Can the word 'the' be an adjective in the sentence 'The cats purred quietly'?

Answer 1

The word 'the' is known as a determiner. One form of determiner are called articles; they are the, a, and an.

Another form of determiner are called adjectives; there are many kinds of adjective, consisting of hundreds of words. Some of those types are:

Adjectives: soft, happy, hot, cold, nasty, wonderful, high, low, wet, clear, etc.

Nouns as adjectives: coffee cup, bath mat, kitchen table, apple pie, toaster oven, etc.

Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, or whose.

A determiner can be a demonstrative pronoun: this, that, these, or those.

Or other miscellaneous determiners:

each, every

either, neither

some, any, no

much, many, more, most

little, less, least

few, fewer, fewest

what, whatever, which, whichever

all, both, half

several

enough