Adjectives

Adjectives are descriptive words and they describe the noun in context. Adjectives usually
answer the questions like "which", "what kind of", "how many", etc.

The little boy

A new toy
Enough meatloaf

Types of Adjectives
Attributive
Attributives are the ones that come right before the word(s) they modify.

The old man asked a question.

That is a good book.
I found an old, black, cotton sweater.

Appositive
Appositives come after the words they modify. They are usually used in pairs.

The woman, beautiful and smart, knew what she was doing.
The winner, tired but happy, waved and smiled.

Predicate
Predicates come after verb to be or after linking verbs. They come at the end of the sentence
and they modify the subject.

The tickets are expensive.

She looked old.
The oven felt hot.
He was young and shy.

The Order of Adjectives

When there are more than 1 adjectives modifying the same word, they are usually placed in a
certain order.

a- What we think (Lovely, beautiful, intelligent, nice, fine...)

b- Size (small, big, large, short, tall...)
c- Age (young, old...)

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 d- Shape (round, slim, fat, square...)
e- Color (white, green, red...)
f- Material (plastic, glass, wooden...)
g- Origin (German, Russian, American...)

A nice big house. A big square table.

A lovely little town.
An old plastic pipe.
An expensive Scotch whiskey.
A tall young woman.
Intelligent young Danish scientist.

Present and Past Participles as Adjectives

Ing / Ed - Interesting / Interested

Boring- Causes boredom

Bored- Result of boredom (something boring)
Tiring- Causes tiredness
Tired- Result of something tiring

• He is bored with his job.

Because his job is boring (at least to him), it caused him to be bored.
• He is boring.
I don't want to be with him because he is a boring person.

•He is interested in your offer.

Because your offer is interesting (at least to him), it drew his attention.
•He is an interesting man.
He engages attention, you want to know him better.

Some other verb roots that can become adjectives in a sentence by adding ed or ing

Charm, admire, amaze, amuse, depress, worry, thrill, excite, disgust, disappoint, discourage,
embarrass, fascinate, frighten, frustrate, horrify, irritate, please, satisfy, shock, startle, stimulate,
surprise, terrify, confuse

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Degrees of Adjectives

Positive Degree : Expresses a quality without a comparison

The twins are smart.

The tree is tall.
The book is old.

Comparative Degree : Used to compare things to each other.

Form Use Example

Shorter adjectives
er hotter area, warmer water
(1 syllable or 2)

longer adjectives more interesting subject, more

more
(2 or more syllables) comfortable couch

adjectives that end with ed , ing , 's' (even if

more I am more tired , more boring book
they are 1 syllable)

Fred is taller than Barney.

He is the more aggressive of the two.
Barney is smarter than Fred.
Climbing is more tiring than running.

Superlative Degree : Superlative is the highest or the lowest degree when comparing two or
more things/persons. The inflectional suffix for superlative degree is est. Longer superlatives
usually take most instead of est.

This is the brightest room in the house.

Duncan is the tallest player on the team.
Britney is the most beautiful girl in the class.

Article the is used with superlative adjectives since it is definite (thing/person) what's being
talked about.

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Absolute Adjectives
You either have the quality or you don't. There is no comparison. Dead, perfect, round...You can't be
deader than someone else who is only dead.

Some Absolute Adjectives:

absolute basic certain

complete empty entire
devoid excellent fatal
final dead perfect
square essential unique
full harmless immortal
meaningful obvious pure
superior ultimate universal

Informally, to emphasize or metaphorically, you may hear people say "I am more dead", "This one
is whiter". But they are misusing absolute adjectives.
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