8/12 ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are describing words.

They describe the noun and tell us about the following
a size
Eg: big, small , tiny, short, tall etc.

b colour
Eg: black, white, blue, green, etc

c shape
round, triangular, flat, oval etc

d texture
Eg: smooth, rough, soft, hard etc

e number
Eg; one, two, first, second etc

f taste
Eg: sweet, sour, salty etc

g opinion
Eg: nice, pretty, delicious etc

h condition
Eg: old, new, antique etc

i Origin
Eg: American, British, Australian, French etc

There are five kinds of adjectives

1 Adjectives of quality - These adjectives are used to describe the nature
of a noun. They give an idea about the characteristics of the noun.
Eg: beautiful, ugly, honest, kind.

2 Adjectives of quantity - These adjectives help to show the amount or

the approximate amount of the noun or pronoun. These adjectives do
not tell us the exact numbers but the amount of the noun in relative
or whole terms.
Eg: all, half, many, few, enough etc.
3 Adjectives of number - These adjectives are used to show the number
of nouns and their place in an order.
These adjectives can be a cardinal or an ordinal number.
Eg : one, two, first, second etc.

4 Demonstrative adjectives
These adjectives are used to point out or indicate a particular noun
or pronoun using the adjectives.
Eg: this, that, these, those etc.

5 Interrogative adjectives
These adjectives are used to ask questions about nouns
Eg: what, where, whose & which .

I Fill in the blanks using suitable adjectives.

1 That house looks _______ because the lights are always off.
( nice / scary / pretty )

2 Diamonds are _______ because they are very rare.

( costly / old / cheap )

3 Your bed is so ____________ . ( hard / rare / comfortable )

4 The beggar's clothes are _______. ( clean / new / torn )

5 The joker had _________ shoes. ( nasty / colourful / tiny )

6 Mother bakes _________ cookies. ( round / ugly / delicious )

7 Our neighbour's puppy is very ______ . ( cute / brown / old )

8 Delhi has a lot of _____ buildings. ( old / short / dirty )

9 The class is so ______ I can't hear what teacher is saying.

( happy / big / noisy )
10 Jaya is very _______ she put chewing gum in her sister's
hair. ( sweet / kind / naughty )

II Underline the adjectives in the following paragraph

A For dinner mom is making pizza. We are watching how she's

making it. Her small hands pick up the big bag of flour and
she puts it into the red bowl. She adds some warm water and a
little salt. She then starts mixing the sticky dough and then kneads
it on a clean table, She presses it until it is flat and then
makes it round. After that she adds tomato sauce, fresh vegetables
and cheese and puts it in the hot oven for twenty minutes.

B An apple is a fruit produced by an apple tree. Apple trees are grown

worldwide . Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and
Europe and were brought to America by Europeans. Apple trees are
large. An apple tree in full bloom is beautiful. Lots of light pink
flowers in the midst of dark green oval leaves. The fruit comes in
different colours - dark red, red , green, pink , yellow and pale white.
Some apples are sweet while some are sour. Inside the fruit are
tiny black seeds. Apples are a healthy fruit, high in Vitamins
and sugar.

C Jodhpur is one of the largest cities in Rajasthan. Jodhpur is a

popular tourist place with many palaces, forts and temples. Since
it is very close to the Thar Desert summer is very hot. The
blue bylanes of the old city are also a famous attraction, Other
attractions of people are markets of food, antique items, traditional
clothes and colourful shoes. The city also has beautiful lakes.
 Degrees of comparison

Positive Comparative Superlative

good better best

bad worse worst

young younger youngest

short shorter shortest

tall taller tallest

wide wider widest

long longer longest

big bigger biggest

sweet sweeter sweetest

hot hotter hottest

warm warmer warmest

cold colder coldest

old older oldest

angry angrier angriest

fast faster fastest

slow slower slowest

loud louder loudest

soft softer softest

low lower lowest

Positive Comparative Superlative

high higher highest

thin thinner thinnest

fat fatter fattest

small smaller smallest

light lighter lightest

dark darker darkest

heavy heavier heaviest

strong stronger strongest

weak weaker weakest

clean cleaner cleanest

dirty dirtier dirtiest

pretty prettier prettiest

ugly uglier ugliest

rich richer richest

poor poorer poorest

early earlier earliest

happy happier happiest

nice nicer nicest

sharp sharper sharpest

 Positive Comparative Superlative
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
intelligent more intelligent most intelligent
wonderful more wonderful most wonderful
difficult more difficult most difficult
famous more famous most famous
expensive more expensive most expensive
comfortable more comfortable most comfortable
far farther farthest
little less least
much more most
late latter last

Positive Degree
When we speak about only about one noun or pronoun we use the
Positive degree. In this degree the adjective is unchanged.
Ex 1. This house is big.

2 He is a tall child.

3 This flower is beautiful.

4 Radha is an intelligent girl.

5 Father bought me an interesting storybook.

Positive degree is also used when comparing two equal things, in

such cases ' as ….... as ' is used to identify the positive degree.
Ex 1. Sunitha's hair is as long as her sister's hair.

2 Vineeth is as tall as Sumith.

Comparative Degree
When we compare two nouns with each other we use the
comparative degree. The word ' …... than ' is used to identify
the comparative degree.
In this degree + er is added to the adjective or sometimes 'more'
is added.

Ex 1. Hari's car is bigger than ours.

2 Radha's cookies are tastier than Rani's cookies.

3 Shanti is taller than Kirthi.

4 This sum is more difficult than the others.

Superlative degree
When we compare three or more nouns with each other we use
the superlative degree. The word ' the …... ' is used to identify
the superlative degree.
In this degree + est is added to the adjective or sometimes 'most'
is added.
Ex 1 Our house is the biggest on the street.

2 The Amazon is the largest river in the world.

3 Sheena is the most intelligent girl in our class.

4 December is the coldest month of the year.

 Fill in the blanks with the correct degree of adjective given
in bracketts.

1 Azar is not as tall as Karan . ( tall )

2 John's shoes are dirtier today than yesterday. ( dirty )

3 We have a cute puppy. ( cute )

4 Linda is the best singer in the class. ( good )

5 Mother cooks the most delicious food. ( delicious )

6 Jeevitha's hair is longer than her sister's hair. ( long )

7 Maths is very hard . ( hard )

8 Prem's eldest brother is a pilot. ( old )

9 Gold is more expensive than silver. ( expensive )

10 I am bad at drawing. ( bad )