Adjectives Introduction

Think you know your stuff? CLICK HERE to quiz yourself.

Shmoop is patient. Shmoop is kind.

Oops. Sorry. We meant love is patient and kind—guess we need to brush up on our Corinthians.

Do over. Ahem.

Shmoop is the best of times, Shmoop is the worst of times.

Oh. That's wrong for two reasons. (1) The quote from A Tale of Two Cities refers to "it" instead of "Shmoop" (and totally comma splices it); and (2) Shmoop is the best of times… period.

But these missteps in the wild world of quoting lead us to our grammar topic du jour: adjectives. Yup: like best, worst, patient, and kind.

Adjectives are words that modify nouns and pronouns by identifying, describing, quantifying, or limiting them.

Adjectives answer the following questions:

  • Which one?
  • How many?
  • What kind?

Adjectives come in three different forms: positive, comparative, and superlative; and two primary types: descriptive and limiting.

Continue on your way through this adjective extravaganza to satisfy your curious, inquisitive, and beautiful mind with more fascinating, revelatory, and useful information. (See what we did there?)

Quiz Yourself on Adjectives

1/5

Which sentence uses the word its incorrectly?

(A) The puppy in the pet store window had no idea that its tail was not an outrageously entertaining toy.
(B) After two years of ruling the pond, the duck was not going to let the goose take over its territory.
(C) The cat's purr is so sweet that you almost forget about the fact that its a seriously dangerous animal.
(D) I was mad at the hamster for biting my finger, so I took revenge by stealing its running wheel.

Fill in the blanks:


As I was unpacking the contents of my office, I began to wish that I had ________ craft supplies. That way, I could spend _________ time organizing colored pencils by shade, and more time making my highly renowned Mardi Gras masks.


(A) less, less
(B) fewer, less
(C) less, fewer
(D) fewer, fewer

Which of these sentences is grammatically incorrect?

(A) I wish we'd spent less money on the catering for our wedding reception.
(B) Maybe if we had, they would have provided more filet mignon and less calamari platters.
(C) In that case, fewer guests would have come down with food poisoning.
(D) They could have spent more time on the dance floor and less in the bathroom.

Which of these options needs to be corrected?

  1. It's about time you stopped putting yourself down and learned to love your tongue.
  2. It's length is really quite extraordinary.
  3. You know, it's not every day you see a tongue like that.
  4. It can reach inside it's accompanying nose.
(A) 1 and 3
(B) 2 and 3
(C) 2 and 4
(D) 3 and 4

What type of adjective is featured in the following sentence?


Goldilocks told the officers that the first bowl of porridge was too hot, the second bowl was too cold, and the third bowl was just right.


(A) Cardinal
(B) Ordinal
(C) Indefinite
(D) Interrogative

Here are your results. Want to give it another go?
Click TRY AGAIN for a new quiz. Or click NEXT to get to studying.

0/5
Next Try Again

Tired of ads?

Join today and never see them again.
Get Started