Adjectives
Adjectives are generally invariable in English and do not agree with nouns in number and gender; nor do they take case endings:
- a blue car
- the great outdoors
- a group of young women
However, a few adjectives have a connotation which is slightly masculine or feminine. Thus, one says that a woman is beautiful while a man would be called handsome.
Adjectives indicating religion or nationality (or a region, state or province) generally begin with a capital letter, whether they refer to people or objects:
- She is an American student.
- They go to a Catholic school.
- They enjoy Breton music.
In a noun cluster an adjective will be placed, with very few exceptions, in front of the noun it modifies. When two adjectives precede a noun, they can be connected by a comma (,) or by the conjunction”and.” In a series of three or more adjectives, one usually uses “and” before the last adjective in the list.
Examples:
- I like short novels.
- That fellow will be a competent worker.
- She writes long and flowery letters.
- He works long, hard hours.
- She had a mean, old and overbearing step-mother.
An adjective may follow the noun when it is in a predicate (after the verb) or in a relative clause. (In relative clauses the relative pronoun may be implicit.)
Examples:
- He was a man (who was) always happy to help others.
- She is a woman (who is) true to herself.
- They were entirely satisfied.