Identify known nouns in a sentence. For example: Twelve cars sped past the blue house. The nouns in this sentence are "cars" and "house."
Look at the words before the nouns. Determine which words tell "how many," "what kind" or "which one." These are adjectives. In the last example "twelve" tells how many cars and "blue" tells which house; both are adjectives. Notice the adjective comes just before the noun it describes. Most of the time this is the case.
Consider adjectives carefully. A noun can be described by a series of adjectives as well as limiting adjectives. Within a sentence note all articles: "a," "an" and "the." Each of these words is a limiting adjectives; it also tells which one. The first example had one limiting adjective, "the." Therefore house is described by both "the" and "blue."
Check for tricky limiting adjectives such as possessive nouns or pronouns. For example: Zoey's backpack sits in the overstuffed chair. The nouns are "backpack" and "chair." The adjectives are "the" and "overstuffed." Notice the word that tells which backpack, "Zoey's." Eva McCandless, author of "Centrifuge," states "Possessive nouns and most possessive pronouns are used as adjectives."
Scrutinize demonstratives: this, that, those, these. Demonstratives may serve as either a pronoun or a limiting adjective. Wanda Philips, author of "Easy Grammar," explains that if a noun follows the demonstrative it is an adjective. Otherwise it is playing the role of a pronoun. For example: That is strange. In this sentence no noun follows "that" so it must be a pronoun. However, review the next example: That apple fell. In this sentence "that" tells which apple; it is an adjective.
Track down stray adjectives. Most of the time an adjective comes right before a noun -- but not always. Predicate adjectives describe the noun in the subject of the sentence, but appear after the verb. For example: Soccer is popular. This sentence uses an adjective at the end of the sentence to describe a noun in the beginning; "popular" is a predicate adjective. Some questions contain predicate adjectives. For example: Is your room clean? Be sure to catch predicate adjectives and determine the noun they describe.