Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes, identifies, modifies, or quantifies something (a noun

or a pronoun). In the phrase, "the black cat" the word black is an adjective because it
describes the cat.
In English, an adjective usually comes before the noun it pertains to (for example, a red
apple or a cute cat.).
Adjectives can be classified into many categories. In English, adjectives are generally used
in the order: quantity-->opinion-->size-->age-->shape-->color-->origin-->material->purpose. Some of these categories are (roughly in the order in which adjectives are used
in English):

quantity - few, no, one, two, three, four, little, several, many, all, some, every, each,
...

opinion - good, better, best, bad, worse, worst, wonderful, splendid, mediocre,
awful, fantastic, pretty, ugly, clean, dirty, wasteful, difficult, comfortable,
uncomfortable, valuable, worthy, worthless, useful, useless, important, evil, angelic,
rare, scarce, poor, rich, lovely, disgusting, amazing, surprising, loathesome, unusual,
usual, pointless, pertinent, ...

personality/emotion - happy, sad, excited, scared, frightened, outgoing, funny, sad,

zany, grumpy, cheerful, jolly, carefree, quick-witted, blissful, lonely, elated, ...

sound - loud, soft, silent, vociferous, screaming, shouting, thunderous, blaring,

quiet, noisy, talkative, rowdy, deafening, faint, muffled, mute, speechless,
whispered, hushed, ...

taste - sweet, sour, acidic, bitter, salty, tasty, delicious, savory, delectable, yummy,
bland, tasteless, palatable, yummy, luscious, appetizing, tasteless, spicy, watery, ...

touch - hard, soft, silky, velvety, bumpy, smooth, grainy, coarse, pitted, irregular,
scaly, polished, glossy, lumpy, wiry, scratchy, rough, glassy, ...

size, weight - heavy, light, big, small, little, tiny, tall, short, fat, thin, slender,
willowy, lean, svelte, scrawny, skeletal, underweight, lanky, wide, enormous, huge,
vast, great, gigantic, monstrous, mountainous, jumbo, wee, dense, weighty, slim,
trim, hulking, hefty, giant, plump, tubby, obese, portly, ...

smell - perfumed, acrid, putrid, burnt, smelly, reeking, noxious, pungent, aromatic,
fragrant, scented, musty, sweet-smelling,...

speed - quick, fast, slow, speeding, rushing, bustling, rapid, snappy, whirlwind,
swift, hasty, prompt, brief, ...

temperature - hot, cold, freezing, icy, frigid, sweltering, wintry, frosty, frozen,
nippy, chilly, sizzling, scalding, burning, feverish, fiery, steaming, ...

age - young, old, baby, babyish, teenage, ancient, antique, old-fashioned, youthful,
elderly, mature, adolescent, infantile, bygone, recent, modern, ...

distance - short, long, far, distant, nearby, close, faraway, outlying, remote, farflung, neighboring, handy, ...

shape - round, circular, square, triangular, oval, sleek, blobby, flat, rotund, globular,
spherical, wavy, straight, cylindrical, oblong, elliptical, zigzag, squiggly, crooked,
winding, serpentine, warped, distorted, ...

miscellaneous qualities- full, empty, wet, dry, open, closed , ornate, ...

brightness - light, dark, bright, shadowy, drab, radiant, shining, pale, dull, glowing,
shimmering, luminous, gleaming, ...

color - pink, red, orange, yellowish, dark-green, blue, purple, black, white, gray,
brown, tanned, pastel, metallic, silver, colorless, transparent, translucent, ...

time - early, late, morning, night, evening, everlasting, initial, first, last, overdue,
belated, long-term, delayed, punctual, ...

origin/location - lunar, northern, oceanic, polar, equatorial, Floridian, American,

Spanish, Canadian, Mexican, French, Irish, English, Australian, ...

material - glass, wooden, cloth, concrete, fabric, cotton, plastic, leather, ceramic,
china, metal, steel, silicon, ...

purpose - folding, swinging, work, racing, cooking, sleeping, dance, rolling,

walking, ...

