What does adjective mean?
Word: Adjective
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Adjective means a word that describes a noun or pronoun, telling us what kind, which one or how many, such as tall, red or three.
Synonyms: describing word
How do you spell adjective?
Syllables: ad - jec - tive
Tricky part: The d before the j is not heard, so it is easy to leave out. The middle syllable has a short e, never an a or i.
Watch out for: adjectiv, adgective, adjecktive
Memory tip: Adjective, adjust and adjacent all start with adj: the quiet d always stands guard before the j.
Adjective in a sentence
Example 1: Juicy is the adjective that best describes this mango.
Example 2: Our teacher asked us to write five adjectives about the monsoon.
Example 3: In a lazy afternoon, the word lazy is an adjective.
Fun Fact
In English, several adjectives before a noun usually follow a fixed order: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose. That is why we say a lovely little old wooden house, not a wooden old little lovely house.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. preposition 2. interjection 3. adjective 4. conjuntion
a) a word that joins words or clauses together
b) a word or sound that shows a sudden feeling, such as oh
c) a word that shows how one thing is placed in relation to another
d) a word that describes a noun
Show answer
a) a word that joins words or clauses together. Conjunction needs a c before the t: con-junc-tion; adjective, preposition and interjection are spelt correctly.
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
adje_t_ve
a) k, a
b) c, a
c) c, i
d) k, i
Show answer
c) c, i. The k sound before the t is a c, as in project and select, and the ending is -ive.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Our teacher asked us to underline each ajcdteiev in the poem about the sea.
a) objective
b) adjacent
c) adjective
d) detective
Show answer
c) adjective. With a j and a d and no o or n, the word can only be adjective.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word is used as an adjective in: The children ran home quickly after the noisy match?
a) home
b) quickly
c) noisy
d) ran
Show answer
c) noisy
2. How many adjectives are there in: Small brown birds sat on low walls?
a) 3
b) 1
c) 4
d) 2
Show answer
a) 3
