Adjective Describes Pronoun: 7 Facts (Read This First!)

Pronouns are nothing but the mere replacement of monotonous nouns in a sentence. Let us see how both nouns and pronouns need adjectives for their description.

For an adjective, the roles of nouns and pronouns are the same. Thus, an adjective does the same type of description for both, but the noun and pronoun must be common in respect of person and gender.

Example: Sandip always helps others. How nice he is!

Explanation:

The adjective “nice” is in use to refer to the pronoun “he.” Here, the third-person singular pronoun “he” refers to the proper noun “Sandip.”

Now, let us learn how adjectives describe various types of pronouns.

How does adjectivean describes a pronoun?

We use pronouns according to the gender and the number of the respective noun that is going to be replaced. Let us check how pronouns work.

Adjectives describe both nouns and pronouns in the same way. The ways in which an adjective describes pronouns are listed below.

1. “Descriptive Adjectives” describe the general characteristics of pronouns.
2. “Numerical Adjectives” describe the numerical characteristics of pronouns.
3. “Quantitative Adjectives” describe quantities of pronouns.
4. “Demonstrative Adjectives” demonstrate or indicate pronouns.
5. “Distributive Adjectives” refer to each member of a group.
6. Answers to “Interrogative Adjectives” are always nouns or pronouns.
7. “Possessive Adjectives” show possession of pronouns over any living or non-living things.
8. Exclamation adjectives do exclamation over either a noun or a pronoun.

Example: Sandip can solve any math problem in a minute. What a genius he is!

Explanation:

Here we can see an “adjective phrase” that includes three types of adjectives.

• First, an exclamatory adjective, “What”
• Second, the article “a”
• Third, the descriptive adjective “genius”

All three adjectives are in use to refer to the pronoun “he.” Here, the third-person singular pronoun “he” refers to the proper noun “Sandip.”

Why does adjective describes a pronoun?

An adjective describes a pronoun because there is no difference between a noun and a pronoun for an adjective. Let us see the reasons why adjectives describe pronouns.

An adjective describes a singular noun in the same way it does the pronoun of the respective noun because both of them share the same general characteristics, shape, size, material, etc.

Example: I like the flowers in your garden because they are colorful and vibrant.

Explanation:

Two adjectives, “colorful” and “vibrant,” are in use to describe the general characteristics of the pronoun “they.” Here, the third person plural pronoun ‘they’ refers to the noun “flowers,” which are also in the plural number.

When does adjective modifies a pronoun?

Adjectives mainly describe the subject or object of a sentence. Let us check the situations in which an adjective modifies a pronoun.

A pronoun can play the role of both the subject and object of a sentence. Adjectives are required to describe pronouns in the below-listed situations.

1. To show the characteristics of the pronoun
2. To show the shape of the pronoun
3. To show the size of the pronoun
4. To show the material of the pronoun
5. To show the number of the pronoun
6. To show the color of the pronoun
7. To show the quantity of the pronoun

Example: You will be able to gain the correct position in your office as you are not only diligent but also honest.

Explanation:

Two adjectives, “diligent” and “honest” are in use to describe the pronoun “you” which is a 2^nd person’s singular number.

Examples of adjectives describing pronouns –

Now, we will go through seven examples of sentences where adjectives are describing pronouns of a sentence.

Can adjective phrase describe pronouns?

An “adjective phrase” is a word group that consists of more than one word, and this word group serves the same purpose as an adjective does in a sentence. Let us see how.

An “adjective phrase” certainly describes pronouns in the same way an adjective describes a noun or noun equivalent, because, like a noun, a pronoun can also play the role of a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, etc.

Example: I am very fond of you because you are a very generous person.

Explanation:

The word group “very generous” can certainly be termed an “adjective phrase” as both of these words describe the pronoun “you,” which is a 2^nd person singular number.

Can pronouns be acted as adjectives?

“Pronouns” and “Adjectives” are completely different parts of speech because they serve two different purposes.

Sometimes we confuse “possessive pronouns” with “possessive adjectives,” but the formation and uses of both of them are totally different. Only the word “his” is common in both possessive pronoun and possessive adjective.

Examples of Possessive Pronouns – mine, yours, his, hers, etc.

Examples of Possessive Adjectives – my, your, his, her, etc.

Example 1: Please give the book “Around the World in Eighty Nine Days” to Pijush as it is his.

Example 2: Please give the book “Around the World in Eighty Nine Days” because it is his book.

Explanation:

In the first example, the word “his” is in use as a “possessive pronoun,” while the same word is in use as a “possessive adjective” in the second example. The same word “his” plays the role of two different parts of speech in two different sentences. Thus, we can say that a pronoun can not be an adjective but the same word can play the role of both “possessive adjective” and “possessive pronoun”.

Conclusion –

We must make a note that an adjective remains in the same form while describing either a noun or a pronoun.