Yes.
"Clever" is definitively an adjective. It is a word used to describe or modify a noun or pronoun, indicating a quality or characteristic.
What is an Adjective?
An adjective is a part of speech that describes, identifies, or quantifies a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives provide more information about the subject of a sentence, making descriptions more vivid and precise. They typically answer questions like:
- Which one?
- What kind?
- How many?
Understanding "Clever" as an Adjective
The word "clever" fits the definition of an adjective perfectly. It describes a quality—specifically, showing intelligence or skill.
Here's how "clever" functions as an adjective:
- Definition: It means showing intelligence or skill, for example in the design of an object, in an idea, or someone's actions.
- Forms: Like many adjectives, "clever" has comparative and superlative forms to indicate different degrees of the quality:
- Comparative: cleverer or more clever (e.g., "She is cleverer than her brother.")
- Superlative: cleverest or most clever (e.g., "He is the cleverest student in the class.")
- Usage Examples:
- Describing an object: "That's a clever little gadget." (describes "gadget")
- Describing an idea: "What a clever idea!" (describes "idea")
- Describing a person's actions or a person themselves:
- "Her clever solution saved us a lot of time."
- "The clever fox outsmarted the hunters."
These examples demonstrate that "clever" modifies nouns, clearly functioning as an adjective to provide more detail about the noun's quality of intelligence or skill.