is homework an adjective or a noun

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Definition of homework noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• I always do my homework on the bus.
• physics/geography/French, etc. homework
• I still haven't done my geography homework.
• How much homework do you get?
• for homework I have to write up the notes for homework.
• (especially North American English) I have to finish this homework assignment .
• acquire/​get/​lack (an) education/​training/ (British English) (some) qualifications
• receive/​provide somebody with training/​tuition
• develop/​design/​plan a curriculum/ (especially British English) course/ (North American English) program/​syllabus
• give/​go to/​attend a class/​lesson/​lecture/​seminar
• hold/​run/​conduct a class/​seminar/​workshop
• sign up for/​take a course/​classes/​lessons
• go to/​start preschool/​kindergarten/​nursery school
• be in (North American English) the first, second, etc. grade/ (British English) year 1, 2. etc. (at school)
• study/​take/​drop history/​chemistry/​German, etc.
• (British English) leave/​finish/​drop out of/ (North American English) quit school
• (North American English) graduate high school/​college
• be the victim/​target of bullying
• (British English) play truant from/ (both British English, informal) bunk off/​skive off school (= not go to school when you should)
• (both especially North American English) skip/​cut class/​school
• (British English) cheat in/ (North American English) cheat on an exam/​a test
• get/​be given a detention (for doing something)
• be expelled from/​be suspended from school
• do your homework/ (British English) revision/​a project on something
• work on/​write/​do/​submit an essay/​a dissertation/​a thesis/​an assignment/ (North American English) a paper
• finish/​complete your dissertation/​thesis/​studies/​coursework
• hand in/ (North American English) turn in your homework/​essay/​assignment/​paper
• study/​prepare/ (British English) revise/ (North American English) review/ (North American English, informal) cram for a test/​an exam
• take/ (both British English) do/​sit a test/​an exam
• (especially British English) mark/ (especially North American English) grade homework/​a test
• (British English) do well in/ (North American English) do well on/ (especially North American English, informal) ace a test/​an exam
• pass/​fail/ (especially North American English, informal) flunk a test/​an exam/​a class/​a course/​a subject
• apply to/​get into/​go to/​start college/ (British English) university
• leave/​graduate from law school/​college/ (British English) university (with a degree in computer science)
• study for/​take/ (British English) do/​complete a law degree/​a degree in physics
• (both North American English) major/​minor in biology/​philosophy
• earn/​receive/​be awarded/​get/​have/​hold a master’s degree/​a bachelor’s degree/​a PhD in economics
• Have you finished your homework?
• Have you done your physics homework yet?
• I was helping my sister with her maths homework.
• The homework assignments are worth 10% of the final grade.
• I have some homework to do on the Civil War.
• I want you to hand in this homework on Friday.
• The science teacher always gives a lot of homework.
• They get a lot of homework in English.
• They get masses of homework at secondary school.
• We had to write out one of the exercises for homework.
• for homework
• homework  on

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• Knowledge Base
• Parts of speech
• What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples

What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples

Published on August 21, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on October 3, 2023.

An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun . Adjectives can be used to describe the qualities of someone or something independently or in comparison to something else.

The boy is tall and skinny .

Table of contents

How are adjectives used in sentences, comparative and superlative adjectives.

• Coordinate adjectives

Adjectives vs. adverbs

How to order adjectives, other types of adjectives, other interesting language articles, frequently asked questions about adjectives.

Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns. They can be attributive (occurring before the noun) or predicative (occurring after the noun). Predicative adjectives typically follow a linking verb (such as forms of the verb “to be”) that connects the subject of the sentence to the adjective.

The soldier is proud .

The dedicated employee starts early.

The employee is dedicated . Note While most adjectives can occur in both the attributive and predicative position, some can only be used in one position. For example, the word “main” can only be used in the attributive position, while the word “asleep” can only be used in the predicative position.

• The main reason is that …
• The reason is main.
• The man is asleep.
• The asleep man is …

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Comparative adjectives are used to compare two things. They’re usually formed by adding the suffix “-er” (or “-r” if the word ends in the letter “e”). For two-syllable words that end in “y,” the “y” is replaced with “-ier.”

Comparative adjectives can also be formed by adding “more” or “less” before an adjective that has not been modified. The “more” form is typically used for words with two or more syllables, while the “less” form is used for all adjectives.

