3.
Adjectives
Adjectives are an important part of speech. They usually describe a person
or thing. They tell us what somebody or something is like.
What is an Adjective?
adjective (noun): a part-of-speech that modifies or describes a noun or a
pronoun
An adjective is one of the eight parts of speech.
An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. It "describes" or
"modifies" a noun (The bigdog was hungry). In these examples, the
adjective is in bold and the noun that it modifies is initalics.
An adjective often comes BEFORE a noun:
a green car
a dark sky
an interesting story
And sometimes an adjective comes AFTER a verb:
My car is green.
The sky became dark.
His story seemed interesting.
But adjectives can also modify pronouns (She is beautiful). Look at these
examples:
They were empty.
I thought it seemed strange.
Those are not expensive.
Note that we can often use two or more adjectives together
(a beautiful young French lady / it isblack and white).
The adjective is the enemy of the noun
This is sometimes said because, very often, if we use the precise noun we
don't need an adjective. For example, instead of saying "a large, impressive
house" (2 adjectives + 1 noun) we could simply say "a mansion" (1 noun).
Adjective Form
Some adjectives have particular endings, for example:
-able/-ible: washable, credible
-ish/-like: childish, childlike
-ful/-less: careful, careless
-ous: dangerous, harmonious
-y: dirty, pretty
However, many adjectives have no obvious form.
Comparative, Superlative
Most adjectives can be comparative or superlative, for example:
big, bigger, biggest
good, better, best
beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful
3.1 Comparative Adjectives
When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they
are the same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and
different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives to describe the
differences.
We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not
three or more things).
In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective
"big":
A1
A2
A1 is bigger than A2.
Formation of Comparative Adjectives
There are two ways to make or to "form" a comparative adjective:
short adjectives: add "-er"
long adjectives: use "more"
Short adjectives: add -er
examples
1-syllable adjectives
old, fast
2-syllable adjectives ending in -y
happy, easy
Short adjectives: add -er
examples
RULE: add "-er"
old older
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r
late later
Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel,
consonant, double the last consonant
big bigger
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i
happy
happier
Long adjectives: use more
examples
2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y
modern, pleasant
all adjectives of 3 or more syllables
expensive, intellectual
RULE: use "more"
modern more modern
expensive more expensive
With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use "-er" OR "more":
quiet quieter/more quiet
clever cleverer/more clever
narrow narrower/more narrow
simple simpler/more simple
Exception: The following adjectives have irregular forms:
good better
well (healthy) better
bad worse
far farther/further
Use of Comparative Adjectives
We use comparative adjectives when talking about 2 things (not 3 or 10 or
1,000,000 things, only 2 things).
Often, the comparative adjective is followed by "than".
Look at these examples:
John is 1m80. He is tall. But Chris is 1m85. He is taller than John.
America is big. But Russia is bigger.
I want to have a more powerful computer.
Is French more difficult than English?
If we talk about the two planets Earth and Mars, we can compare them as
shown in the table below:
Eart
h
Ma
rs
Diameter (km)
12,7
60
6,7
90
Mars is smaller than Earth.
Distance from Sun
(million km)
150
228
Mars is more distant from the
Sun.
Eart
h
Ma
rs
Length of day (hours)
24
25
A day on Mars is
slightly longer than a day on
Earth.
Moons
Mars has more moons than
Earth.
Surface temperature
(degrees Celcius)
22
-23
Mars is colder than Earth.
Although we use comparative adjectives when talking about two things
(not three or more things), in fact one or both of the things may be a group
of things.
Mt Everest is higher than all other mountains.
Here, we are talking about hundreds of mountains, but we are still
comparing one thing (Mt Everest) to one other thing (all other mountains).
3.2.Superlative Adjectives
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a
quality. We use a superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of
one thing in a group of things.
We can use superlative adjectives when talking about three or
more things (not two things).
In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective
"big":
AB
A is the biggest.
Formation of Superlative Adjectives
As with comparative adjectives, there are two ways to form a superlative
adjective:
short adjectives: add "-est"
long adjectives: use "most"
We also usually add 'the' at the beginning.
