The adjective is a word that modifies a noun, giving it a quality or classification, and it can vary in gender, number and degree.
Check out a series of activities on adjectives below and consolidate your knowledge with the commented feedback.
question 1
(UPENET - IAUPE/ 2019)
Check the alternative in which the highlighted segment plays the role of an adjective.
The) "Sir future Minister of Health, we want to deal with a reason to be proud (...)”.
b) “Thanks to efforts of citizens and governments of various parties (...).”
c) “(...) in the face of an epidemic that is approaching a million of cases (...)”.
d) "The negative way (...) in which many still react to those who have HIV (...)”.
e) "While vaccine and cure are still off the horizon, Brazil follows (...)”.
Correct alternative: d) "The negative way (...) in which many still react to those who have HIV (...)”.
The adjective has the function to attribute quality or classification.
“have HIV” is classifying a certain group of people, giving them a classification: that of being HIV positive.
question 2
(UFPR/2013)
In which case does the first element of the compound adjective not match the noun in parentheses?
a) Indo-European (India)
b) Italian-Brazilian (Italy)
c) Luso-Brazilian (Portugal)
d) Sino-Arabic (Zion)
e) Anglo-American (England)
Correct alternative: d) Sino-Arabic (Zion)
a) WRONG. “indo” is an element of compound word formation whose meaning is related to India or Indians. As such, it is related to the noun “India” in parentheses.
b) WRONG. “Italo” is the same as “Italian”. Therefore, it corresponds to the word “Italy”, in parentheses.
c) WRONG. “Luso” is the same as “lusitano”, which means “Portuguese”; individual of Portuguese birth. Thus, it corresponds to the word “Portugal”, in parentheses.
d) CORRECT. “bell” is not an element in the formation of compound words, it is a word that has different meanings, including that of an instrument that produces sound.
The word “Zion” refers to Mount Zion. The gentile adjective of someone born on Monte Sião is Monte-Sionense.
Therefore, “bell” does not correspond to the noun in parentheses.
e) WRONG. “anglo” means “English individual”. Therefore, it corresponds to the noun “England”, in parentheses.
See too: homeland adjectives
question 3
(FAU/2016)
"I will never forget that night..."
The Night, by Elie Wiesel, is one of the most popular accounts of Nazi barbarism
HELIO GUROVITZ
07/10/2016 - 10:00 am - Updated 07/10/2016 10:00 am
Given the limits of language to deal with horror, several writers who survived Nazism chose suicide. Poet Paul Célan launched himself on the Seine River. Psychologist Bruno Bettelheim suffocated himself with a plastic bag. Writer Primo Levi died when he fell – not by accident, according to police – from the steps of his building in Turin. Elie Wiesel no. He died of natural causes at age 87 last week. But he was not indifferent to the torment. Consumed by the guilt of not having saved his father in the Buchenwald camp, he was silent for years. It was the French writer François Mauriac who convinced him to write. "That look, as of a Lazarus raised from the dead, but still imprisoned in the dark confines by where he had wandered, stumbling among the corpses of shame”, wrote Mauriac of his first encounter with Wiesel. "And I, who believe that God is love, what answer could I give the young questioner, whose dark eyes still bore the reflection of that angelic sadness (…)?” After his conversation with Mauriac, Wiesel compulsively wrote something like 800 pages in Yiddish, his mother tongue and that of most Jews. exterminated. The resulting book, Un di velt hot geshvign (And the world was silent), did not come out in its entirety. A fraction of its original size, it was published in French in 1958 under the title La nuit (The night).
The night, by Elie Wiesel is the book of the week
Among the nearly 60 works that Wiesel produced, A Noite is the best known. It became one of the most popular accounts of Nazi barbarism, alongside the Diary of Anne Frank and Primo Levi's Is This a Man? It was not successful at launch, not even after it was translated into English in 1960. It conquered the public in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2006, he returned to the bestseller list, chosen by Oprah Winfrey's book club. The night was written with a high load of feeling – but it's not sentimental. Much less corny. He doesn't have a religious or vengeful eye. It is just a testimony and, for that very reason, more forceful. It narrates Wiesel's encounter, at age 15, with evil in its most absolute form. From the moment his family is uprooted from their home until the moment he is freed from Buchenwald, he finally looks in the mirror for the first time in months. “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse looked back at me,” he says. "The look in your eyes as you looked into mine never left me."
