Adjectives

An adjective's job is to modify a noun or pronoun. They are always near the noun or pronoun they are
describing.

Adjectives are often used to describe the degree of modification.

The adjective forms are positive, comparative, and superlative.

Appearance Adjectives Color Adjectives Conditional Adj Feelings (good) adj

Adorable red alive brave

beautiful orange better calm
clean yellow careful nice
drab green easy gentle
elegant blue famous
fancy purple gifted
glamorous gray helpful
handsome white imortant
long black
magnificent
old-fashioned
plain
quaint
sparkling
ugliest
unsightly
wide-eyed

This tree is tall. (positive)

That tree is taller. (comparative)
The last tree in the row is the tallest. (superlative)

Handful of adjectives has irregular forms of positive, comparative, and superlative usage.

Comparative adjectives compare two things, people, or places unlike positive adjectives which
stand alone and do not make comparisons between nouns. Frequently, the word than accompanies
the comparative but not always.

In some cases the comparative is formed by adding the suffix –er to a one syllable adjective.

angry – angrier anxious – more anxious

Beautiful – more beautiful brave – braver
bright – brighter broad – broader
calm –calmer cold – colder
cool – cooler curly – curlier
dirty – dirtier dry – drier
dull – duller earlier – earlier
embarrassed – more embarrassed evil – more evil
fine –finer friendly – friendlier
fresh – fresher happy – happier
hard – harder hot – hotter
immense – more immense long – longer
lovely – lovelier nervous – more nervous
odd- odder old – older
perfect – more perfect quick – quicker
rich – richer smart – smarter
sweet – sweeter thin – thinner

These include good/better/best, bad/worse/worst, little/less/least, much-many-some/more/most,

far/further/furthest.

My lunch was good, hers was better, and yours was the best.

What Are Superlative Adjectives?

A superlative adjective is used to compare three or more objects, people, or places. Using the
superlative form takes a comparison to the highest degree possible.

For a one-syllable word simply add the suffix –est to the word. Often times it is necessary to
double the final consonant.
Long-longest
Big – Biggest
If the one syllable word ends with an “e” you only need to add an -st. An example is:
Fine-finest
If a two-syllable word ends with a “y” then change the “y” to “I” and add -est.
Pretty – prettiest

Examples of Superlative Adjectives

Regular Comparative Superlative
sweet sweeter sweetest
angry angrier angriest
bright brighter brightest
calm calmer calmest
cold colder coldest
cool cooler coolest
curly curlier curliest
early earlier earliest
rich richer richest
lovely lovelier loveliest
smart smarter smartest
simple simpler simplest
famous more famous most famous
immense more immense most immense
long longer longest
perfect more perfect most perfect
quick quicker quickest
thin thinner thinnest