The room is cozier with the fire lit and less cozy without it.

Superlative adjectives are used to indicate that something has the most or least of a specific quality. They’re typically preceded by the definite article “the” and usually formed by adding the suffix “-est” (or “-st” if the word ends in the letter “e”). For two-syllable words that end in “y,” the “y” is replaced with “-iest.”

Superlative adjectives can also be formed by adding “most” or “least” before an adjective that has not been modified. The “most” form is typically used for words with two or more syllables, while the “least” form is used for all adjectives.

All the courses were delicious, but the dessert was the tastiest .

Absolute adjectives

An absolute adjective is an adjective describing an absolute state that cannot be compared. For example, the word “dead” is often considered to be an absolute adjective because it’s not possible to be “deader” than someone else.

However, actual usage varies, and absolute adjectives are often modified by words such as “almost.”

Coordinate adjectives are two or more adjectives that modify the same noun in a sentence. Coordinate adjectives can be separated by commas or by the conjunction “and.”

Adverbs can be used to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, whereas adjectives only modify nouns and pronouns. When used to modify a verb, an adverb describes how an action is being performed (e.g., Brandon runs slowly ).

Adverbs are often formed from adjectives by adding the suffix “-ly.” However, not all words ending in “-ly” are adverbs (e.g., “ugly” is an adjective).

Adverbs can be formed from adjectives in numerous other ways, depending on the ending.

Some words can be used as either an adjective or adverb without being changed (e.g., “fast,” “late,” “early”).

For example, in the sentence “the man left early ,” the word “early” is an adverb because it’s modifying the verb “left.”

Adjectives with linking verbs

Adjectives are often confused with adverbs when they are used as complements for linking verbs (e.g., “the wife is devoted ”). In these instances, a common mistake is to use an adverb in place of an adjective.

While adverbs describe how an action is performed, linking verbs (e.g., “be,” “seem,” “become,” “feel”) often refer to a state rather than an act and therefore take an adjective. In the example below, an adjective is needed because “feel” is a linking verb.

• Jesse feels badly when he doesn’t finish his homework.
• Jesse feels bad when he doesn’t finish his homework.

Attributive adjectives and determiners are typically given in a specific order according to their function. This isn’t an order that English speakers learn as a set of rules, but rather one that people pick up intuitively and usually follow without thinking about it:

• Determiner (e.g., a, the, one)
• Opinion (e.g., beautiful, valuable, indecent)
• Size (e.g., big, small, tiny)
• Shape or age (e.g., round, square, hundred-year-old)
• Color (e.g., white, brown, red)
• Origin (e.g., Dutch, aquatic, lunar)
• Material (e.g., wooden, metal, glass)

There are many types of adjectives in English. Some other important types of adjectives are:

• Appositive adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Participial adjectives
• Proper adjectives
• Denominal adjectives
• Nominal adjectives

An appositive adjective is an adjective (or series of adjectives) that occurs after the noun it modifies. It is typically set off by commas or dashes. It works similarly to an appositive noun .

A compound adjective is an adjective that is formed using two or more words that express a single idea (e.g., in-depth). When a compound adjective occurs before the noun it modifies (attributive), the individual words are typically connected by a hyphen . Frequently, no hyphen is needed when the compound adjective is placed after the noun (predicative).

Mark is well known . Note When a compound adjective is formed using an adverb that ends in “-ly,” no hyphen is used regardless of its position.

• A highly-respected public official.
• A highly respected public official.

A participial adjective is an adjective that is identical to the participle form of a verb (typically ending in “-ing,” “-ed,” or “-en”).

A proper adjective is an adjective formed from a proper noun and used to indicate origin. Like proper nouns, proper adjectives are always capitalized.

A denominal adjective is an adjective formed from a noun, often with the addition of a suffix (e.g., “-ish,” “-ly,” “-esque”).

A nominal adjective (also called a substantive adjective ) is an adjective that functions as a noun. Nominal adjectives are typically preceded by the definite article “the.”

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

• Common nouns
• Types of nouns
• Collective nouns
• Personal pronouns
• Uncountable and countable nouns
• Verb tenses
• Phrasal verbs
• Active vs passive voice
• Subject-verb agreement
• Sentence structure
• Interjections
• Determiners
• Prepositions

There are many ways to categorize adjectives into various types. An adjective can fall into one or more of these categories depending on how it is used.

