WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?

"

Simply put adjectives are descriptive words. Adjectives are used to describe or give information
about things, ideas and people: nouns or pronouns.

For Example:-

The grey dog barked. (The adjective grey describes the noun "dog".)

The most common question an adjective might answer is "What kind of ...?"

The good news is that in English the form of an adjective does not change, once you have learnt it
that's it and it does not matter if the noun being described is male or female, singular or plural,
subject or object. Yay!

Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size colour etc (fact adjectives -
can't be argued with).

Some adjectives show what somebody thinks about something or somebody - nice, horrid, beautiful
etc (opinion adjectives - not everyone may agree).

If you are asked questions with which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be
able to answer.

There are different types of adjectives in the English

language:
 Numeric: six, one hundred and one etc.
 Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough etc.
 Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.
 Possessive: my, his, their, your etc.
 Interrogative: which, whose, what etc.
 Demonstrative: this, that, those, these etc.

!Note - The articles a, an, and the are a special kind of adjective called articles, and the
possessives my, our, your, and their are sometimes known as possessive adjectives.

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Colour

Adjectives can be used to describe colour.

blue, red, green, brown, yellow, black, white, etc.

For Example:

 "The blue bag." or "The blue bags".

Opinion

Adjectives can be used to give your opinion about something.

 
good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad, full, soft, hard etc.

For Example:

 He was a silly boy. / She was a silly girl.

Size

Adjectives can be used to describe size.

big, small, little, long, tall, short, same as, etc.

For Example:

 "The big man." or "The big woman".

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Age

Adjectives can be used to describe age.

For Example:

 "He was an old man." or "She was an old woman."

Shape

Adjectives can be used to describe shape.

round, circular, triangular, rectangular, square, oval, etc.

For Example:

 "It was a square box." or "They were square boxes."

Origin

Adjectives can be used to describe origin.

 
For Example:-

 "It was a German flag." or "They were German flags."

Material

Adjectives can be used to identify the material something is made of.

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  "A wooden cupboard." or "Wooden cupboards."

!Note - In English we often change nouns into adjectives.

For Example: glass - a glass vase / metal - a metal tray etc.

Distance

Adjectives can be used to describe distance.

  l -- o -- n -- g  / short

long, short, far, around, start, high, low, etc.

For Example:

 "She went for a long walk." or "They went for lots of long walks."

Temperature

Adjectives can be used to describe temperature.

cold, warm, hot, cool, etc.

For Example:

 "It was a hot day" or "We eat ice cream on hot days."

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Time

Adjectives can be used to describe time.

 
late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning, night, etc.

For Example:

 "She had an early start."

Purpose

Adjectives can be used to describe purpose. (These adjectives often end with "-ing".)

For Example:

 "She gave them a sleeping bag." or "She gave them sleeping bags."

!Note - Have you noticed how the adjective stays the same, whether it is describing a masculine,
feminine, singular or plural noun? Nice huh?

When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a
conjunction (and) or by commas (,).

For Example:

 "Her hair was long and blonde." or "She had long, blonde hair."

More examples:

Adjective Pretty Serious Fast Quiet

For She is a pretty He was a serious It could be a fast They were quiet
Example: girl. boy. car. children.

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!Note - Adjectives that go immediately before the noun are called attributive adjectives.

Adjectives can also be used after some verbs. They do not describe the verb, adverbs do that.

Adjectives after a verb describe the subject of the verb (usually a noun or pronoun).

For Example:

 "Lynne looks tired."

The subject (in this case Lynne) is being described as tired not the verb to look.
There is also the adjective used to, which is such a beast that it gets its own section - Used To.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivetext.html#sthash.PnaitHEo.dpuf

ADJECTIVE ORDER

OVERVIEW | ORDER | COMPARATIVE | POSSESSIVE | SUPERLATIVE

Adjectives can be used to describe lots of things, from physical size, age, shape, colour, material, to
more abstract things like opinion, origin and purpose.

We can use adjectives together to give a detailed description of something.

Adjectives that express opinions usually come before all others, but it can sometimes depend on
what exactly you want to emphasise.

For example: 

"That's a nice, big, blue bag." (You like the bag.)

"That's a nice blue." (You like the colour.)

When we group adjectives together there is a general (sometimes flexible) rule for the position of
each type of adjective, these are:-

Position 1st* 2nd* 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Material Origin Purpose

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 Nice Small Old Square Black Plastic British Racing

Ugly Big New Circular Blue Cotton American Running

You might swap adjectives that express an opinion and an adjective based on fact depending on
what you wish to emphasise:-

For example:

 "She had a long, ugly nose." emphasising the length of her nose.
 "He was a silly, little man." emphasising that the man was silly.

