Proper adjectives are describing words that originate from either names of countries or names of people. Proper adjectives are always capitalized.
Some proper adjectives are derived from the names of famous people:
In class, we studied about Shakespearian England.
Shakespearian England is the time and place where William Shakespeare lived.
That idea is rooted in Darwinian theory.
Darwinian theory is the scientific ideas put forth by Charles Darwin.
I just finished a book with an Orwellian society.
An Orwellian society would be similar to the world George Orwell wrote about in his books.
Proper adjectives are also derived from the names of countries and cultures.
The Incan culture has greatly influenced life in Mexico.
The Incan culture is the culture of the Inca people.
We had Swedish biscuits on Christmas morning.
The Swedish biscuits come from the culture of Sweden.
I hung an American flag on my house.
The American flag is the flag of America.
A proper adjective is a descriptive word originating from the name of a famous person or a country. A proper adjective is always capitalized.
▶It’s your turn. Find the proper adjective in this sentence. We traveled to Norway on the Scandinavian airline KLM. Did you find the proper adjective that describes a noun? Good for you!