Some of the main types of adjectives are:

• Attributive adjectives
• Predicative adjectives
• Comparative adjectives
• Superlative adjectives

Cardinal numbers (e.g., one, two, three) can be placed before a noun to indicate quantity (e.g., one apple). While these are sometimes referred to as “numeral adjectives ,” they are more accurately categorized as determiners or quantifiers.

A proper adjective is an adjective that was derived from a proper noun and is therefore capitalized .

Proper adjectives include words for nationalities, languages, and ethnicities (e.g., “Japanese,” “Inuit,” “French”) and words derived from people’s names (e.g., “Bayesian,” “Orwellian”).

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Ryan, E. (2023, October 03). What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 27, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/parts-of-speech/adjectives/

Aarts, B. (2011).  Oxford modern English grammar . Oxford University Press.

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Is this article helpful?

Eoghan Ryan

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Home » The Writer’s Dictionary » Adjective

An adjective is a word that modifies, quantifies, or otherwise describes a noun or pronoun. What does that mean? Well, adjectives give added meaning to nouns and pronouns by describing them more fully or by narrowing their meaning. For example,

• The ball bounced across the street.
• The red ball bounced across the street.
• The man worked hard all day.
• The tired man worked hard all day.

In these sentences, “red” and “tired” are adjectives. In the case of “red,” it is modifying, or adding meaning, to the noun “ball.” Likewise, “tired” is modifying the noun man.

Adjectives, unlike adverbs, which can sometimes seem as if they pop up out of nowhere, almost always appear directly in front of the nouns that they modify. There are a few exceptions, however.

For example, when indefinite pronouns—words like everybody, something, someone, etc.,—are modified by adjectives, the adjectives will come after the pronoun.

• Someone nice said something kind to me today, but I can’t remember what it was.
• Anyone susceptible to that kind of trickery should not be doing business.

There are also some adjectives that, when combined with other words, always come after the noun. For example,

• A notary public .
• A President elect .

While there are some exceptions to the general rule, the vast majority of all adjectives precede the nouns and pronouns that they modify.

You can also easily identify many adjectives by looking at their suffixes. Many adjectives follow similar patterns. Below is a list of a few of the most common,

• able (maneuverable)
• al (cynical)
• ary (secondary)
• en (broken)
• ful (disgraceful)
• ible (irresistible)
• ic (aerobic)
• ish (selfish)
• ive (accumulative)
• less (hopeless)
• like (jazzlike)
• ous (adventurous)
• some (handsome)

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• Knowledge Base
• Parts of speech
• What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples

What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples

Published on 22 August 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on 3 October 2023.

An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun . Adjectives can be used to describe the qualities of someone or something independently or in comparison to something else.

The boy is tall and skinny .

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Table of contents

How are adjectives used in sentences, comparative and superlative adjectives.

• Coordinate adjectives

Adjectives vs adverbs

How to order adjectives, other types of adjectives, frequently asked questions about adjectives.

Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns. They can be attributive (occurring before the noun) or predicative (occurring after the noun). Predicative adjectives typically follow a linking verb (such as forms of the verb ‘to be’) that connects the subject of the sentence to the adjective.

The soldier is proud .

The dedicated employee starts early.

The employee is dedicated . Note While most adjectives can occur in both the attributive and predicative position, some can only be used in one position. For example, the word ‘main’ can only be used in the attributive position, while the word ‘asleep’ can only be used in the predicative position.

• The main reason is that …
• The reason is main.
• The man is asleep.
• The asleep man is …

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Comparative adjectives are used to compare two things. They’re usually formed by adding the suffix ‘-er’ (or ‘-r’ if the word ends in the letter ‘e’). For two-syllable words that end in ‘y’, the ‘y’ is replaced with ‘-ier’.

Comparative adjectives can also be formed by adding ‘more’ or ‘less’ before an adjective that has not been modified. The ‘more’ form is typically used for words with two or more syllables, while the ‘less’ form is used for all adjectives.

The room is cosier with the fire lit and less cosy without it.

Superlative adjectives are used to indicate that something has the most or least of a specific quality. They’re typically preceded by the definite article ‘the’ and usually formed by adding the suffix ‘-est’ (or ‘-st’ if the word ends in the letter ‘e’). For two-syllable words that end in ‘y’, the ‘y’ is replaced with ‘-iest’.

