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Specifying adjectives may also be called ‘classifying’, ‘defining’, ‘identifying’, ‘restrictive’, or ‘essential’.
Descriptive adjectives may also be called ‘qualifying’, ‘non-defining’, ‘non-restrictive’, or ‘nonessential’.
The difference between these two seems minimal for basic adjectives. However, this difference can affect grammar for more advanced modifiers, like with Relative Clauses.
For an example of a noticeable difference in basic adjectives, consider ‘economic’ vs. ‘economical’. ‘economic’ establishes an innate category for the noun and is thus specifying. Meanwhile, ‘economical’ expresses a perceived quality of the noun and is thus descriptive.
The three placements are sometimes called Pre-Nominal (before the noun), Post-Nominal (immediately following the noun), and Predicative (after a linking verb).
Note that not every adjective can work in all three placements. Just a few examples are:
- ‘well’ cannot be pre-nominal.
- ‘mere’ and ‘lone’ cannot be post-nominal or predicative.
The generally accepted order is some variation of:
general opinion > personal opinion > value > size > condition > age > shape > color > pattern > origin > material > purpose
But there are a few issues with this:
- The order is inconsistent from one source to the next. Most notably, size tends to move around (instead of the order above, it might come before condition), though there are other minor differences.
- There are exceptions, as with ‘the big bad wolf’.
- These categories best fit physical objects. But what about people, ideas, experiences, etc? Where should categories like personality, emotion, availability, or feasibility fit into the order?
- The order seems almost arbitrary and frankly is hard to remember.
Instead, it may be better to teach the broader perspective as shown in the video.
See this appendix for the chart of Adverb suffixes.
‘Gradable’ might also be called ‘scalable’ (as in, they can slide across different degrees of a scale, as shown visually in the video) or ‘comparable’.
We usually don’t use adverbs of degree for absolute adjectives (aka ‘ungradable’ or ‘unscalable’ adjectives), at least not for proper grammar. However, we can do so to be facetious or hyperbolic.
Even More Things to Know
Gradable adjectives can come in comparative or superlative forms (but absolute adjectives generally can not).
Comparatives are expressed with ‘more’ before the adjective or ‘-er’ at the end of the adjective on positive side, and ‘less’ before the adjective on the negative side. Comparisons are usually made one-on-one, but they can be made against multiple other individual nouns.
Superlatives, on the other hand, do not take the other individuals into account, but rather stake their claim across the entire context. Superlatives are expressed with ‘-est’ as a suffix or with ‘most’ before the adjective, and they also require a specific determiner, usually ‘the’. The negative counterpart to superlative has ‘least’ instead of ‘most’.
By the way, there are plenty of situations in which using comparatives or using superlatives would be equally valid.
A handful of adjectives like only, true, first, and best are extreme specifiers (at least from the speaker’s perspective). These Limiters – sometimes called ‘Limiting Adjectives’, ‘Post-Determiners’, or ‘Intensifiers’ – almost always come before any other adjectives and often follow ‘the’ or possessives like ‘my’ (or sometimes demonstratives like ‘these’). In fact, they’re the rare adjectives than can even come before numerals and quantifiers!
There’s no definitive list of Limiters, but here are some common ones that establish the validity of the referent:
complete • entire • exact • genuine • mere • outright • plain • pure • real • same • sheer • total • true • utter • very • whole
And here are some common Limiters that establish the uniqueness of the referent::
best • certain • chief • clear • favorite • featured • feeble • final • finest • first • greatest • last • latest • lone • main • next • notable • only • other • particular • precise • previous • prime • principal • signature • single • slight • sole • specific • top • worst
There’s a fair amount of overlap between Limiters and absolute adjectives. Many Limiters express an amount, a position in a sequence, an extreme standard, or unquestioning factuality. Superlatives can function as Limiters in fitting circumstances.
Most of the words listed above can serve as normal adjectives instead of Limiters depending on the definition or connotation. But note that some of these Limiters do not make sense as Post-Nominal or Predicate adjectives.
Adjectives can act as the focal points of entire phrases that modify nouns. Other elements of the phrase are typically other modifiers, either as adverbs or as modifying phrases. Here are some examples:
- “very happy“ (adverb + ADJ)
- “happy enough” (ADJ + adverb)
- “happy about the outcome” (ADJ + prepositional phrase)
- “happy relaxing by the pool” (ADJ + participial phrase)
- “happy to help” (ADJ + infinitive phrase)
- “happier than I was” (ADJ + adverbial clause)