Short adjectives
1-syllable adjectives
old, fast
2-syllable adjectives ending in -y
happy, easy
RULE: add "-est"
old the
oldest
Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st
late the
latest
Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel,
consonant, double the last consonant
big the
biggest
Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i
happy the
happiest
Long adjectives
2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y
modern, pleasant
all adjectives of 3 or more syllables
expensive, intellectual
RULE: use "most"
modern the most modern
Long adjectives
expensive the most expensive
With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use "-est" OR "most":
quiet the quietest/most quiet
clever the cleverest/most clever
narrow the narrowest/most narrow
simple the simplest/most simple
Exception: The following adjectives have irregular forms:
good the best
bad the worst
far the farthest/furthest
Use of Superlative Adjectives
We use a superlative adjective to describe one thing in a group of three or
more things. Look at these examples:
John is 1m75. David is 1m80. Chris is 1m85. Chris is the tallest.
Canada, China and Russia are big countries. But Russia is the
biggest.
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
If we talk about the three planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter, we can use
superlative adjectives as shown in the table below:
Diameter (km)
Eart
h
Ma
rs
Jupit
er
12,7
6,7
142,8
Jupiter is the biggest.
Eart
h
Ma
rs
Jupit
er
60
90
00
Distance from Sun
(million km)
150
228
778
Jupiter is the most
distant from the Sun.
Length of day (hours)
24
25
10
Jupiter has the
shortest day.
Moons
16
Jupiter has the
most moons.
Surface temp.
(degrees Celcius)
22
-23
-150
Jupiter is the coldest.
When we compare one thing with itself, we do not use "the":
England is coldest in winter. (not the coldest)
My boss is most generous when we get a big order. (not the most
generous)
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-superlative-comparativesong.htm
3.3. Adjective Order
There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:
1. before the noun
2. after some verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell,
taste)
adj.
before
noun
I have a
big
adj.
after
verb
dog.
Snow
is
white.
Adjective Before Noun
We often use more than one adjective before the noun:
I like big black dogs.
She was wearing a beautiful long red dress.
What is the correct order for two or more adjectives?
1. First of all, the general order is:
opinion, fact
"Opinion" is what you think about something. "Fact" is what is
definitely true about something.
a lovely new dress (not a new lovely dress)
a boring French film (not a French boring film)
2. The "normal" order for fact adjectives is
size, shape, age, colour / origin / material /
purpose
a small 18th-century French coffee table
a rectangular black wooden box
3. Determiners usually come first, even though some grammarians regard
them as fact adjectives:
articles (a, the)
possessives (my, your...)
demonstratives (this, that...)
quantifiers (some, any, few, many...)
numbers (one, two, three)
Note that when we want to use two colour adjectives, we join them with
"and":
Many newspapers are black and white.
She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.
Here are some examples of adjective order:
adjectives
hea
d
nou
n
fact adjectives
determ
iner
opinion
adjectiv
es
two
ugly
othe
r
size,
shape,
age,
colour
mate
rial
black
wellknow
n
origi
n
purpo
se*
guard
Chine
se
small,
18thcentury
your
fabulous
new
lovely
pink
and
green
artist
Frenc
h
Thai
dogs
silk
coffee
table
sports
car
dress
adjectives
hea
d
nou
n
fact adjectives
determ
iner
opinion
adjectiv
es
othe
r
size,
shape,
age,
colour
some
black
big
black
and
white
this
mate
rial
purpo
se*
Spani
sh
leathe
r
riding
old
my
new
wonderf
ul
15thcentury
boots
dog
chea
p
an
origi
n
Arabi
c
plastic
rain
coat
woode
n
fishing
boat
tennis
racke
t
poe
m
*often a noun used as an adjective
Not all grammarians agree about the exact order of adjectives, and the
detailed rules are complicated. The rules on this page are for the normal,
"natural" order of adjectives. These rules are not rigid, and you may
sometimes wish to change the order for emphasis. Consider the following
conversations:
Conversation 1
A "I want to buy a round table."
