Adjectives

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Preface
Created for students in the absence of a class teacher, Grammar Bits and Bytes is a comprehensive
classroom guide for students in the lower secondary classes who wish to practise grammar to improve
accuracy in speech and writing. Each of the exercises is ready-to-use and reproducible and begins with
helpful teaching pages that define, explain and illustrate the various aspects of grammar and its usage.
These lessons include many review activities that will help in
consolidating English language skills.

How to use the module

You can use the units in a number of ways. You might study the explanation and examples first and then
continue to the exercises, check your answers in the answer key and then look again at the explanation if
you have made any mistakes.

Coordinators
1. Pn. Noorhana bt Hashim Penolong Pengarah Kanan Bahasa Inggeris
Sektor Pengurusan Akademik
Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri Wilayah Persekutuan

2. Pn. Vasantha Mallar Narendran Guru Cemerlang Gred Khas Jusa C

Victoria Institution
3. Pn. Gurdarshan Kaur Guru Cemerlang (DG54)
SMK Padang Tembak
4. Pn. Norashikin bt. Zainuddin Guru Cemerlang (DG52)
SMK Desa Tun Hussein Onn

Panel of Writers
1. Pn. Hyacinth Foo Mook Keow Guru Cemerlang
SMK Seri Sentosa
2. Pn. Shirley Monica George Guru Cemerlang
SMK Datok Lokman
3. Cik Cecilia Chn’ng Eng Lian Guru Cemerlang
Sekolah Sukan Bukit Jalil
4. Pn. Vijayaletchumi a/p Nagalingam Guru Cemerlang
SMK Kiaramas
5. Cik Daphne Rosaline Henry Thomas Guru Cemerlang
SMK (P) Methodist Kuala Lumpur
6. Pn. Nur Azrin Abdullah Guru Cemerlang
SMK Taman Maluri
7. Cik Khatijah bt. Yaakob Guru Cemerlang
SMK Jalan Cochrane

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 ADJECTIVES

ADJECTIVES

~An adjective describes a noun (a person, an animal, a plant, a place or a thing)

and tells us about one of its qualities.

Examples :

A chubby baby a hungry cat a tall tree

a dusty bedroom an old sofa

~An adjective can be placed before a noun or after the verb ‘to be’.

Examples: An attractive woman walked into the room and caught everyone’s attention.

adjective noun(subject)

My eldest sister is attractive.

Verb to be

adjective

~When we use two or more adjectives from different groups before a noun, we follow this order
:

OPINION Beautiful nice

F SIZE Big small
A AGE Old new
C SHAPE Round square
T COLOUR Brown green
ORIGIN Malaysian Indian
MATERIAL Wooden silk
NOUN Table scarf

Examples :

1. My uncle has a big, old, round, wooden table.

2. Mrs. Tan bought a new, green, Indian, silk scarf.

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Exercise 1.1 : Choose the suitable adjectives from the table below to describe the nouns in
these pictures. Write the adjective before each noun.

sharp fat winding round beautiful

blind black small tall

__________ car ___________ flower __________ clock

___________ boy __________building __________ man

__________ bird __________ knife _________ river

__/ 9
marks

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Exercise 1.2

Exercise 1.2.1 : Match the adjectives in Column A with the nouns in Column B.

Column A Column B

1. loud sea
2. angry soup
3. expensive girl
4. rough journey
5. long music
6. hardworking neighbour
7. tasty bag
8. fried watch
9. heavy rice

Exercise 1.2.2 : Then, use the phrases above to complete the sentences below. The first
sentence is an example.

1. Nowadays, most teenagers love to listen to loud music.

2. The ____________________ at this stall is really delicious.

3. My ____________________ stormed out of his house after a quarrel with his son.

4. Jamil helped his mother to carry the ___________________ to the bedroom.

5. Mrs Chan prepared a pot of _____________________ for her family last night.

6. Everyone was exhausted after the _____________________ from Kuala Lumpur to

Cameron Highlands.

7. Jeswant is a ________________________ because she always helps her grandmother

with the housework.

8. Puan Salmah received an _______________________ for her birthday last week.

9. The fishermen could not go fishing because of the ____________________ .

__/ 9
marks

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2. COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

~ There are three degrees of comparison.

1. When describing an object, we use the positive form of the adjective.

Example : bright, long, narrow, tall

2. When describing two objects, we use the comparative degree of the adjective.
Example : brighter, longer, narrower, taller

3. When describing more than two objects, we use the superlative degree of the adjective.
Example : brightest, longest, narrowest, tallest

Exercise 2.1 : Complete the table below.

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

broad broader broadest
cold colder coldest
1. high
2. rich
3. short
4. smart
5. strong
6. weak

~In the following examples, the ‘y’ changes to ‘ier’ in the comparative degree and ‘iest’ in the
superlative degree.

Exercise 2.2 : Complete the table below.

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

angry angrier angriest
early earlier earliest
1. easy
2. greedy
3. happy
4. dirty
5. heavy
6. pretty

~Usually with adjectives having two or more syllables, we add ‘more’ in the comparative degree
and ‘most’ in the superlative degree.

__/12
marks
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Exercise 2.3 : Complete the table below.

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

careful more careful most careful
patient more patient most patient
1. handsome
2. comfortable
3. generous
4. intelligent
5. wonderful
6. gentle

Exercise 2.4 : Fill in the blanks with the correct degree of the adjective.

