UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DE MOÇAMBIQUE

INSTITUTO DE EDUCAÇÃO A DISTÂNCIA

LICENCIATURA EM ENSINO DE PORTUGUES

Adjectives in English

Nome do estudante: Nita Brito Vagumila

Código: 708232490

Cadeira: Inglês

Quelimane, Setembro de 2023

 UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DE MOÇAMBIQUE

INSTITUTO DE EDUCAÇÃO A DISTÂNCIA

LICENCIATURA EM ENSINO DE PORTUGUES

Adjectives in English

Nome do estudante: Nita Brito Vagumila

The Tutor: dr.Lúcio Mucaisse

Quelimane, Setembro de 2023

Nome do estudante: Ano de frequência:

Confirmado pelo responsável do CED Data de entrega:

Aspectos a considerar na correcção Cotação Cotação

Introdução: Exposição e delimitação do assunto em 2,0 v

análise

Desenvolvimento: 5,0 v 10,0 v

Fundamentação teórica (definição de conceitos e

termos e apresentação dos pontos de vista do autores). 5,0 v

Integração entre teoria e prática (argumentos/contra

argumentos e exemplificação)

Clareza expositiva 2,0

Citações bibliográficas (directas e indirectas) 2,0

Conclusão 2,0

Referências bibliográficas (normas APA) 2,0

Cotação total: 20,0 v

Assinatura do docente:

Assinatura do assistente pedagógico:

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Índice
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5
Objectives................................................................................................................................................ 5
Definition ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Forms of Adjectives – Degrees of Comparison ...................................................................................... 6
Comparative and superlative adjectives .................................................................................................. 7
Superlative adjectives.............................................................................................................................. 7
Coordinate adjectives .............................................................................................................................. 8
Types of Adjectives................................................................................................................................. 8
Compound Adjectives: ............................................................................................................................ 9
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 10
Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................... 11

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Introduction
Adjective is a word that describes a noun or noun phrase or pronoun and provides more
information. Basically, A adjective tells the characteristics of a noun or noun phrase or
pronoun. Its semantic role is to change the information given by the noun. Adjectives are
usually placed before the nouns they describe. In simple words, Adjectives are words that
describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, many etc. So we
may define an Adjective is a word used with a noun to add something to its meaning. In
English Grammar, Adjectives have been described as a Part of Speech.

Objectives
General:

 Understand adjectives
Specific

 Conceptualize adjectives
 Indicate the forms of adjectives
 Identify the types of adjectives.

Methodology

To carry out this work, bibliographical research was used.

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Definition
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an adjective is defined as “a word that describes a
noun or pronoun.” The Collins Dictionary gives a more elaborate definition. According to it,
“an adjective is a word such as „big‟, „ dead‟, or „ financial‟ that describes a person or thing,
or gives extra information about them. Adjectives usually come before nouns or after link
verbs.”

The Oxford Learner‟s Dictionary defines an adjective as “a word that describes a person or
thing, for example „big‟, „red‟ and „clever‟ in a big house, red wine and a clever idea.” An
adjective is “a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages
and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to
indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else”, according
to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Forms of Adjectives – Degrees of Comparison

There are three forms of adjectives or rather three degrees of comparison. The are:

Positive or Absolute Form

 Comparative Form
 Superlative Form
An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be used
to describe the qualities of someone or something independently or in comparison to
something else.

Examples: Adjectives in a sentence

I like old houses.

The boy is tall and skinny.

Jane is smarter than her brother.

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Comparative and superlative adjectives
Comparative adjectives are used to compare two things. They‟re usually formed by adding the
suffix “-er” (or “-r” if the word ends in the letter “e”). For two-syllable words that end in “y,”
the “y” is replaced with “-ier.”

Comparative adjectives can also be formed by adding “more” or “less” before an adjective
that has not been modified. The “more” form is typically used for words with two or more
syllables, while the “less” form is used for all adjectives.

Examples: Comparative adjectives in a sentence

 Simon‟s essay is longer than Claire‟s.

 The room is cozier with the fire lit and less cozy without it.
 I have never met a more honorable person.

Superlative adjectives
Are used to indicate that something has the most or least of a specific quality. They‟re
typically preceded by the definite article “the” and usually formed by adding the suffix “-est”
(or “-st” if the word ends in the letter “e”). For two-syllable words that end in “y,” the “y” is
replaced with “-iest.”

Superlative adjectives can also be formed by adding “most” or “least” before an adjective that
has not been modified. The “most” form is typically used for words with two or more
syllables, while the “least” form is used for all adjectives.

Absolute adjectives

An absolute adjective is an adjective describing an absolute state that cannot be compared.

For example, the word “dead” is often considered to be an absolute adjective because it‟s not
possible to be “deader” than someone else. Mabaso (2019), however, actual usage varies, and
absolute adjectives are often modified by words such as “almost.”

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Coordinate adjectives
Coordinate adjectives are two or more adjectives that modify the same noun in a sentence.
Coordinate adjectives can be separated by commas or by the conjunction “and.”

Examples: Coordinate adjectives in a sentence

The plums were cool and delicious.

Aaron wrote a heartbreaking, inspiring novel.

Types of Adjectives
Adjectives can be divided into different categories based on their functions when used in a
sentence. The different types of adjectives are:

 Possessive Adjectives
 Interrogative Adjectives
 Demonstrative Adjectives
 Compound Adjectives
 Possessive Adjectives:
These adjectives, like possessive pronouns, are used to show or represent possession of a
quality. For example: my, your, his, her, their, its, whose, etc.

Interrogative Adjectives:

An adjective that is used to modify a noun or a pronoun by asking a question is called an

interrogative adjective. There are only a few adjectives that can be termed as interrogative
adjectives. They are whose, what and which.

Demonstrative Adjectives:

Demonstrative adjectives are mainly used to describe the position of a subject (a noun or
pronoun) in space or time. This, that, these and those are the demonstrative adjectives in
English.

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Compound Adjectives:
Compound adjectives consist of two or more adjectives that are combined together to form an
adjective that can be used to modify the subject. Some examples of compound adjectives are
cotton-tailed, curly-haired, absent-minded, happy-go-lucky, etc,

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Conclusion
At the end of this work I learned that adjective comes from Latin nōmen adjectīvum,a calque
of Ancient Greek: ἐπίθετον ὄνομα (surname), romanized: In the grammatical tradition of
Latin and Greek, because adjectives were inflected for gender, number, and case like nouns (a
process called declension), they were considered a type of noun. The words that are today
typically called nouns were then called substantive nouns (nōmen substantīvum). The terms
noun substantive and noun adjective were formerly used in English but are now obsolete.

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Bibliography
Cambridge Dictionary.(s/d)

Mabaso, Milton. (2019). introduction an grammar. Maputo

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