What Is an Exclamatory Adjective?
An exclamatory adjective is a part of speech. An exclamatory adjective is a word that shows emotion, so it is used with a noun. We know what a question word is, but ‘what’ is usually used to show strong emotion. So it means a word used to show strong emotion is an Exclamatory Adjective.
We use exclamatory adjectives in conversation. Sometimes the word ‘how’ is also used to show strong emotion. We use these adjectives when we are surprised about something. We can also use it to emphasize something.
When we use this adjective in the sentence, we should use an exclamation mark after completing the sentence.
Examples with Exclamatory Adjective
- What an idea!
- What a blessing!
- What a foolishness!
- What management!
- What a large house you have!
- What a wonderful feeling!
- What a piece of work is, man!
- What a beautiful rose it is!
- What a popular actor he is!
- What a charming child he is!
Use of what-
Use of ‘what’ for a singular noun
In this, the verb is not used. We use this when we are surprised and really mean it.
For singular noun, we should say in the form-
- What + a/ an + adjective + noun + !
Examples-
- What a cute baby!
- What an exciting game!
- What a handsome boy!
- What a posture!
Use of ‘what’ for a plural noun
For plural nouns, we don’t use the articles’ a’ or ‘an’.
For plural nouns, we should say in the form-
- What + adjective + noun + !
Examples-
- What the scholar boys!
- What beautiful flowers!
Use of ‘what’ for plural noun with collection
Sometimes we exclaim for the collection so, in this, we should say in the form-
What + collective noun + of + adjective + plural noun + !
Examples-
- What a bunch of beautiful pictures!
- What a pair of beautiful shoes!
- What a couple of strong boys!
- What a school of attractive fish!
Use of ‘what’ with a verb
We have seen that the above examples are without a verb. Now we shall see the use of ‘what’ with a verb to make an exclamatory sentence.
In this, we make sentence in the form-
- What + a / an + adjective +subject + verb + !
Examples-
- What an attractive picture it is!
- What smart kids they are!
- What a strong person he is!
- What a happy lady you are!
Use of ‘how’ for exclamation without a verb
Sometimes we use ‘how’ to express strong emotion. However, we don’t use the verb after the word ‘how’. So put down the exclamation mark at the end.
With ‘how’ we should say in the form-
- How + adjective +!
Examples-
- How strange!
- How dashing!
- How beautiful!
- How cute!
Use of ‘how’ for exclamation with a verb
Sometimes the word ‘how’ is used with a verb to express emotion.
We should say in the form-
- How + adjective + subject + verb +!
Examples-
- How studious he is!
- How curious they are!
- How perfect it is!
Related links-
Adjectives-
- of Quantity
- Definite Numeral
- of Quality
- Indefinite Numeral
- of Number
- Interrogative
- Demonstrative Adjectives