Of the four children of the Wiesel family, Eliezer was the only boy. In the Jewish village of Sighet, he spends his time between rabbinical studies and conversations with the synagogue caretaker, who gives him access to the study of Kabbalah, then prohibited to anyone under the age of 30. The janitor disappears, taken by the Nazis. Miraculously, he escapes from the fields and returns to the village, where he reports the extermination. Nobody believes him. They think he's crazy. Shortly thereafter, the Germans segregate the Jews into two ghettos. The Wiesel family then boards the train of death. Upon arriving at the Auschwitz Birkenau complex in occupied Poland, the mother and 7-year-old sister are separated. The two go straight to the gas chambers (another two sisters would save themselves). Father and son escape, in the selection led by criminal Josef Mengele. They are sent to the Buna labor camp, where they survive a routine of hunger, torture, disease and slavery. As Soviet troops approached, they were taken away on a forced march of hundreds of kilometers. Most die of exhaustion. Upon arrival in Buchenwald, Wiesel's father is sick, near death. The son does everything to try to help him. Also exhausted, he ends up dropping it. On the fateful night, January 29, 1945, Shlomo Wiesel is taken to the crematorium.
Ten years would pass before Elie understood the only thing that could give meaning to her life afterward: bearing testimony; keep the memory alive. Silence and indifference to evil, he said, are a greater sin. His voice has since become “the conscience of humanity” and has been heard everywhere where the same crimes were being committed again – from Bosnia to Cambodia, from Rwanda to Darfur. It was the same voice of that boy who, in the face of absolute evil, knew how to find the most beautiful and poignant words: “Never I'll forget that night, the first night in the country, that turned my life into a long night, seven damn times and seven times sealed. I will never forget that smoke. I will never forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke under a silent blue sky. I will never forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. I will never forget the nocturnal silence that stripped me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. I'll never forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. I will never forget this, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never".
Adapted: http://epoca.globo.com/colunas-e-blogs/heliogurovitz/noticia/2016/07/nunca-esquecerei-aquela-noite.html, accessed on July 10, 2016.
Check the correct alternative regarding the classification of the underlined words, in the order they appear in the sentence:
"He died in natural causes to 87 years, in the week last. But no he was indifferent to the torment”.
a) article, numeral, adjective, adverb.
b) preposition, numeral, noun, adverb.
c) conjunction, numeral, adjective, preposition.
d) preposition, numeral, adjective, conjunction.
e) preposition, numeral, adjective, adverb.
Correct alternative: e) preposition, numeral, adjective, adverb.
Read the explanations below and understand the function of each of the highlighted words:
- in: one of the uses of the preposition “of” is to indicate the cause or motive of something. In the sentence, it was used to indicate the reason for death: natural causes;
- 87: the numeral is the class of words used to represent an exact amount of units;
- last: this word has the function of an adjective in the sentence, as it attributes a characteristic to the noun “week”;
- no: adverb of negation.
See too: Adjectives
question 4
(ITA/2003)
During a World Cup, the news that a English bettor got the result of a match right because he followed his donkey's predictions. pet. One of the commentators then made the following observation: "I've seen a lot of a dumb commentator, but a dumb commentator is the first time."
It is noticed that the grammatical class of words changes depending on the order they assume in the expression. Check the alternative where this does not occur:
a) great work
b) young student
c) Brazilian worker
d) old chinese
e) religious fanatic
Correct alternative: a) grandiose work
a) CORRECT. Both in "great work" and "great work" the grammatical class of words is the same. “work” has the function of a noun and “great” has the function of an adjective, which attributes quality to the work, characterizing it as something magnificent, splendid.
b) WRONG. In “young student”, “young” has the function of a noun and “student” has the function of an adjective. That is, the word “student” is characterizing the word youth; it is a young man who is a student.
