adjective? THREE! The word “three” tells you HOW MANY, so the word THREE is an
When a word modifies or describes a noun, by telling you which one, how many, or what