ADJECTIVES

     Adjectives are used to describe or give more information about a noun, pronoun or part of a sentence. Using adjectives is an extremely common way of modifying a noun or noun phrase. 

Exercise 1

Write the adjectives formed from the words below. 

1. act (verb) - active 

2. use (verb) - useful, useless, usable 

3. nerve (noun) - nervous, nervy

4. rain (noun) - rainy

5. amuse (verb) - amusing, amused 

6. write (verb) - written 

     Adjectives can be formed from verbs and nouns by adding suffixes (e.g. useful, rainy) and by using the present participle and past participle forms (e.g. amusing, written). Adjectives can also be made by combining two words (e.g. homesick: a noun + an adjective).

     In a noun phrase, adjectives are normally placed before the noun (e.g. a very happy man). Some adjectives can only come after the noun (e.g. asleep, awake). 

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences below with an appropriate adjective in the correct form.

1. I've seen many good films, but this one is the best.

2. He's 172 cm tall, and I'm 180, so I'm taller than him.

3. I'm intelligent. John's more intelligent than me but Jo's the most intelligent of all of us.

     Comparative adjectives are used when comparing two things; superlative adjectives are used when comparing more than two things. Comparative adjectives are made by adding either -er to the adjective or putting more before the adjective. Superlative adjectives are formed by adding -est to the adjective or putting the most before the adjective. You usually add -er/-est when when an adjective has one or two syllables (e.g. smaller/smallest, simpler/simplest) and you usually add more/the most when it has two, three or more syllables (e.g. more simple/ the most simple, more expensive/ the most expensive, more intelligent/ the most intelligent). In the case of irregular comparatives and superlatives, the form of the adjective itself changes (e.g. good - better - best). 

     Some adjectives are gradable (they can be measured in degrees). For example, you can be more or less cold. Some adjectives are ungradable (they cannot be measured in degrees). For example, something cannot be more than freezing. For this reason, ungradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms. 

     With gradable adjectives, we use intensifiers (adverbs that make the meaning of another word stronger) that describe the degree of cold, heat, etc. that something is. For example, we can say something is very cold, extremely cold, quite cold, a little cold. With ungradable adjectives, we use intensifiers that emphasise their extreme quality. For example, we can say absolutely / completely / totally freezing. You can use intensifiers with both kinds of adjectives (e.g. very cold, absolutely freezing) but, often you cannot use them interchangeably, e.g. 'absolutely cold' is wrong. 😊