Superlative adjectives can also be formed by adding ‘most’ or ‘least’ before an adjective that has not been modified. The ‘most’ form is typically used for words with two or more syllables, while the ‘least’ form is used for all adjectives.

All the courses were delicious, but the dessert was the tastiest .

Absolute adjectives

An absolute adjective is an adjective describing an absolute state that cannot be compared. For example, the word ‘dead’ is often considered to be an absolute adjective because it’s not possible to be ‘deader’ than someone else.

However, actual usage varies, and absolute adjectives are often modified by words such as ‘almost’.

Coordinate adjectives are two or more adjectives that modify the same noun in a sentence. Coordinate adjectives can be separated by commas or by the conjunction ‘and’.

Adverbs can be used to modify verbs , adjectives , or other adverbs, whereas adjectives only modify nouns and pronouns. When used to modify a verb, an adverb describes how an action is being performed (e.g., Brandon runs slowly ).

Adverbs are often formed from adjectives by adding the suffix ‘-ly’. However, not all words ending in ‘-ly’ are adverbs (e.g., ‘ugly’ is an adjective).

Adverbs can be formed from adjectives in numerous other ways, depending on the ending.

Some words can be used as either an adjective or adverb without being changed (e.g., ‘fast’, ‘late’, ‘early’).

For example, in the sentence ‘the man left early ‘, the word ‘early’ is an adverb because it’s modifying the verb ‘left’.

Adjectives with linking verbs

Adjectives are often confused with adverbs when they are used as complements for linking verbs (e.g., ‘the wife is devoted ‘). In these instances, a common mistake is to use an adverb in place of an adjective.

While adverbs describe how an action is performed, linking verbs (e.g., ‘be’, ‘seem’, ‘become’, ‘feel’) often refer to a state rather than an act and therefore take an adjective. In the example below, an adjective is needed because ‘feel’ is a linking verb.

• Jesse feels badly when he doesn’t finish his homework.
• Jesse feels bad when he doesn’t finish his homework.

Attributive adjectives and determiners are typically given in a specific order according to their function. This isn’t an order that English speakers learn as a set of rules, but rather one that people pick up intuitively and usually follow without thinking about it:

• Determiner (e.g., a, the, one)
• Opinion (e.g., beautiful, valuable, indecent)
• Size (e.g., big, small, tiny)
• Shape or age (e.g., round, square, hundred-year-old)
• Colour (e.g., white, brown, red)
• Origin (e.g., Dutch, aquatic, lunar)
• Material (e.g., wooden, metal, glass)

There are many types of adjectives in English. Some other important types of adjectives are:

• Appositive adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Participial adjectives
• Proper adjectives
• Denominal adjectives
• Nominal adjectives

An appositive adjective is an adjective (or series of adjectives) that occurs after the noun it modifies. It is typically set off by commas or dashes. It works similarly to an appositive noun .

A compound adjective is an adjective that is formed using two or more words that express a single idea (e.g., in-depth). When a compound adjective occurs before the noun it modifies (attributive), the individual words are typically connected by a hyphen . Frequently, no hyphen is needed when the compound adjective is placed after the noun (predicative).

Mark is well known . Note When a compound adjective is formed using an adverb that ends in ‘-ly’, no hyphen is used regardless of its position.

• A highly-respected public official.
• A highly respected public official.

A participial adjective is an adjective that is identical to the participle form of a verb (typically ending in ‘-ing’, ‘-ed’, or ‘-en’).

A proper adjective is an adjective formed from a proper noun and used to indicate origin. Like proper nouns, proper adjectives are always capitalised.

A denominal adjective is an adjective formed from a noun, often with the addition of a suffix (e.g., ‘-ish’, ‘-ly’, ‘-esque’).

A nominal adjective (also called a substantive adjective ) is an adjective that functions as a noun. Nominal adjectives are typically preceded by the definite article ‘the’.

There are many ways to categorize adjectives into various types. An adjective can fall into one or more of these categories depending on how it is used.

Some of the main types of adjectives are:

• Attributive adjectives
• Predicative adjectives
• Comparative adjectives
• Superlative adjectives

Cardinal numbers (e.g., one, two, three) can be placed before a noun to indicate quantity (e.g., one apple). While these are sometimes referred to as ‘numeral adjectives ‘, they are more accurately categorised as determiners or quantifiers.

