Adjectives – Quality, Quantity and Sensory

A word that is used to describe or point out the nouns, which may be a person, place, animal, or thing, or to tell the number or quantity, is called an adjective.   

Let us take a look at the different types of adjectives, and sensory adjectives. 

There are: 

• Adjectives of Quality (Descriptive Adjectives) 
• Adjectives of Quantity 
• Adjectives of Number (Numeral Adjectives) 

Adjectives of Quality: 

Adjectives of quality, also known as Descriptive adjectives, are used to show the kind or quality of a person or a thing, like: 

• London is a large city. 
• Joseph is an intimidating person. 
• That is an expensive car. 
• Katie is a wonderful teacher. 

There is another type of adjective that is generally classed with Adjectives of Quality. Adjectives are sometimes formed from proper nouns like French wine, Indian tea, Victorian attitude, etc. They are called Proper Adjectives. 

We can find out if the given adjective is an Adjective of Quality, if it answers the question: Of what kind? 

More examples: 

• You are a terrible person. 
• This is a beautiful day. 
• The concert was amazing. 

Adjectives of Quantity: 

Adjectives of Quality are the ones that show how much of a thing is meant, like: 

• I had some soup. 
• She showed much patience. 
• We did enough research. 
• Jake has lost all his money. 
• Martin makes no sense at all. 
• Mary did not eat any lunch. 
• You should take great care of your health. 
• There has been sufficient rain this month. 

Adjectives of Number: 

Adjectives of Number, also known as Numeral Adjectives, give us the idea about how many person or thing are meant, or in what order the noun stands, like: 

• I have two cars. 
• Greta has three kittens. 
• Few boys liked the play. 
• There are no twists in this story. 
• All men must die. 
• Sunday is the first day of the week. 
• My guide has taught me many things. 

We can find out if the given adjective is an Adjective of Number, if it answers the question: How many? 

Adjectives of Numbers are further divided into three types: 

1. Definite Numeral Adjectives: 

They denote an exact number, like one, two, three, etc., which are called cardinals, and first, second, third, etc., which are called ordinals. 

2. Indefinite Numeral Adjectives: 

All, no, many, few, some, any, certain, several, etc., are the indefinite numeral adjectives as they do not denote an exact number. 

3. Distributive Numeral Adjectives: 

They indicate the singular number of a noun among a large number of nouns, like: 

• Each student must take his/her turn. 
• The school expects every person to do his/her duty. 
• Either of the answers will do. 
• Neither of the accusations is true. 

Sensory adjectives: 

All the adjectives that appeal to the five senses- sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell– are called sensory adjectives. 

Given below is a small list of some sensory adjectives: 

• Cold (touch) 
• Slimy (touch) 
• Sweet (taste) 
• Bitter (taste) 
• Fragrant (smell) 
• Dim (sight) 
• Misty (sight) 
• Squeaky (hearing) 

Examples: 

• It’s a misty morning. 
• Matt has golden hair. 
• We are walking through a slimy surface.