Grammar: Word classes: Adjectives
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Classifying things |
Certain adjectives have the function of classifying things, ie putting them into groups or categories. They answer the question: ‘What type?’ From a functional perspective, we call these adjectives Classifiers.
We can classify things in a number of different ways, including:
| Physical location |
the northern cities the front door the underground railway |
| Composition |
a plastic cup a wooden chair a woollen jumper |
| Gender |
a
female singer a male horse |
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Scientific properties |
an electric shock a nuclear explosion a chemical experiment |
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Group membership |
the communist party a private school the scientific community the canine group |
One way of telling if an adjective is a Classifier, is to see whether you can put very in front of it. If you can’t, then it is usually a Classifier:
a very plastic cup
a very electric shock
Classifiers are often found in text types where it is important to classify. In general descriptions, for example, we organise the world around us by putting things into classes and subclasses. To do this, we often use classifying adjectives, eg:
Snakes can be divided into two groups: poisonous snakes and non-poisonous snakes. …
The function of classifying can be carried out by other grammatical categories such as nouns (a wine glass, a birthday party) and verbs (scrambled eggs).
For more information on Classifiers, see 
Grammar:
Groups & phrases: Noun group: Functions within the noun group:
Classifying
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