A proper adjective is an adjective that was derived from a proper noun and is therefore capitalised .

Proper adjectives include words for nationalities, languages, and ethnicities (e.g., ‘Japanese’, ‘Inuit’, ‘French’) and words derived from people’s names (e.g., ‘Bayesian’, ‘Orwellian’).

Sources for this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Ryan, E. (2023, October 03). What Is an Adjective? | Definition, Types & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 25 March 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/the-parts-of-speech/adjective/

Aarts, B. (2011).  Oxford modern English grammar . Oxford University Press.

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Is this article helpful?

Eoghan Ryan

Other students also liked, how to tell if a noun is countable or uncountable | examples, what is a pronoun | definition, types & examples, what is a proper noun | definition & examples.

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An adjective is a word used to describe, or modify, noun or a pronoun. Adjectives usually answer questions like which one , what kind , or how many :

that hilarious book the red one several heavy books

In English adjectives usually precede nouns or pronouns. However, in sentences with linking verbs, such as the to be verbs or the "sense" verbs, adjectives can follow the verb (for more information on to be or "sense" verbs, see the TIP Sheet "Verbs"):

Dave Barry's books are hilarious ; they seem so random .

One good adjective can be invaluable in producing the image or tone you want. You may also "stack" adjectives--as long as you don't stack them too high. In general, if you think you need more than three adjectives, you may really just need a better noun. For instance, instead of saying the unkempt, dilapidated, dirty little house , consider just saying the hovel . (It's not true that he who uses the most adjectives wins; it's he who uses the most suitable adjectives.)

Descriptive adjectives Descriptive adjectives ( steamy , stormy ) call up images, tones, and feelings. Steamy weather is different from stormy weather . Steamy and stormy conjure different pictures, feelings, and associations.

Many descriptive adjectives come from verbs. The verb had broken , without the helper had , is an adjective: a broken keyboard . Likewise, the -ing verb form, such as is running , used without its helper is , can be an adjective: running shoes . (For more on -ed and -ing forms, see the TIP SheetS "Verbs" and "Consistent Verb Tense.")

Nouns can be used as adjectives, too. For instance, the noun student can be made to modify, or describe, the noun bookstore : the student bookstore . Nouns often combine to produce compound adjectives that modify a noun as a unit, usually joined by hyphens when they precede the noun. When they follow the noun, the hyphens are omitted:

He was an 18-year-old boy, but the girl was only 16 years old .

 Other compound adjectives do not use hyphens in any case. In income tax forms , income tax is a compound adjective that does not require a hyphen. 

Articles The , an , and a , called articles , are adjectives that answer the question which one? The modifies a noun or pronoun by limiting its reference to a particular or known thing, either singular or plural. A expands the reference to a single non-specific or previously unknown thing. An is similar to a , but is used when the word following it begins with a vowel sound:

the books on the table a book from an online store, the one we ordered last week

See the TIP sheet "Articles" for more information.

Demonstrative adjectives Demonstrative adjectives answer the question which one(s)? They are the only adjectives that have both a singular and plural form-- this and that are singular; these and those are plural. Demonstrative adjectives point to particular or previously named things. This and these indicate things nearby (in time or space), while that and those suggest distance (in time or space):

This novel is the worst I've ever read; these biographies are much better. Tell me more about that author; why does she write about those events?

Possessive adjectives Possessive adjectives answer the question whose ? They include my , our , your , his, her , its , and their :

our joke book its well-worn pages

Indefinite adjectives Indefinite adjectives include some , many , any , few , several , and all :

some jokes few listeners

Note that these words can also be used as pronouns: Some were in bad taste ; few could carpool . For more, see the TIP Sheets "Pronouns" and "Pronoun Reference."

Questioning adjectives Which and what are adjectives when they modify nouns or pronouns:

Which joke did you like better, and what reason can you give for your preference?

Like indefinite adjectives, the questioning (or interrogative) adjectives can also function as pronouns; see the TIP Sheets "Pronouns" and "Pronoun Reference."

Adjective order and punctuation Some stacks of adjectives can be rearranged freely without changing the meaning. They are coordinate adjectives , and they are equal and separate in the way they modify a noun. For example, we can freely rearrange a dull , dark , and depressing day : a depressing , dark , dull day . Separate two or more coordinate adjectives with commas (note that no comma goes immediately before the noun).

