Adjective Phrase: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what an adjective phrase is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on adjective phrases, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is an adjective phrase?

According to Your Dictionary, adjective phrases, also known as adjectival phrases or adjective clauses, are a group of words that describe a noun or pronoun in a sentence. In English grammar, grammarians use the term adjective phrase when it is not a single word being used as a descriptor. While there is some ambiguity to be had with where an adjective phrase starts and ends, there are different types of adjective phrase including an attributive adjective phrase and a predicative adjective phrase. 

What are examples of adjective phrases?

An adjective phrase can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are many examples of adjective phrases from Your Dictionary that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  The following example sentences all use a string of adjectives.

  •  A dog covered in sticky and disgusting mud makes a mess in a car.
  •  Beaming with joy, her face lit up the room.
  •  The very small puppy carried the big stick.
  •  That apple pie smells very tempting.
  •  Yesterday Sam went to the delicious and swanky restaurant in India.
  •  The classroom in London was full of examples of syntax and linguistics upon a closer look.
  •  The boy in the red shirt ate a cookie. 
  •  The movie was not too terrible.
  •  The new outfit was very pricey but really beautiful.
  •  Young, otherwise healthy people are most likely to recover quickly.
  •  This pie is very delicious and extremely expensive.
  •  Jorge was merely anxious to get on his way.
  •  That movie is absolutely unbelievably bad.
  •  The highly emotive actor gave a wonderful performance.
  •  The valedictorian was far too serious about her GPA.
  •  The dancing was exquisitely graceful.
  •  Faster than a speeding bullet, Superman saved the day.
  •  Weathered, muscular cowboys are featured in most western movies.
  •  She is rather fond of skiing.
  •  She is the chief pediatric surgeon at the institute.
  •  By the end of the date, I was fairly bored with him.
  •  Frustrated, overworked and underpaid employees picketed for hours.
  •  The candy was dark chocolate brown.
  •  Students upset about the rising cost of tuition staged a rally.
  •  The cost of the car was quite affordable.
  •  I love the taste of a sweet juicy peach.
  •  Mom said the cost of a car is way too high.
  •  Everyone was extremely delighted when the winner was announced.
  •  A person smarter than me needs to figure this out.
  •  The boys were annoyed about the excessively long lines.
  •  Dining out is usually not very healthy.
  •  The animal cowering in the corner was rescued and given a good home.
  •  The extremely tired kitten fell asleep by her food dish.
  •  She was proud of her son’s incredible, groundbreaking experiment that won the science fair.
  •  That complex has quite small but cheap apartments.
  •  That old food tastes awfully bad.
  •  I really wanted to paint the living room a deep eggplant shade of purple.
  •  Grass-fed organic beef is the best choice.
  •  A tapestry beautifully stitched by hand is worth the cost.
  •  The final exams were unbelievably difficult.
  •  The exhausted and overworked man took a well-deserved break.
  •  The overly enthusiastic fans painted their bodies with the team’s colors.
  •  The music from next door was annoyingly loud.
  •  I am very much enamored with him.
  •  Her eyes were incredibly mesmerizing to the young man.
  •  My remarkable and talented brother won a scholarship.

What are other literary techniques and devices?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  •  demonstrative
  •  main verb
  •  abstract
  •  phrase (phr.)
  •  finite
  •  head
  •  suffix
  •  instrumental
  •  collocation | collocate
  •  genitive
  •  anaphoric
  •  ellipsis | elliptical
  •  appositive
  •  protasis
  •  interjection
  •  base form
  •  definite article
  •  filler
  •  tense
  •  combination
  •  compound | compounding
  •  main clause
  •  direct speech
  •  transitive
  •  predicative
  •  progressive
  •  inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •  interrogative
  •  direct question
  •  indirect question
  •  similative
  •  adverb (adv.)
  •  determiner
  •  pleonasm | pleonastic
  •  collective noun
  •  objective
  •  subject
  •  auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •  verb (v.)
  •  agent noun
  •  positive
  •  complement
  •  to-infinitive
  •  indirect speech
  •  noun phrase
  •  mood
  •  singular
  •  optative
  •  feminine
  •  pro-form
  •  parasynthetic
  •  adjective
  •  part of speech
  •  noun (n.)
  •  nominative
  •  subordinate clause
  •  proper noun | proper name
  •  indirect passive
  •  non-finite
  •  comparative
  •  prepositional phrase
  •  premodify | premodifier
  •  superlative
  •  past tense
  •  indefinite
  •  possessive pronoun
  •  element
  •  second person
  •  modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
  •  subjunctive
  •  passive
  •  cognate object
  •  agree | agreement
  •  construction
  •  count noun
  •  conjunction (conj.)
  •  double object
  •  unmarked genitive
  •  causative
  •  plural
  •  apodosis and protasis
  •  morpheme
  •  attributive
  •  that-clause
  •  accusative
  •  infinitive
  •  pronoun (pron.)
  •  prepositional object
  •  first person
  •  passive infinitive
  •  declarative
  •  neuter
  •  present tense
  •  active
  •  combining form (comb. form)
  •  non-referential
  •  relative
  •  case
  •  intransitive
  •  anticipatory
  •  personal pronoun
  •  past participle
  •  adverbial | adverbially
  •  phrasal verb
  •  locative
  •  intensifier
  •  conditional
  •  stem
  •  imperative (imper.)
  •  apposition
  •  participial adjective
  •  zero
  •  clause
  •  third-person
  •  gerund
  •  dual
  •  object | direct object | indirect object
  •  indirect object
  •  postmodify | postmodifier
  •  article
  •  antecedent
  •  vocative
  •  indicative
  •  modify | modifier
  •  masculine
  •  gender
  •  participle | past participle | present participle
  •  parenthetical | parenthetically
  •  subjective
  •  mass noun
  •  quasi-
  •  absolute (absol.)
  •  sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
  •  special use
  •  reflexive
  •  possessive
  •  concrete
  •  preposition (prep.)
  •  simple
  •  direct object
  •  complementary
  •  present participle
  •  perfect
  •  copular verb | copula
  •  nominal relative | nominal relative clause
  •  construed (const., constr.)
  •  dependent clause
  •  impersonal (impers.)
  •  verbal noun
  •  number
  •  person
  •  bare infinitive
  •  prefix
  •  dative
  •  periphrasis | periphrastic
  •  possessive adjective
  •  common noun
  •  prepositional passive
  •  cataphoric

Overall, an adjective phrase is a group of words that describe a noun.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED 
  2. Adjective Phrase Examples | Your Dictionary