Using Hyphens for Compound Adjectives

Some adjectives are used as a group to provide a description; if the group of words form a
single idea and are used before the noun, they should be connected by hyphens to make
their meaning clear. Common examples of hyphenated adjectives include black-and-white,
6-foot-tall, 5-years-old, problem-solving, mother-in-law and fight-or-flight. A wonderful
example of hyphenated adjectives is George Orwell's description of being from the lowerupper-middle class.
Example of the Sequence of Multiple Adjectives in Chart Form:
QUANTIT
SIZ
OPINION
Y
E

five

AGE

SHAPE

huge young

COLO
PURPOS NOU
ORIGIN MATERIAL
R
E
N

black
shapeles
s

Canadia
n

battered

old

many

magnificen
t

antique

British

one

studious

teenage
d

few

shiny

America
n
Indian

many
several

well-made tiny
cheap

large

gray

round
blue
elongate
brown
d
purple

bears
cotton

work

pants

reference books
boy
gems
wooden

fishing

boats

polyester

sleeping

bags

Adjectives are often placed before a noun in the following order:

EVALUATION/
OPINION

APPEARANCE/
QUALITY

AGE/
PERIOD

COLOR/
PATTERN

SIZE /
MEASURE

ORIGIN/
MATERIAL

TYPE /
FUNCTION

GEOGRAPHICAL

TYPE

beautiful

big / large

new-born

red

French

good

narrow / wide

old

green

Mexican

1st class

bad

small / little

young

blue

Chinese

multi-purpose

ugly

low / high

new

light-yellow

beach

wireless

interesting

long / short

antique

striped

mountain

HD / 3-D

fascinating

light / heavy

ancient

dark blue

oceanic

men's

ORIGIN

FUNCTION

SHAPE

intelligent

round

five-year-old

deep purple

solar

pretty

triangular

brand-new

pink

nuclear

hunting

unsightly

square

five-day-old

brown

molecular

cooking

CONDITION

MATERIAL

foul

tarnished

century-old

rose

plastic

walking

stupid

chipped

mature

olive

ceramic

running

silly

broken

middle-age

aqua

cotton

dancing

ridiculous

rotten

teenage

lime

paper

front-loading

easy

shiny

prehistoric

polka-dot

gold

off-road

The basic types of adjectives

Opinion

An opinion adjective explains what you think about

something (other people may not agree with you).
Examples:
silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult

Size

A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small

something
is.
Examples:
large, tiny, enormous, little

Age

An age adjective tells you how young or old something or

someone
is.
Examples:
ancient, new, young, old

Shape

A shape adjective describes the shape of something.

Examples:
square, round, flat, rectangular

Colour

A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of

something.
Examples:
blue, pink, reddish, grey

Origin

An origin adjective describes where something comes from.

Examples:
French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek

Material

A material adjective describes what something is made

from.
Examples:
wooden, metal, cotton, paper

Purpose

A purpose adjective describes what something is used for.

These adjectives often end with "-ing".
Examples:
sleeping (as in "sleeping bag"), roasting (as in "roasting tin")

DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECT

Questions in Passive
How do we form questions in Passive voice?
Questions in Passive are formed with to be and the past particple *.
1. Questions without questions words in Passive (Simple Present)
Form of
be

Subje
ct

past
participle

Rest

Yes/N
o

Subje
ct

Auxiliary
(+ n't)

Is

the
test

written

in room
311?

Yes,
No,
No,

it
it
it

is.
is not.
isn't.

Are

grape
s

grown

in
California?

Yes,
No,
No,

they
they
they

are.
are not.
aren't.

2. Questions with questions words in Passive (Simple Present)

Question
word

Form
of be

Subj
ect

past
particip
le

Where

is

the
test

written
?

are

grap
es

Why

grown

Rest

Answer

The test is written

in room 311.

in
California?

Grapes are grown

in California
because it's warm
and sunny.

3. Questions without questions words in Passive (Simple Past)

Form
of be

Subjec
t

Was

the
book

Were

the
studen
ts

past
particip
le

Rest

Yes/N
o

Subj
ect

Auxiliary
(+ n't)

taken

to the
classroom?

Yes,
No,
No,

it
it
it

was.
was not.
wasn't.

at home?

Yes,
No,
No,

they
they
they

were.
were not.
weren't.

taught

4. Questions with question words in Passive (Simple Past)

Question
word

Form
of be

Subjec
t

past
participl
e

Where

was

the
book

taken?

were

the
student
s

Why

5. Other tenses

taught

Rest

Answer

The book was

taken to the
classroom.

at
home?

The students were

taught at home
because the school
was closed.

Here are some more examples in other tenses. Let's start with
the simple forms:
Tense

Auxiliary

Subject

Verb

Present Perfect

Has

the house

been built?

Past Perfect

Had

the house

been built?

will-future

Will

the house

be built?

going to-future

Is

the house

going to be built?

Future Perfect

Will

the house

have been built?

Conditional I

Would

the house

be built?

Conditional II

Would

the house

have been built?

And here are two progressive forms:

Tense

Auxiliary

Subject

Verb

Present Progressive

Is

the house

being built?

Past Progressive

Was

the house

being built?

* past participle:
regular verbs infinitive + -ed

irregular verbs 3rd column of the table of the irregular verbs