ADJECTIVE EXERCISES

Exercise 1: Form adjectives from the nouns below and add them to appropriate column, the
first one has been done as examples. The number of adjectives that should be added to each
column is shown.

 advantage  history  history  continent  adventure

 apology ambition/ art/ catastrophe/ commerce/
Courage/ danger/ drama/ ecology/ emotion/
Energy/ finance/ function/ grammar/ intention/
Islam/ logic/ magnet/ metal/ mountain/
Nation/ optimism/ pessimism/ philosophy/ politics/
Profession/ region/ sarcasm/ science/ sensation/
Society/ symbol/ sympathy/ synonym/ system/
theatre theory/ tradition/ tragedy/

1. -ous (+5) 2. -ic (+15) 3. -ical (+7) 4. -al (+11)

advantageous historic historical continental
adventurous apologetic __artical _regional
mountainous_ Islamtic_ commercial ambitional
dangerous_ ecologic ecological emotional
courageous_ pessimistic logical traditional
___________ dramatic financial professional
___________ optimistic magnetical national
___________ energetic grammatical functional
___________ philosophic philosophical intentional
Metallic/ synonymic political societal
catastrophic theatrical sensational
politic/symbolic
sarcastic/ sympathetic
scientific/ theoretic
Tragic/ systematic

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Exercise 2. Form adjectives from the verbs and nouns below.
 accept  appreciate  believe  bump  contradict
coward compete decorate describe destroy
communicate explode forget inform itch
jump obtain possess prefer produce
regret rely repeat satisfy shine
slip supplement sweat enjoy day
dust fortnight gloom guilt haste
knowledge luck memory month mood
neighbour quarter reason sand stripe
taste year

1. -able (9) 2. -ive (10) 3. -ly (6) 4. -y (16)

acceptable appreciative cowardly bumpy
believable ___________ ___________ contradictory
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________

Exercise 3. Write these sentences, choosing the correct words:

1. It was a very (interesting/ interested) performance.

2. We were all very (interesting/ interested) in what he said.
3. It was a very (tired/ tiring) journey.
4. We were all very (worrying/ worried).
5. The children are (frightening/ frightened) by the animals.
6. Why do you look so (bored/ boring) at school?
7. It was a terribly (excited/ exciting) day.
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8. Don't look so (worrying/ worried).
9. We had a (tiring/ tired) trip home.
10. It was an extremely (amused/ amusing) program.
11. What an (exciting/ excited) idea!
12. It was the most (boring/ bored) afternoon I can remember.
13. We were all feeling (tired/ tiring).
14. Didn't you think it was an (amused/ amusing) play?
15. The last half hour was a (worrying/ worried) time.
16. I've never been so (frightened/ frightening) in my life.

00000Exercise 4. Put the adjectives in brackets in these sentences in the most appropriate
order. Opinion S (Size/ Shape) Age Color Original Material Purpose
1. Mine’s the _small blue Japanese_ car, (blue, Japanese, small)
2. I rent a(n) _large old furnished house. (furnished, large, old)
3. I’ve just bought a _beautiful wooden coffee table. (beautiful, coffee, wooden)
4. Their powerful combined military forces soon overcame the invasion. (combined, military,
powerful)
5. Have you seen this _fantastic new German_ invention? (fantastic, German, new)
6. There was a _wonderful, soft, and woolen_ rug on the floor. (soft, wonderful, woolen)
7. She gave me a small square metal jewelry box. (jewelry, metal, small, square)
8. Cycling is a(n) ___popular outdoor__ activity. (outdoor, popular)
9. They live in _mud and straw_ houses. (mud, straw)
10. He was a ___famous medical__ doctor. (famous, medical)
11. I’ve just finished a _boring, depressing_ novel. (boring, depressing)

Exercise 5. Put in the right word order or choose the right forms.

Not a dog’s dinner

(1. shoes leather Italian expensive handmade) __Expensive handmade Italian leather shoes:
these are my pride and joy. I own a (2. old beautiful pair) beautiful old pair or I did until
yesterday when I discovered that one of the shoes was missing. I had left the shoes on my (3.