This is just for fun as you wouldn't normally see so many adjectives in one description.

For example:

 "She had a big, ugly, old, baggy, blue, stripey, cotton, British, knitting bag."

Does it matter if you get it wrong? Well outside of exams and tests, it won't kill you, but people
reading or listening to you will find it odd if you mix up the order.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectiveorder.html#sthash.UpVcoSqn.dpuf

COMMON ADJECTIVES TABLE

Appearance | Condition | Feeling | Shape | Size | Sound | Spe
ed | Taste | Time | Touch

(A list of English adjectives with dictionary look up - double click on any word for its definition and
pronunciation)

Shape Size Sound

broad  average cooing 

crooked  big deafening 
curved  fat faint
deep gigantic harsh 

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 even  huge high-pitched 
flat large hissing 
hilly  little  hushed 
jagged  long  husky 
round  massive loud 
shallow  medium  melodic
square  miniature moaning 
steep  narrow mute 
straight  petite noisy 
thick short  purring 
thin  skinny quiet 
triangular small  raspy 
uneven  tall  screeching
tiny shrill 
wide silent 
soft 
squeaky 
squealing
thundering 
voiceless
whispering

Speed Taste Time

fast bitter ancient

quick  bland  brief 
rapid  delicious early 
slow  different  late
swift fresh  long
greasy  modern
hot new 
juicy old
repulsive  old-fashioned 
revolting  quick
ripe  short
rotten 

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 salty  young
sour 
spicy 
stale
strong
sweet 
tasteless 
tasty 
terrible
wonderful

Touch

blunt
boiling
breakable 
breezy
broken
bumpy
chilly
clean
cold
cool
crooked 
cuddly
curly 
damaged 
damp
different 
dirty
dry 
dusty 
filthy
flaky
fluffy
fuzzy 
greasy 
grubby 
hard
icy 

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 loose 
plastic 
prickly 
ripe 
rough 
rubbery 
scratchy 
shaky 
shaggy 
sharp 
silky 
slimy
slippery
smooth 
soft
solid 
steady 
sticky 
tight
uneven
unusual
unripe 
warm 
weak
wet 
wooden
wooly 

FEELINGS
Feelings - negative Feelings - neutral Feelings - positive

afraid alright agreeable

angry calm  alert 
annoyed  different  amused 
anxious  fair brave 
arrogant  fine  bright 

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 ashamed  OK charming 
awful  pleasant  cheerful
bad puzzled comfortable
bewildered cooperative
bored  courageous
concerned  delightful
condemned determined 
confused  eager 
creepy elated
cruel  enchanting
dangerous  encouraging 
defeated  energetic
defiant enthusiastic
depressed excited 
disgusted exuberant
disturbed faithful 
doubtful  fantastic
eerie  friendly
embarrassed frowning
envious funny 
evil gentle 
fierce  glorious 
foolish  good 
frantic  happy 
frightened healthy 
grieving helpful
guilty  hilarious
helpless innocent 
hungry  jolly
hurt  kind 
ill  lively 
jealous  lovely 
lonely lucky 
mad  obedient
naughty perfect 

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 nervous  proud 
obnoxious relaxed
outrageous  relieved
panicky  silly 
repulsive smiling 
safe splendid 
scared successful 
shy  thoughtful
sleepy victorious
sore vivacious
strange  well 
tense  witty
terrible  wonderful
tired
troubled
unusual 
upset
uptight
weary 
wicked
worried 

Appearance Condition

adorable alive
brainy 
alert 
broken 
average  busy 
beautiful careful
blonde  cautious 
bloody  clever 
blushing  crazy 
damaged 
bright 
dead 
clean  difficult
clear easy
cloudy  fake 

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 colourful false
famous 
concerned 
forward 
crowded  fragile
curious  guilty 
cute  helpful
dark  helpless
dirty  important 
impossible
drab 
infamous
distinct innocent 
dull  inquisitive 
elegant mad 
fancy  modern 
filthy open 
outgoing 
glamorous
outstanding
gleaming poor 
graceful powerful
grotesque  puzzled 
homely  real 
light  rich 
right 
misty 
robust
motionless 
sane 
muddy  scary 
plain  shy 
poised sleepy
quaint stupid 
super 
scary 
tame 
shiny 
thick
smoggy  tired
sparkling  wild 
spotless wrong 
stormy 
strange 
ugly 
unsightly

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 unusual 

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivecommon.html#sthash.ZCYWJXyY.dpuf

Comparative form of Adjectives

OVERVIEW | ORDER | COMPARATIVE | POSSESSIVE | SUPERLATIVE

When we compare things, people or even ideas we look at what makes them different from each
other.

