What are the adjectives (other than the article “the,” which appears five times) appearing in this passage?

Question

Hunger and the savory smell of the Preobrazhensky dinner roused him from these reflections; he had to get something to eat before leaving…Suddenly, on one of the officers saying that it was mortifying to look at the French, Rostov commenced shouting with unwarranted fervor, to the great surprise of his companions.

Answer 1

Hello, Dale,

Thank you for your question! Here is my answer:

An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It answers the question, "What kind of (noun)?" A noun is a name of a person, animal, place or thing. It answers the question, "What/Which (person, animal, place, or thing)?" A noun can also be a feeling or an emotion, an abstract noun. "Abstract" means something you cannot see, feel or touch. It means "not tangible." "Concrete" is "tangible" and is the opposite of "abstract" -- although we don't say "concrete noun."

Keeping the above explanation in mind, here are the remaining adjectives in this selection you included in your question:

"savory" and "Preobrazhensky", which describe the kind of "dinner";

"mortifying", which describes the kind of emotion the officer felt when he or she saw the French;

"great", which describes the degree of the "surprise" (abstract noun), which Rostov's companions felt.

and, "unwarranted", which describes the kind of or degree of "fervor" with which Rostov "commenced shouting" (the kind of or degree of this abstract noun). For a little more reinforcement of some background knowledge, "commenced shouting" are both verbs or action words -- "to start shouting."

"The" is actually more of what is called an "article" -- a word that determines whether a noun is specific or unspecific, such as, "The officer, Rostov" -- specific -- or "An officer, one of Rostov's companions"-- unspecific.

I hope my answer helps you. Good luck!

Ms. Sapna