Adjectives

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun. Adjectives describe nouns by giving some
information about an object's size, shape, age, colour, origin or material.

It's a big table. (size)

It's a round table. (shape)

It's an old table. (age)

It's a brown table. (colour)

It's an English table. (origin)

It's a wooden table. (material)

It's a lovely table. (opinion)

It's a broken table. (observation)

It's a coffee table. (purpose)

When an item is defined by its purpose, that word is usually not an adjective, but it acts as
one in that situation.

coffee table

pool hall

hunting cabin

baseball player

The position of the adjective

An adjective comes immediately before a noun, and especially if it comes between an article
(a, an, the), a possessive adjective (my, his, her, its, your, our, their), a demonstrative (this,
that, these, those) or an amount (some, most, all, a few) and a noun, then it is an adjective.
The grassy field was wet with dew. - "Grassy" comes between an article (the) and a noun
(field), so you know it's an adjective.

These are my old trophies. - "Old" comes between a possessive adjective (my) and a noun
(trophies), making it an adjective.

We had a few ordinary days. - "Ordinary" comes between an amount (a few) and a noun
(days), so it's definitely an adjective.

Did you see that immaculate kitchen? - "Immaculate" comes between a demonstrative (that)
and a noun (kitchen), so it must be an adjective.

Function of the adjective

 An adjective can act as a complement.

Complements are words that complete the predicate of a sentence when the
verb is "be." For example:

He is tall.

We've been teachers for five years.

You were my best friend.

He was smart, handsome and rich.

As you can see, not all complements are adjectives. In these examples, "tall" and "smart,
handsome and rich" are adjectives, but "teachers for five years" and "my best friend" are both
noun phrases. If the complement is only one word, there is a good chance that it is an
adjective. Also if the complement is a list of words, those are probably also adjectives. If an
article (a, an, the) or a possessive (my, his, her, its, your, our, their, mine, his, hers, its, yours,
ours, theirs) is involved, it's a noun phrase.

The Correct Order for Multiple Adjectives

When one lists several adjectives in a row, there is a specific order they need to be written or
spoken in. Native speakers of English tend to put them in the correct order naturally, but if
one is learning English, one has to memorise them. The adjectives have to be separated by
commas.

Determiner - This means an article (a, an, the), a number or amount,

a possessive adjective (my, his, her, its, your, our, their), or a
demonstrative (this, that, these, those).

Observation/Opinion - Beautiful, expensive, gorgeous, broken, delicious, ugly

Size - Huge, tiny, 4-foot-tall

Shape - Square, circular, oblong

Age - 10-year-old, new, antique

Colour - Black, red, blue-green

Origin - Roman, English, Mongolian

Material - Silk, silver, plastic, wooden

Qualifier - A noun or verb acting as adjective

For example:

My beautiful, big, circular, antique, brown, English, wooden coffee table was broken in the
move.

If the adjectives come after the verb "be" as the complement, then the qualifier (the defining
word) will stay with the noun at the beginning of the sentence. The adjectives in the
complement are separated by commas with the final two being separated by "and."

My coffee table is beautiful, big, circular, antique, brown, English and wooden.

1. Attributive and Predicative Adjectives

 Attributive adjectives
 They are those attributing a quality to what is denoted by a noun when they
are being used as pre-modifiers. Examples include chief, main, sheer

For example:

That is utter nonsense

You are the very person I was looking for.

 Predicative adjectives

They are part of the predicate when they are being used as complements.

For example, we are happy to see you

2. Gradability and comparison adjectives

They are adjectives that can be arranged in a scale of comparison. Intensifiers are used to
indicate the point on the scale. One can use either inflections (-er, -est) or pre-modifiers
(more, most). A bit hot, quite hot, very hot, extremely hot, pretty difficult, rather dark,
extremely different, incredibly dull too old.

Three degrees of comparison

Higher

Three term contrast

Absolute -Polite

Comparative -Politer

Superlative -Politest

Same

As…as

Lower

Less…than
 Least…

a) Comparative
They are used to compare differences between two objects which they modify. Construction
showing a relative quality usually formed by adding more or appending –er
For example

Tall-taller

Dark-darker

Big-bigger

NOTE: The adjective comes first followed by comparative and superlative

i) Sentence with comparative adjectives

a) My house is bigger than yours
b) Your grade is worse than mine
c) You are more polite than Joey
While comparing one item from the other, use the word “than”

Building comparative adjectives

For adjectives with one syllable add the ending –er to the end of an adjective for instance taller

For adjectives with two syllables that end with –y we drop the y and add –ier for example prettier

For adjectives with two syllable that does not end with –y add the word more before the adjective for
example purple –more purple

For adjective with three or more syllables use the word more before the adjective for instance
beautiful – more beautiful

b) Superlative
The form of an adjective that expresses which of several items has the highest degree of the quality
expressed by the adjective

i) Superlative are formed as follows

In general, superlative adjectives are formed the suffix –est to the original adjectives for example;
biggest, saddest
One syllable word add –est (sad-saddest)

One and two syllable words ending in silent add –st to the word since “e” is already in place for
example rare – rarest

Two syllable words ending in the letter –y change y to an I and add -est for example –silliest

All other two syllable words with addition syllables instead of suffix ,these words are made into a
short adjective phrase by adding active either most or least before an adjective for example careful –
most careful ,restrictive – least restrictive and more.

Some adjectives have irregular forms, when made into comparative or superlative adjectives ,they do
not add an “er” or “est” and they do not add the word more or most. They rather turn in to a whole
new word
For example

i) bad – worse – worst

ii) good – better – best
iii) far – farther –farthest
iv) late – later – last ( order )
3. Modified by degree adverbs

Degree adverbs give information about the strength or intensity of something that happens. Most
adverbs can be graded. They answer the question how much? or how little? In most occasions is
placed before the adjective, adverb or verb that they modify, although there are some exceptions.
Moreover, adverbs consist of adjectives and are commonly ending with –ly, such as cheerfully,
quickly, mainly

Extremely, very, completely, fairly, incredibly, quite, too

For instance, he sings loudly (adverb here modifies a verb: sing). A very tall man (adjective). The
movie ended too quickly (another adverb).

Examples of degree adverbs:

 Too
Too is an adverb with two distinct meanings, depending on its usage.
(i) It can mean also for example, Can I go to the zoo too? I am not going to clean
your room too!
(ii) Excessively
 For example, This coffee is too hot.
Isn’t she too young?
 Enough
Is that coffee hot enough?
 Very
The girl was very beautiful.
 Extremely
The water was extremely cold.

4. Adjectives that are derived from nouns and verbs

A large number of suffixes are added to nouns and verbs to make adjectives. English
adjectives often end with these suffixes:

-able/-ible - adorable, invisible, responsible, uncomfortable

-al - educational, gradual, illegal, nocturnal, viral

-ed - wooded, boarded, wretched, crooked

-ful - harmful, powerful, tasteful, thoughtful

-ic - athletic, energetic, scientific, romantic, heroic

-ical - magical, historical, political,

-ish - darkish, blackish, foolish, childish

-ive/-ative - informative, native, talkative, communicative,

-less - careless, endless, homeless, timeless

-ous/eous/ious - cautious, dangerous, enormous, spacious, erroneous

-y - tasty, handy, wealthy, windy

-an - American, Mexican, urban

-some - awesome, handsome, lonesome, wholesome