Other adjective groups cannot be freely rearranged. These cumulative adjectives are not separated by commas. Rich chocolate layer cake cannot be changed to layer chocolate rich cake . For more on identifying and punctuating coordinate and cumulative adjectives, see the TIP Sheet "Commas."

If you were born to English, you may not realize that there are rules for placing adjective groups in order. For example, the determiner ( a , an , the ) comes first, then size words, then color, then purpose:

a large, purple sleeping bag

You can't freely rearrange these adjectives and say, for example, sleeping , purple , a large bag without awkwardness, absurdity, or loss of meaning, The rule is that a stack of adjectives generally occurs in the following order: opinion ( useful , lovely , ugly ), size ( big, small ), age ( young, old ), shape ( square , squiggly ), color ( cobalt , yellow ), origin ( Canadian , solar ), material ( granite , wool ), and purpose ( shopping , running ).

scary, squiggly solar flares lovely, cobalt, Canadian running shoes

Cobalt, running, Canadian, lovely shoes doesn't work. If English is a second language for you, consult an ESL guide for more information.

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Noun as Adjective

As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun:

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun "acts as" an adjective.

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this, it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

• a race horse is a horse that runs in races
• a horse race is a race for horses
• a boat race is a race for boats
• a love story is a story about love
• a war story is a story about war
• a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis
• tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis
• a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers
• a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in the singular form.

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.

A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are unchanged:

• a news reporter, three news reporters
• one billiards table, four billiards tables
• an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions : When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

• clothes shop, clothes shops
• sports club, sports clubs
• customs duty, customs duties
• accounts department, accounts departments
• arms production

How do we write the "noun as adjective"?

We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:

• two separate words (car door)
• two hyphenated words (book-case)
• one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)

How do we say the "noun as adjective"?

For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective" together. Look at these examples:

car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains the team that plays football for England

Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun as adjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns (foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that words evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" are regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list "tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not.

government road accident research centre: we are talking about a centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government

Newspapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look at this example:

To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.

• empty coffee jar
• honest car salesman
• delicious dog food
• rising car production costs
• famous England football team coach

Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Is it a noun or an adjective?

Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President, from Washington to Trump

• By Edwin L. Battistella
• September 3 rd 2023

The distinction between nouns and adjectives seems like it should be straightforward, but it’s not. Grammar is not as simple as your grade-school teacher presented it.

You may have learned about nouns with the description that nouns name a person, place, or thing. That’s a good enough place to start with young kids, but pretty soon someone will realize that “things” is pretty broad. Adjectives are tricky too: they are not just words that describe what nouns stand for; often adjectives clarify nouns by saying how much ( several, twenty, most ) or they may propose a comparison ( more, better, faster ).  

A better approach to thinking about adjectives and nouns is to put semantic definitions aside and identify nouns and adjectives by their shapes—what sorts of endings they take. And they can be identified also by their syntactic behavior, that is by what other words they occur with or they can be substituted for. 

Thinking about nouns and adjectives in this way allows us to work through some puzzles about what is a noun and what is an adjective. Consider a phrase like  a stone wall  or  a steel cabinet .  We know that  wall  and  cabinet  are nouns, but what about  stone  and  steel ? Are they adjectives or nouns?

Actually, they are nouns that modify other nouns. We can be confident of this for several reasons. First, we can’t modify  stone  or  steel  with adverbs like  very  or  completely.  Second, the most likely paraphrases are ones like “a wall made of stone” or “a cabinet made of steel.” And finally, there are contrasting expressions with actual adjectives, like  stony  and  steely:  “a stony demeanor” and “a steely glance.” A silk scarf is made of silk, while a silky scarf has the qualities of silkiness. Comparing  stone  and  steel  and  silk  with  stony, steely,  and  silky  helps to decide the issue.

Another noun-or-adjective puzzle involves expressions like  the rich  or  the poor  (and also  the lucky, the good, the bad, the ugly, the lazy, the industrious, the strong, the weak, the meek, the humble, the mighty,  and more). Are these nouns or adjectives? The presence of  the  would seem to suggest nouns. But that would entail many pairs of homophones, such as  rich  the noun and  rich  the adjective, and so on. A bigger problem is that words like  rich  and  poor  can occur with a preceding adverb (as in “The very rich”). And we can even make superlative forms (like “The best and the brightest” or “The happiest”). The evidence points to adjective here and so the best way to think about such phrases is as having an omitted noun, something like “The rich (people)” or “The poor (people).” 