When we change the order of the words, the part of speech also changes. In “young student”, “student” becomes the noun and “young” becomes the adjective that characterizes it. Therefore, it is a student who is young.
c) WRONG. In “Brazilian worker”, “Brazilian” has the function of a noun, and “worker” has the function of an adjective; it is a Brazilian whose characteristic is to be a worker. In “Brazilian worker”, “worker” is the noun and “Brazilian” is the adjective. In this case, we have a worker whose characteristic is to be Brazilian.
d) WRONG. Following “old Chinese”, “old” is a noun whose characteristic is attributed by the adjective “Chinese”. Thus, reference is made to an elderly person whose characteristic is that of being Chinese.
In “old Chinese”, the word “Chinese” assumes the function of a noun and is characterized by the adjective “old”; that is, it is a Chinese who is very old; is elderly; it's old.
e) WRONG. In “religious fanatic”, the word “fanatic” has the function of a noun and is characterized by the adjective “religious”. Thus, he is a fanatic whose interest is related to religion.
In the altered order “religious fanatic”, “religious” assumes the function of noun and “fanatic” assumes the function of adjective. Therefore, it is a religious person whose characteristic is to be fanatical.
question 5
(CESGRANRIO)
Check the clause in which the term blind(s) is an adjective:
a) The blind, inhabitants of a schematic world, know where to go…
b) The blind man from Ipanema represented at that moment all the allegories of the dark night of the soul…
c) All the calculations of the blind man were dissolved in the turbulence of alcohol.
d) At that moment he was just a poor blind man.
e) …of the Earth which is a blind globe spinning in chaos.
Correct alternative: e) … from Earth which is a blind globe spinning in chaos.
Alternative e) is the only one where the grammatical class of the word “blind” is an adjective.
In the sentence, “blind” is attributing a characteristic to the noun “globe”.
Remember that an adjective attributes quality or rank to a noun.
In all other alternatives, the term “blind (s)” has a noun function, as it refers to one or more beings.
question 6
Match and correctly classify the types of adjectives:
1. simple adjective
2. primitive adjective
3. Derived Adjective
4. compound adjective
5. homeland adjective
( ) dark green
( ) italian
( ) beautiful
( ) foolish
( ) false
Right answer:
(4) dark green
(5) italian
(1) beautiful
(3) foolish
(2) false
- Dark green it is a compound adjective, as it has more than one root/one word. Compound adjectives are formed by two or more elements, usually separated by a hyphen.
- Italian it is an adjective patriotic, as it designates a being according to its place of birth or residence; is the adjective fatherland that corresponds to Italy.
- beautiful is a simple adjective as it is represented by only one root/one word.
- foolish it is a derived adjective as it is formed through the derivation process. A word formed by derivation originates from a primitive word, to which prefixes and/or suffixes can be added. Nonsensical is based on the word “sensato”, to which the prefix -in has been added.
- False it is a primitive adjective, as it consists of only one term, has no prefixes or suffixes, and can give rise to other words. Examples: falsehood, counterfeit.
See too: simple adjective and compound adjective
question 7
Tick the alternative where all adjectives are biform:
a) handsome - gentle - complete;
b) cool - elegant - late
c) beautiful - smart - new;
d) ugly - tired - wonderful;
e) happy - dear - smart;
Correct alternative: d) ugly - tired - wonderful;
a) WRONG. The word “gentle” is an adjective of two genders, that is, a uniform adjective: the same word is used for the masculine and the feminine. We say "she is kind" and "he is kind". Therefore, “gentle” is not a biform adjective. The adjectives “beautiful” and “complete” are biform as they can be inflected: beautiful/beautiful; complete/complete.
b) WRONG. Of the options presented in alternative b), only the word “backward” is a biform adjective, as it has a form for the male gender (delayed) and another for the female gender (delayed). The adjectives “cool” and “elegant” have a unique form that is used with both the female and the male gender; are uniform adjectives.
c) WRONG. The adjectives “beautiful” and “new” are biform as they vary in gender (beautiful/beautiful; new/new). However, the adjective “smart” is not biform as it is used with both masculine and feminine nouns. As such, it is a uniform adjective.
d) CORRECT. All adjectives in this alternative vary according to the gender of the noun they refer to: ugly/ugly; tired/tired; wonderful/wonderful. Therefore, they are all biform adjectives.
e) WRONG. The adjectives “darling” and “smart” are biform, as they vary according to gender: darling/darling; I wait/smartly. However, the adjective “happy” is an adjective of two genders, that is, a uniform adjective. It is not inflected according to the gender of the noun it refers to. The word “happy” is used with both masculine and feminine nouns.
