Descriptive Adjectives | What Are Descriptive Adjectives? Types and Some Popular Examples

Descriptive Adjectives: In the broad subject matter of English Grammar, various components help us construct grammatically correct sentences. The English language can be confusing to understand; hence we put these various tools to make the process more straightforward and easy to understand.

Parts of Speech are one of the grammar tools, and they cover a large area of the massive niche of English Grammar. Among the wide range of tools that play an essential role in the construction of any sentence, one of the most used components included under Parts of Speech is known as “Adjective.”

This article will focus on the use, definition, and examples of Descriptive Adjectives of English Grammar.

Descriptive Adjectives

• Definition of a Descriptive Adjective
• The different variations of Descriptive Adjectives
• The correct method to use Descriptive Adjectives
• A list of the most common Descriptive Adjectives in Alphabetical Order

Definition of a Descriptive Adjective

The adjective is among the most critical components of parts of speech that find considerable application in the subject matter of speech and writing.

As we have learned in school, an adjective is a describing word that describes the noun in any sentence. There are numerous kinds of adjectives in the English language but, the most comprehensive group under the subject of adjectives is ‘Descriptive Adjectives.’

One can define descriptive adjectives as the kind of adjectives used to represent the extent, color, or appearance of a character, an object or thing, an animal, or any given place, as mentioned in the sentence.

Descriptive Adjectives are used to present added information about the noun it defines by correctly describing its characteristics or altering it.

In simpler words, Descriptive Adjectives are those types of adjectives that give an attribute to the noun present in a sentence by adding extra information about it.

The Different Variations of Descriptive Adjectives

Based on the degree of comparison, the Descriptive Adjectives can be differentiated into three different categories, as defines below in detail:

Comparative Descriptive Adjective

Just as the word suggests, Comparative Adjectives are a type of adjective used to define a noun through a comparison of the said noun with another noun.

In other words, when one noun is compared to another in any sentence by an adjective, it is known as a Descriptive adjective.

Example: That apple is bigger than this apple.

Here, the adjective ‘big’ is used in its comparative degree as ‘bigger’ to define the first apple as being larger than the latter.

Superlative Descriptive Adjective

Just as the name suggests, Superlative Adjectives are the type of adjectives used to define the highest degree of an attribute. Superlative Adjectives are adjectives used to define a noun by comparing the said noun with another noun, in the same sentence but by using the highest degree of comparison.

In simple words, Superlative Adjectives define the comparison between two existing nouns in a sentence by its highest degree of comparison.

Example: That is the biggest apple in the whole tree.

Here, the adjective ‘biggest’ is used to establish that the said apple is the biggest as compared to all the other apples in the same tree.

Positive Descriptive Adjective

Unlike all the other forms of adjectives, Positive Adjectives are used in most sentences. They do not have any involvement of any sort of comparison between nouns in a sentence.

In the English language, we use Positive adjectives to only add description to the noun and not compare anything.

Example: Her math score is perfect.

Here, there is no comparison involved between nouns. It is simply stating the fact that she scored perfectly in math. The word ‘perfect’ is just used to describe her math score.

The Correct Method to Use Descriptive Adjectives

To use any Descriptive adjective in a sentence, you need to thoroughly know the nouns in the sentence you want to write.

If the nouns form a basis of comparison between two things or people or situations, you should use a Comparative Descriptive Adjective.

Example: This flower is prettier than that one.

If the nouns form a basis of comparison between more than two things, people, or situations, and one of the nouns will have the highest importance; in that case, you should use a Superlative Descriptive Adjective.

Example: Her hair is the curliest in our class.

If there is no basis for comparison, you should use a Positive Descriptive Adjective.

Example: That is good news.

In the Case of Identification of Descriptive Adjectives

1. The first step is to recognize the noun or nouns present in a sentence.
2. The second step is to identify the descriptive adjective.
3. The third step is to identify what type of descriptive is present.
4. Lastly, to form a meaning of the given sentence, you need to understand what information the adjective provides and interpret it accordingly.

A-List of Most Common Descriptive Adjectives in Alphabetical Order