Finally, there are possessives. Some grammars, like Wilson Follett’s  Modern American Usage , treat possessives as adjectives. Most modern grammars, however, see possessives as nouns or noun phrases. How can we be confident of this? Consider a phrase like “Truman’s temperament.” The word  Truman’s  modifies the noun  temperament , so it has that feature of an adjective. But if we treat it that way, we open the door to a whole host of compound adjectives exactly like nouns:  Harry Truman’s, The 33 rd  president’s, Give-Em-Hell-Harry’s , and so on. What’s more, possessives can be replaced by pronouns ( his temperament ), which is a feature of nouns, not adjectives. And perhaps most important is the contrast between true adjectives and possessives: compare the two sentences “Lincoln’s descendants resemble him,” where the pronoun easily refers back to Lincoln and “Lincolnesque people resemble him.” The latter sounds odd, because there is no noun for  him  to refer back to. But the first sentence is fine because  Lincoln’s  is a noun.

Grammar is less arbitrary than you might think.

Featured image by Rob Hobson via  Unsplash , public domain

Edwin L. Battistella taught linguistics and writing at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, where he served as a dean and as interim provost. His books include Bad Language: Are Some Words Better than Others? ,  Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology ,  and   Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President, from Washington to Trump .

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The French grammatical term for such constructions as “steel cabinet” is “deux substantifs accollés”–“two attached nouns”.

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What is a Noun?

Most of us have been taught that a noun is a word that refers to a person, place, or thing. While this is true, it is helpful to think of thing as a broad category; a thing does not have to be something that you can hold in your hand (a mountain, a place, and a feeling can all be things ). Here are some examples of nouns:

Toni Morrison is my favorite writer. ( Toni Morrison is a noun and a person) I do not want to go to Seattle . ( Seattle is a noun and a place) I will eat that marshmallow . ( Marshmallow is a noun and a thing) Eating the marshmallow gave me happiness . ( Happiness is a noun and a thing).

Nouns can also refer to an animal ( moose ), a quality ( softness ), an idea ( zero ), or an action (as in “her singing was beautiful”). Nouns can name someone or something generally ( dog, seashore, friend ) or specifically ( Great Pyrenees, Cape Cod, Sally ). And although most nouns consist of a single word, some do not: school bus, Italian dressing, and chuck-will’s-widow are all nouns.

Nouns can be singular ('one sandwich ') or plural ('two sandwiches '), although some nouns take the same form regardless ('one sheep ,' 'two sheep '). Nouns can also refer to concepts ( information ) that cannot be counted and singular entities ( Neptune ) that cannot be pluralized.

Sentences can have one noun (“ Theo ran quickly.”) or more than one (“ Theo ran quickly across the field .”) but some sentences don’t have any (“Run, quickly!”).

Other parts of speech: What is an adjective? What is an adverb? What is a preposition? What is a verb?

Other articles you may be interested in: Adjectives that look like nouns Nouns that look like adjectives

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Prepositions, ending a sentence with, hypercorrections: are you making these 6 common mistakes, a comprehensive guide to forming compounds, can ‘criteria’ ever be singular, singular nonbinary ‘they’: is it ‘they are’ or ‘they is’, grammar & usage, 7 pairs of commonly confused words, did we change the definition of 'literally', more commonly mispronounced words, the tangled history of 'it's' and 'its', more commonly misspelled words, 10 bird names that sound like insults (and sometimes are), eavesdrop, fiasco, and 8 more words with surprising origins, 'when pigs fly' and other barnyard idioms, the words of the week - mar. 22, 12 words for signs of spring.

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Meaning of adjective in English

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• In the sentence 'She is happy ', ' happy ' is a predicative adjective.
• Complete the sentence with one of the adjectives provided .
• You can change the adjective ' sweet ' into a noun by adding the suffix '-ness' to the end of the word.
• In 'a sudden movement ', ' sudden ' is an adjective in the attributive position .
• I don't think I'd call it a beautiful picture - ' interesting ' might be a better adjective to use!
• abstract noun
• adjectivally
• common noun
• concrete noun
• conjunction
• countable noun
• part of speech
• relative pronoun

Related words

Adjective | intermediate english, examples of adjective, translations of adjective.