See too: biform adjectives and uniform adjectives.
question 8
Read the sentence below and choose the alternative where the plural inflection is correct.
I have a water green blouse
a) I have some aqua blouses
b) I have some aqua green blouses
c) I have some water-green blouses
d) I have some water-green blouses
Correct alternative: d) I have some water-green blouses
The word aqua-green is a two-number adjective, meaning the same word is used for the singular and also for the plural.
This is because one of the elements is derived from a noun (water).
If the word in question were, for example, light green, the plural of the sentence would be “I have some light green blouses”.
When the two elements of a compound word are adjectives (such as “green” and “clear”), only the second is inflected to the plural.
See too: Adjective inflection
question 9
Note the underlined words in the sentences below and choose the alternative where the classification of highlighted adjectives is correct.
- Due to the blow, my arm got purplish.
- Even after being cured, he felt weak.
- This dress was beautiful in you.
a) primitive - derivative - simple;
b) derivative - primitive - simple;
c) derivative - derivative - simple;
d) compound - primitive - simple.
Correct alternative: b) derivative - primitive - simple;
- purplish: is a derivative adjective, as it derives from the word purple;
- weak: is a primitive adjective, as it consists of only one term, has no prefixes or suffixes, and can give rise to other words. Examples: weakness, weak;
- beautiful: is a simple adjective, as it consists of only one root/one word.
See too:Primitive Adjectives and Derivatives
question 10
Identify the degree of adjectives in the sentences below:
- Regina is as smart as Maria.
- This matter is very difficult.
- We arrived from school very tired.
a) comparative of equality - synthetic absolute superlative - analytical absolute superlative
b) comparative equality - relative superlative of superiority - synthetic absolute superlative
c) comparison of equality - analytical absolute superlative - synthetic absolute superlative
d) comparative equality - relative inferiority superlative - absolute analytical superlative
Correct alternative: c) equality comparative - analytic absolute superlative - synthetic absolute superlative
- Regina is as smart as Maria.
The phrase establishes an equal relationship between Regina's intelligence and Maria's intelligence. Hence, we have a case of comparative degree of equality.
- This matter is very difficult.
- We arrived from school very tired.
The sentences refer to only one noun, that is, they do not establish a relationship between several things or people. This characterizes a absolute superlative degree, where the quality of the noun is enhanced without it being necessary to establish a relationship with other nouns.
The absolute superlative degree is further subdivided into two types: analytical and synthetic.
in degree analytic absolute superlative, words indicating intensity are used to highlight the quality of the noun. This is what happens in the phrase “This matter is very difficult.”, where the adverb “very” was used.
in degree synthetic absolute superlative, such intensity is expressed through the addition of suffixes such as -ílimo (a); -very (a); -climus (a), etc. This is what happens in the phrase “We arrived from school tired.”, where the suffix -íssimos was added to the word “tired”.
O relative superlative enhances the quality of a being by establishing a relationship with a set of other beings. It is subdivided into two types:
- Relative superlative of superiority. Example: Carla is the funniest of the group.
- Relative superlative of inferiority. Example: Carla is the least fun of the group.
None of the three sentences in the exercise exemplifies the relative superlative.
See too: Adjective degree and superlative degree
question 11
About adjectives, it is correct to say:
a) In a sentence, it is always placed before the noun.
b) Modifies nouns, adverbs and verbs, giving them a circumstance.
c) It is invariable.
d) Modifies the noun, giving it a characteristic or quality.
Correct alternative: d) Modifies the noun, giving it a characteristic or quality.
a) WRONG. The adjective can be placed before or after the noun. Example: great work; great work. In both ordinations the adjective “grandiosa” is characterizing the noun “work”.
b) WRONG. The adjective just modifies nouns.
c) WRONG. The adjective is variable. It can vary in gender (male and female), number (singular and plural), and degree (comparative and superlative).
d) CORRECT. The adjective is a word that qualifies or classifies the noun it refers to.
See too: adjective phrase
