The dictionary is the bible of English teachers and the eight parts of speech are like the ten commandments. In order not to be confused, an English teacher must be able to master these parts of speech for they constitute all sentences made and they are the foundation for a deeper understanding of syntax and semantics.
One of the things that aren't too easy to master is adjectives. We use adjectives everyday and adjectives are the only rescue we have to lengthen a struggling 500-word essay or to beautify a simple prayer with.
ADJECTIVES are words that limit, specify, modify and describe nouns. It could also be said that adjectives answer the questions: 1. What kind of? 2. In what number? 3. How many? 4. Which one? Observe the following examples.
The Math teacher lead the singing of the national anthem this morning.The first man in the moon was Neil Armstrong.Four great novels were written by Mark Twain.The elder wand was taken by Voldemort.
Adjectives are very easily determined in these examples but this time, we are going to focus on LIMITING ADJECTIVES. There are two major types of adjectives -- limiting and descriptive.
LIMITING ADJECTIVES are adjectives that limit, specify or lessen the expectation from the noun being talked about. LIMITING ADJECTIVES are also called determiners. Under LIMITING ADJECTIVES we have the following:
1. ARTICLES -- A, AN & THE
Now, we all now how to A and AN distinctively. We all know that we use A to precede words with initial consonant sounds and AN to precede word with initial vowel sounds. A and AN are also called indefinite articles since they do not make definite or specify as something already known the noun spoken about unlike THE which is a definite article. Observe the sentences below.
A car was hit.The car was hit.
In the first sentence, we don't know which car we are talking about. We don't know if it is a car we know or someone else's car. While, in the second sentence, we are sure that the car we are talking about is that which was already mentioned or which is already known to both the interlocutors.
Little do we know that the definite article, THE, has a special power of specifying the context of the sentence. Observe the sentences below.
She went to jail.She went to the jail.
The first sentence would mean that the subject has done an offense and must be detained, confined or incarcerated while the second sentence, because of the definite article, THE, only means that she went there to visit.
2. NUMBER ADJECTIVE -- CARDINAL & ORDINAL
CARDINAL adjectives tell about how many the nouns are while ORDINAL adjectives talks about the order of number the nouns are. See the examples below.
They are the twelve apostles. -- cardinal
The first pope is Jesus. -- ordinal
* Limiting adjectives or determiners are only limited to three.
The first four men came and died.
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