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Word of the Day

a medical student or doctor

Sitting on the fence (Newspaper idioms)

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• Adjective or Adverb

Adjectives   and   adverbs   are modifying words.

Incorrect:    She   did good   on her exam.

In the sentence above, the verb   did   is modified by an adjective   good , when it should be modified by an adverb   well .

Correcting Adjective or Adverb Problems

Correct:    She   did well   on her exam.

Many adverbs are formed by adding a suffix   -ly   at the end of an adjective:

Change   close   to   closely

Change   patient   to   patiently

Some adverbs and adjectives are, however, identical in form:

An   adjective   is a part of speech that modifies a noun or pronoun.

Adjectives usually tell   what kind ,   how many , or   which   about nouns or pronouns.

An   adverb   is a part of speech that modifies a another adverb, a verb, or an adjective. It is often recognized by the suffix   -ly   at the end of it.

Adverbs usually describe an action in terms of   how ,   when ,   where , and   to what extent   it occurred.

To avoid an error, identify what word the adverb or adjective in question modifies. If the word modified is a noun or a pronoun, use an adjective. If the word modified is a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, use an adverb to modify it.

Sometimes an adverb is confused with an adjective similar in meaning.

Bad or Badly

Bad   is an adjective used with linking verbs such as   feel, seem, be, look,   etc.

Incorrect:    I   feel badly   that he is not taking part in the game.

Correct:    I   feel bad   that he is not taking part in the game.

Badly   is an adverb used to modify action verbs.

Incorrect:    Sometimes Hollywood romance   ends bad .

Correct:    Sometimes Hollywood romance   ends badly .

Calm or Calmly

Calm   is an adjective, and it is used to modify nouns and pronouns. It is also used with linking verbs.

Incorrect:    She appeared   calmly   after the accident.

Correct:    She appeared   calm   after the accident.

Calmly   is an adverb that modifies verbs.

Incorrect:    She tried to be brave and take the bad news   calm .

Correct:    She tried to be brave and take the bad news   calmly .

Easy or Easily

Easy   is an adjective used to modify nouns and pronouns. It is also used with linking verbs.

Incorrect:    The assignment looked   easily .

Correct:    The assignment looked   easy .

Easily   is an adverb, and it is used to modify verbs.

Incorrect:    The players were moving   easy   around the field.

Correct:    The players were moving   easily   around the field.

Good or Well

Good   is an adjective. It is also often used with linking verbs.

Incorrect:    It   felt well   to score an A on the final.

Correct:    It   felt good   to score an A on the final.

Well,   when used as an adjective, implies "in good health." When used as an adverb,   well   means "expertly."

Correct:    My grandmother   looks well   even now in her eighties.

Incorrect:    My friend plays the piano   good .

Correct:    My friend plays the piano   well . (expertly)

Real or Really

Really   is an adverb, and it modifies other adverbs, verbs, or adjectives. It has a meaning of "very."

Incorrect:    Students did   real well   on the midterm.

Correct:    Students did   really well   on the midterm.

Real   is an adjective, and can be used to modify nouns or noun phrases. It has a meaning of "true or genuine."

Incorrect:    Students took a   really midterm   last week.

Correct:    Students took a   real midterm   last week.

Slow or Slowly

Slow   can be used as an adjective and as an adverb. In the first example,   slow   is an adverb and in the second one, it is an adjective.

Correct:    The traffic is moving   slow . This is a   slow   dance.

Slowly   is only an adverb. It can replace   slow   anywhere it is used as an adverb.   Slowly   also appears in sentences with auxiliary verbs where   slow   cannot be used.

Incorrect:    He has been   slow   recovering from his knee injury.

Correct:    He has been   slowly   recovering from his knee injury.

Adverb Placement in Sentences

Sometimes, the use of a certain adverb requires the inversion of the subject and the verb. If a sentence begins with a negative adverb or an adverb with restrictive meaning, it must have an inverted word order.

Correct:    Never before have I encountered   such persistence in a student.

Correct:    Seldom do we come across   such talent.

Some other adverbs with restrictive meaning that require inversion of the verb and subject are:

• hardly ever
• hardly... when
• in no circumstances
• neither/nor
• no sooner... than
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