Whatever language we speak, human language has great richness and variety. We have words with many functions in the field of communication, such as nouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs or adjectives. These make it possible to express or indicate the qualities of a stimulus or a concept or to delimit what element we are talking about.
But the adjective category includes a lot of subcategories in itself, there are different types of adjectives which can be used when communicating. That is why, in this article, we are going to look at some of these types.
Table of Contents
The adjective
The adjective concept refers to this set of words that provide more or less concrete or specific information about a name, emphasizing its qualities or the relationship of the name to other elements. Adjectives tend to have the same gender and number as the noun they accompany, although in some cases the adjective is a single word that does not vary regardless of the characteristics of the noun to which it refers.
Main types of adjectives
There are different types of adjectives, which can be classified according to various criteria. Below we will reflect some of the more well-known.
1. Qualifying adjectives
What most of us today consider adjectives in themselves, qualifying adjectives, are those that allow identify a quality or express a characteristic of the name to which they refer.
In qualifying adjectives, they can find different subtypes based on different criteria. Among them are the following
1.1. Specific or restrictive adjectives
Specific adjectives are those that they point to a quality that differentiates the name to which it refers from others. Examples are adjectives that indicate color or shape.
1.2. Non-restrictive adjectives
They are adjectives whose meaning expresses a quality of the noun without restricting or manifesting a difference that makes others incapable of it.
1.3. explanatory adjectives
These types of adjectives refer to intrinsic qualities or directly associated with the concept to which they refer. Its incorporation in the nominal sentence is in fact redundant and can be deleted without changing its meaning.
1.3. Deictic or modal adjective
Adjective which allows to delimit the context in which the noun is circumscribed or appears.
1.4. Graduated adjectives of positive degree
They are called as such those adjectives that can be placed in a continuum and which are limited to providing information on a quality of the name
1.5. Comparative adjectives (or comparative diploma)
These are adjectives that make a comparison between the noun to which they refer and other concepts.
1.6. Elative adjectives (or superlative)
The use of elativos adjectives makes it possible to obtain information not only on a feature but on its intensity. A subtype would be superlatives, in which the degree is marked by the incorporation of suffixes.
1.7. relational adjectives
Adjectives are those which convey the relation of the noun to a specific subject. They can be plots or classifiers (Which in turn are restrictive in delimiting an exclusion category).
1.8. noun adjectives
Noun adjectives are adjectives that, in a given context, are used as nouns. They are used when the characteristic is the most distinctive element used to designate the object.
1.9. adverbial adjectives
These are adjectives that are used as adverbs, having the same functions as these. In this case, they do not indicate the properties of the name but the way in which the adjective rather applies to the action he undertakes. In a sentence, they could be used as adverbs ending in -ment.
1.10. intersective adjectives
Adjectives are those which relate two qualities at the same time, appearing next to a noun adjective.
1.11. Non-intersective adjectives
These are all these adjectives that are limited to expressing or indicating a quality although they appear with another particle that could be interpreted as qualitative.
2. The old determinative adjectives, now determinative
Although not currently applied and considered as independent categories, in the past there was a classification that divided adjectives into qualifiers and determinatives. Today, they are not considered adjectives.
The determining adjectives, now determining, are those words used to determine or specify the scope of the name to which they accompany. In the determinants, different types can be found.
2.1. figures
Determine the adjectives that provide information about the existing quantity of the concept being discussed. They can be cardinal or ordinal.
2.2. Possession
These are the determinants that define the membership or the possession of the name they accompany (me, yours, ours …).
2.3. demonstrative
Words accompanying the name i they refer to the distance between the sender of the sentence and the subject, Us or concept to which it refers. Examples would be this or that.
2.4. interrogative
These are the determinants, or old determinative adjectives, that are used in the questions so that they precede or even replace the name and allow the identification of that. These are particles like what …? or how many …?.
2.5. exclamations
These are the elements that accompany the noun and / or another adjective i they serve to give it emphasis.
2.6. articles
Articles are used to indicate whether the name is definite or indeterminate.
2.7. indefinite
Similar to numbers they express an idea of quantity in relation to the name they accompany, but in an imprecise manner (some, a lot, a little …).