Comparative adjectives are used to show what quality one thing has more or less than the other.
They normally come before any other adjectives.

!Tip - It's a good idea to learn opposites (antonyms) when learning adjectives.

For example:

TALL / SHORT

The man on the left is taller than the man on the right. 

The man on the right is shorter than the man on the left.

!Note - Have you noticed that when we are comparing two things like this we put than between the
adjective and the thing being compared.

FAST / SLOW

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 A car is faster than a bicycle. 
A bicycle is slower than a car.

For example:

BIG / SMALL

The red bag is bigger than the blue bag. 

The blue bag is smaller than the red bag.

FORMING THE COMPARATIVE

The way you form the comparative from an adjective depends – on the number of syllables and the
spelling of the adjective.

Form Rule For example

Add -r to the end of

Words of one syllable ending in 'e'. wide - wider
the word.

For example:-

A motorway is wider than a road.

Double the consonant

Words of one syllable, with one vowel
and add -er to the big - bigger
and one consonant at the end.
end of the word.

For example:-

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 http://www.leunig.com.au/ - Reproduced with permission.

Words of one syllable, with more than

Add - er to the end of
one vowel or more than one consonant high - higher
the word.
at the end.

Mount Everest is higher than Mount Snowdon.

Change 'y' to 'i', and

happy -
Words of two syllables, ending in 'y'. add -er to the end of
happier
the word.

For example:-

Some people seem to be luckier than other people.

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 beautiful -
Words of two syllables or more, not Place 'more' before
more
ending in 'y'. the adjective.
beautiful

For example:-

Arguably Rome is more beautiful than Paris.

!Warning - For every rule, there is at least one exception and there are also irregular adjectives that
you need to memorise as you come across them.

For example:-

 'good' becomes 'better'

 'bad' becomes 'worse'
 'far' becomes 'farther' or 'further'

!Warning - A lot of people write "then" instead of "than"- avoid it as it's simply not correct, and let's
face it, you would be marked down in a test or exam.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivecomp.html#sthash.MBAKOa0L.dpuf

Possessive Adjectives
OVERVIEW | ORDER | COMPARATIVE | POSSESSIVE | SUPERLATIVE

Possessive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Subject pronoun Possessive adjective

I my
you your
he his
she her
it its
we our
they their
For example:

 I own a laptop. = It is my laptop.

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  You own this computer (I presume). = It is your computer.
 My husband owns a car. = It is his car.
 My sister owns a house. = It is her house.
 My dog has a food bowl. = It is its food bowl.
 We love this website. = It is our website.
 Manchester United own a football ground. = It is their football ground.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectiveposs.html#sthash.f5JZKvFh.dpuf

Superlative Adjectives
OVERVIEW | ORDER | COMPARATIVE | POSSESSIVE | SUPERLATIVE

The superlative is used to say what thing, person, or idea has the most of a particular quality within a
group or of its kind.

Superlative adjectives normally come before any other adjectives.

Snowdon is
not the
highestmountain
in Britain. 
Ben Nevis is the
Mount Snowdon is 3,559 feet highest mountain
Ben Nevis is 4,408 feet high.in Britain.
high.

FORMING THE SUPERLATIVE

Form Rule For example

Add -st to the end of the

Words of one syllable ending in 'e'. wide - widest
word.

The Amazon River is the widest river in the world.

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 Words of one syllable, with one Double the consonant
vowel and one consonant at the and add -est to the end of big - biggest
end. the word.

In 2010 a dog called Giant George was given the title of the biggest dog in the
world.

Words of one syllable, with more

Add - est to the end of the
than one vowel or more than one high - highest
word.
consonant at the end.

Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the word. (But it isn't the

tallest mountain in the world.)

Change 'y' to 'i', and add

Words of two syllables, ending in happy -
-est to the end of the
'y'. happiest
word.

In 2013 Australia was named the happiest country in the world.

Words of two syllables or more, not Place 'the most' before beautiful - the
ending in 'y'. the adjective. most beautiful

Some people say that the Maldives have the most beautiful beaches in the
world.

Don't forget that some adjectives are irregular:-

 'good' becomes 'the best'

 'bad' becomes 'the worst'
 'far' becomes 'the furthest'

For example:

 "Jill is the best student in the class ."

 "Jack is the worst student in the class."
 "In our solar system the planet Pluto is the furthest planet from the Sun."

!Note - Have you noticed that these superlatives are preceded by 'the'.

