Adjectives Introduction

Think you know your stuff? CLICK HERE to quiz yourself.

Shmoop is patient. Shmoop is kind.

Oops. Sorry. We meant love is patient and kind—guess we need to brush up on our Corinthians.

Do over. Ahem.

Shmoop is the best of times, Shmoop is the worst of times.

Oh. That's wrong for two reasons. (1) The quote from A Tale of Two Cities refers to "it" instead of "Shmoop" (and totally comma splices it); and (2) Shmoop is the best of times… period.

But these missteps in the wild world of quoting lead us to our grammar topic du jour: adjectives. Yup: like best, worst, patient, and kind.

Adjectives are words that modify nouns and pronouns by identifying, describing, quantifying, or limiting them.

Adjectives answer the following questions:

  • Which one?
  • How many?
  • What kind?

Adjectives come in three different forms: positive, comparative, and superlative; and two primary types: descriptive and limiting.

Continue on your way through this adjective extravaganza to satisfy your curious, inquisitive, and beautiful mind with more fascinating, revelatory, and useful information. (See what we did there?)

Quiz Yourself on Adjectives

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Which of the following adorable sentences contains an error with article adjectives?

(A) A koala escaped from the zoo Saturday afternoon.
(B) It got on a subway and rode it downtown.
(C) The fugitive koala was finally captured at a hot dog stand, where it was trying to order a hot dog with ketchup, relish, and extra eucalyptus leaves.
(D) None of the above

Okay, movie buff. Which sentence includes a grammatical error?

(A) That new musical about World War II is playing at 4:00, 7:15, and 10:00.
(B) Rick and Basia can't decide what showing they should go to.
(C) Basia prefers the 7:15 because they'll have an excuse to eat popcorn and Milk Duds for dinner.
(D) None of the above

Which of these sentences is grammatically incorrect?

(A) I wish we'd spent less money on the catering for our wedding reception.
(B) Maybe if we had, they would have provided more filet mignon and less calamari platters.
(C) In that case, fewer guests would have come down with food poisoning.
(D) They could have spent more time on the dance floor and less in the bathroom.

Which of the following sentences needs to be corrected?

(A) Xavier spent his Spring Break learning how to tap dance at Miss Mamie's, a dance studio downtown.
(B) His parents, both retired professional ballroom dancers, guaranteed him it was a good way to meet girls.
(C) They assured him that he'd be grateful for an experience one day, but Xavier isn't so sure.
(D) So far, all the "girls" that he has met are so old they remember the Eisenhower administration.

Fill in the blanks:


As I was unpacking the contents of my office, I began to wish that I had ________ craft supplies. That way, I could spend _________ time organizing colored pencils by shade, and more time making my highly renowned Mardi Gras masks.


(A) less, less
(B) fewer, less
(C) less, fewer
(D) fewer, fewer

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