1. Ranjit says that his brother is an ___________________ boy. (intelligent)

2. This chicken curry is _____________________ than the one sold near my house.
(delicious)

3. Which is the __________________ river in Malaysia? (long)

4. Encik Rahman’s __________________ son is an army officer. (young)

5. Mr. David can afford a new car every month because he is the _______________ man in
town. (wealthy)

6. The grass growing in our neighbour’s garden is ________________ than ours. (green)

7. The football match we watched last night was the ______________________ this season.
(exciting)

8. We enjoyed ourselves very much because it was a __________________ trip. (pleasant)

__/ 8
marks

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Exercise 2.5 : Rearrange the words to make correct sentences. Then write out the
sentences.

1. some blue There big is water pail in the

_________________________________________________________________

2. is prettiest the in This dress shop the

_________________________________________________________________

3. a animal big The grey is elephant

__________________________________________________________________

4. hair has long Susan black

__________________________________________________________________

5. dirty plates wash those Please

__________________________________________________________________

6. bigger a apple than An grape is

__________________________________________________________________

7. the tallest in is Sulaiman boy class

__________________________________________________________________

8. bought marbles some I red small

__________________________________________________________________

9. Ali hardworking more brother his than is

__________________________________________________________________

10. into the An huge tree old car crashed

___________________________________________________________________

__/ 10
marks

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Exercise 3 Read the passage below. Identify twelve adjectives and look for the nouns that they
describe. Write the adjectives and the nouns in the table.

It was a cold morning. I pushed aside the floral curtain and peeped out of the glass
window. I saw a large bird on the thin branch of a tall tree. It was a swallow with two white
streaks on its tail. Next to it was a tiny swallow in a nest. The big bird flapped her wings, flew a
short distance and returned. Then, she pecked at her baby and he flapped his little wings but they
were not strong enough to lift him. His patient mother continued to peck at him gently and he
tried to fly again.

NOUNS ADJECTIVES

Exercise 4 A word is missing in each line. Put a ‘/’ where the word should be at. Write the
word in the space provided.

Salim and Wani were walking along a / road to go back to 0 quiet

their house. They noticed a lady hurrying past them. Then, 1
she walked towards some bushes and disappeared. As they 2
walked nearer, they heard a noise coming from the bushes. Salim 3
picked up a stick and crept slowly towards the bushes. Wani 4
clutched her bag tightly and followed Salim. They were shocked 5
to find the lady crying into her handkerchief. She was kneeling 6
beside a boy lying on the grass. There was blood all over him. 7
Salim and Wani screamed and turned to run. A car nearly crashed 8
into them. Just then, they heard voices calling out their names. 9
They stopped and saw their friends, Devi and Zai. Devi was 10
waving her handkerchief and Zai was wiping the paint from his 11
face. Salim and Wani realised that it was a joke. 12

__/ 12
marks
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ANSWERS

2. ADJECTIVES

Exercise 1.1

1. small
2. beautiful
3. round
4. fat
5. tall
6. blind
7. black
8. sharp
9. winding

Exercise 1.2.1

2. angry neighbour
3. expensive watch
4. rough sea
5. long journey
6. hardworking girl
7. tasty soup
8. fried rice
9. heavy bag

Exercise 1.2.2

2. fried rice
3. angry neighbour
4. heavy bag
5. tasty soup
6. long journey
7. hardworking girl
8. expensive watch
9. rough sea

Exercise 2.1

1. higher, highest
2. richer, richest
3. shorter, shortest
4. smarter, smartest

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5. stronger, strongest
6. weaker, weakest

Exercise 2.2

1. easier, easiest
2. greedier, greediest
3. happier, happiest
4. dirtier, dirtiest
5. heavier, heaviest
6. prettier, prettiest

Exercise 2.3

1. more handsome, most handsome

2. more comfortable, most comfortable
3. more generous, most generous
4. more intelligent, most intelligent
5. more wonderful, most wonderful
6. more gentle, most gentle

Exercise 2.4

1.intelligent
2.more delicious
3.longest
4.youngest
5.wealthiest
6. greener
7. most exciting
8. pleasant

Exercise 2.5

1. There is some water in the big blue pail.

2. This is the prettiest dress in the shop.
3. The elephant is a big grey animal.
4. Susan has long black hair.
5. Please wash those dirty plates.
6. An apple is bigger than a grape.
7. Sulaiman is the tallest boy in class.
8. I bought some small red marbles.
9. Ali is more hardworking than his brother.
10. An old car crashed into the huge tree.

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Exercise 3

NOUNS ADJECTIVES
morning cold
curtain floral
window glass
bird large
branch thin
tree tall
bird two white streaks
swallow tiny
bird big
short distance
wings little
mother patient

Exercise 4

Salim and Wani were walking along a quiet road togo back to
their house. They noticed a thin lady hurrying past them. Then,
she walked towards some thick bushes and disappeared.. As they
walked nearer, they heard a loud noise coming from the bushes. Salim
picked up a long stick and crept slowly towards the bushes. Wani
clutched her leather bag tightly and followed Salim. They were shocked
to find the lady crying into her blue handkerchief. She was kneeling
beside a fat boy lying on the grass. There was blood all over him.
Salim and Wani screamed and turned to run. A speeding car nearly crashed
into them. Just then, they heard familiar voices calling out their names.
They stopped and saw their good friends, Devi and Zai. Devi was
waving her handkerchief and Zai was wiping the red paint from his
face. Salim and Wani realized that it was a silly joke.

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