B "Do you want a new round table or an old round table?"
Conversation 2
A "I want to buy an old table".
B "Do you want a round old table or a square old table?"
Adjective After Verb
An adjective can come after some verbs, such as: be, become, feel, get,
look, seem, smell, sound
Even when an adjective comes after the verb and not before a noun, it
always refers to and qualifies the subject of the clause, not the verb.
Look at the examples below: subject verb adjective
Ram is English.
Because she had to wait, she became impatient.
Is it getting dark?
The examination did not seem difficult.
Your friend looks nice.
This towel feels damp.
That new film doesn't sound very interesting.
Dinner smells good tonight.
This milk tastes sour.
It smells bad.
These verbs are "stative" verbs, which express a state or change of state,
not "dynamic" verbs which express an action. Note that some verbs can be
stative in one sense (she looks beautiful | it got hot), and dynamic in
another (she looked at him | he got the money). The above examples do
not include all stative verbs.
Note also that in the above structure (subject verb adjective), the
adjective can qualify a pronoun since the subject may be a pronoun.
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-order-quiz.htm
3.4. Adjective Gradability
Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns. Some qualities can
vary in intensity or "grade", for example:
rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest
The adjective hot is gradable.
Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are:
extremes (for example: freezing)
absolutes (for example: dead)
classifying (for example: nuclear)
The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable.
Gradable Adjectives
A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the
adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples:
grading adverbs
a little, dreadfully, extremely,
fairly, hugely, immensely,
intensely, rather, reasonably,
slightly, unusually, very
+ gradable adjectives
angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep,
fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot,
important, long, popular, rich, strong,
tall, warm, weak, young
"Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives". "Grading
adverbs" are also called "submodifiers".
A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:
big, bigger, the biggest
hot, hotter, the hottest
important, more important, the most important
Look at these example sentences:
My teacher was very happy with my homework.
That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular.
He said that France was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold.
But Sweden was the coldest.
Non-gradable Adjectives
A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:
It was rather freezing outside.
The dog was very dead.
He is investing in slightly nuclear energy.
Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative
forms:
freezing, more freezing, the most freezing
dead, deader, the deadest
nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear
Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's better
to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable. This is a
matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have never heard
of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it doesn't
make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably have
the same idea in your language.
Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone:
It was freezing outside.
The dog was dead.
He is investing in nuclear energy.
However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs"
(which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example:
non-grading adverbs
non-gradable adjectives
absolutely
awful
utterly
excellent
completely
terrified
totally
dead
nearly
impossible
virtually
unique
essentially
chemical
mainly
digital
almost
domestic
extreme
absolute
classifying
Here are some example sentences containing non-grading adverbs with
non-gradable adjectives:
Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the
exam again.
Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique.
It starts an essentially chemical reaction.
Gradable / Non-gradable Adjectives
Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible
for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable
with another sense. For example:
example sentence
adjective
sense
He's got a very old car.
gradable
not young
I saw my old boyfriend yesterday.
nongradable
former,
ex-
He has some dreadfully common habits.
gradable
vulgar
"The" is a very common word in English.
gradable
prevalent
The two countries' common border poses
problems.
nongradable
shared
Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives
The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a
significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and
non-gradable adjectives:
gradable
non-gradable
Please don't forget! It's really
important.
He was really terrified.
He's a fairly rich man.
It's a fairly impossible job.
He's pretty tall.
It's pretty ridiculous when you
think about it.
"Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives
The sense of the adverb "quite" changes according to the gradability of the
adjective that we use it with:
adjective
sense
It's quite warm today.
gradable
fairly, rather
Are you quite certain?
non-gradable
completely, absolutely
Reference
Non-gradable adjectives
Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable
adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself
whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying.
alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic,
enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge,
immediately, impossible, minuscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect,
pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique,
unknown, white, whole
Non-grading adverbs
Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many
more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all nongradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't.
absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely,
mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually
https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adjectives-gradability-quiz.htm