For example:

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  "The Rio de la Plata river, on the southeast coastline of South America, is the widest river in
the world."
 According to the List of World records Carol Yager (1960-1994), from Michigan,
is the fattest person ever to live, weighing 725 kg (1,600 lb).
 "Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world."
 "I think that Castle Combe is the prettiest village in England."
 "Arguably, Rome is the most beautiful city in the world."

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivesuper.html#sthash.o3613jWb.dpuf

Irregular Adjectives
OVERVIEW | ORDER | COMPARATIVE | POSSESSIVE | SUPERLATIVE

Adjective Comparative Superlative Example

Historians say that Hitler was worse than

Mussolini. 
bad worse the worst
He was one of the worst dictators the world has
ever seen.

Mars is further from the Sun than Earth. 

far further the furthest
Pluto is the furthest world from the Sun.

Her English was better than the teacher's. 

good better the best
She was the best English speaker in the class.

My sister Karen is older than me.

the oldest
old (age) older / elder
My elder sister Karen is the eldest in our
the eldest
family.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectiveirregular.html#sthash.yP0wQHaW.dpuf

ADJECTIVES

Used to something

They say you can get used to anything.

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The use of used to do something is explained here. However, used to has another meaning, it can
be used as an adjective and we use it to talk about things that have become familiar, and are no
longer strange or new.

Used to usually comes after verbs such as be, get or become.

 After a while you get used to the noise.

 She will become used to the smell.
 I was used to the web site.

You can also say that someone is used to doing something.

 I'll never get used to getting up at six o'clock in the morning.

 It took me a while until I was used to driving on the right-hand side of the road.

- See more at: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/usedtotext2.html#sthash.qAu6vfhp.dpuf

Personality Adjectives Table

(A list of English adjectives used to describe people's personalities with dictionary look up - double
click on any word for its definition and pronunciation)

OVERVIEW | ORDER | COMPARATIVE | POSSESSIVE | SUPERLATIVE

Positive | Negative

POSITIVE
a-e f-p q-z

adaptable fabulous quiet

fair  receptive
adorable
faithful  reflective
agreeable  fantastic  relieved 
alert fearless resolute
alluring frank responsible
ambitious friendly righteous
amusing funny romantic
generous sedate
boundless
gentle  selective
brave  good self-assured

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 bright  happy sensitive
harmonious shrewd
calm 
helpful silly 
capable hilarious  sincere
charming  honorable skilful
cheerful  impartial splendid 
coherent  industrious steadfast
confident instinctive stimulating
jolly  talented
cooperative
joyous  thoughtful 
courageous kind thrifty
credible kind-hearted tough
cultured knowledgeable trustworthy
dashing likeable unbiased
dazzling lively  unusual
lovely  upbeat
debonair
loving vigorous
decisive lucky  vivacious 
decorous mature warm
delightful modern willing
determined nice wise
diligent obedient  witty 
painstaking wonderful 
discreet
peaceful zany 
dynamic
perfect  zealous
eager placid
efficient plausible
enchanting pleasant 
encouraging plucky
productive
enduring 
protective
energetic
proud 
entertaining punctual 
enthusiastic
excellent
excitable
exuberant

  NEGATIVE  

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a-e f-p q-z

abrasive fanatical quarrelsome

abrupt repulsive
fierce 
abusive ruthless
aloof
finicky sad
ambiguous flashy scary
angry  flippant secretive
annoyed  foolish  selfish 
anxious  forgetful silly
arrogant  slow
frantic 
awful  sneaky
bad
fretful snobbish
belligerent frightened  spendthrift
boorish furtive  squeamish
boring greedy stingy
callous grieving  strange
careless sulky
grouchy
clumsy tacky
combative 
gruesome tense 
confused  grumpy terrible 
cowardly guarded testy
crazy gullible thick-skinned
creepy  helpless  thoughtless 
cruel  threatening
hesitant
cynical tight
horrible
dangerous  timid
deceitful hurtful tired 
defective ignorant tiresome
defiant  irresolute troubled 
depressed  jealous truculent
deranged typical
jittery
disagreeable uptight
lacking
disillusioned vague
disturbed  lazy vengeful
domineering lonely  venomous
draconian malicious volatile
embarrassing materialistic voracious
envious  vulgar
mean
erratic wary
mysterious 
evasive wasteful
evil naive weak

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 nasty wicked
worthless
naughty 
wretched
nervous
noisy
obnoxious 
outrageous 
over zealous
panicky 
pathetic
possessive

- See more at:

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivepersonality.html#sthash.qKBDz6Za.dpuf

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