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doorstep back) back doorstep to do some gardening. My neighbor has a (4. Dog-friendly
large) friendly large dog called Sam. When I saw that one of my shoes had disappeared, I
knew that Sam had taken it. I can’t say he behaved (5. bad/ badly). He just behaved like a dog.
Leather looks (6. good/ well) and tastes (7. good/ well), too. I unwillingly gave Sam the (8.
remaining Italian shoe) remaining Italian shoe and then followed him. I not only found one (9.
Italian unchewed shoe) unchewed Italian shoe but also a pile of things Sam had been
borrowing, including my wife’s (10. slippers fur-lined red) red fur-lined slippers, which Sam
had tried to have for dinner.

Exercise 6. Write down the comparative and superlative of these adjectives.

1. able 2. frequent 3. bored 4. gentle
5. boring 6. healthy 7. clever 8. narrow
9. cruel 10. obvious 11. dry 12. true
13. fat 14. useful 15. fertile 16. violent
17. free 18. well 19. dear 20. real

Exercise 7. Write the comparative of the words given to complete the sentences. Add them
where necessary.
1. He is____________ he used to be. (helpful)
He is more helpful than he used to be.
2. It was slowly getting ____________ and____________ (hot)
It was slowly getting hotter and hotter.
3. I had less time than I needed to finish the job. (little)
4. Peter gets more and more self-fish all the time (self-fish)
5. You seem happier than you were yesterday. ( happy)
6. My chair was getting more and more uncomfortable (uncomfortable)
7. We need younger actors for this film. (young)
8. I think that the new salesman is more honest than the last one. (honest)
9. This road is longer and more dangerous than the other one. (long/dangerous)
10. Is the new car more expensive than the old one? (expensive)
11. This system is easier than the last one we had. (easy)
12. People here are more polite than they are at home. (polite)
13. The man was getting angrier and angrier (angry)
14. The city is more crowded than it used to be. (crowded)
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15. This school is more old-fashioned than ours. (old-fashioned)
16. The computer was more expensive than I thought. (expensive)
17. Do you think English is more difficult than French. (difficult)
18. My exam was worse than I had thought. (bad)
19. The road becomes narrower after three or four miles. (narrow)

Exercise 8. Write out the sentences, filling in the blanks with correct comparative and
superlative forms.
Example: Ann has one cat, Sue has two cats, and Mary has three cats.
Sue has more cats than Ann, but Marry has the most cats. (much)

In the physics course John received a grade of A, Bob received a B, and George received a C.
1. Bob is a better student than George, but John is the best student. (good)
2. Bob is a worse student than John, but George is the worst student. (bad)
A person can travel by airplane from London to Paris, Moscow, or Singapore.
3. Moscow is further from London than Paris, but Singapore is the furthest. (far)
4. A ticket to Moscow costs more than a ticket to Paris, but a ticket to Singapore costs the
most.(much)
Aly can run for one mile; Mahmud can run for two miles; Jamil can run for three times.
5. Mahmud has less energy than Jamil, but Aly has the least energy. (little)

Exercise 9. Complete the sentences with participles as adjectives, using the verbs in the box.
The verbs with adverbs should be used to form compound adjectives.
dry act-well tailor beautifully bring up well love
change decline fast keep beautifully think clearly park
break brush well write well build well boil
steal plan badly continue embarrass

1. It was a very restful holiday so I feel much more ..relaxed... now.

2. It was a very ..well-acted.. play.
3. I kept calling her by the wrong name; it was very embarrassing.
4. The boiling kettle filled the kitchen with steam.
5. She's a very well-brought-up child: she always behaves herself well.
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6. I think he may have died of a broken heart.
7. Her hair is always very well-brushed.
8. The increase in divorce reflects a changing attitude to marriage and relationships.
9. She's a very good person to have in meetings as she's very clear-thinking.
10. Shortage of money is a continuing problem for them: it probably always will be.
11. The house is old but it's very well-built.
12. It was a badly-planned escape and so it inevitably failed.
13. Badgers are a fast-declining species in this country as more of them are killed every year.
14. That's a beautifully-tailored suit he's wearing.
15. I need some dried fruit to put in the cake.
16. This is a beautifully-kept garden: someone must spend a lot of time working on it.
17. It was a very well-written article.
18. The police may charge you with receiving stolen goods.
19. They're a very loving family and they give each other a lot of support.
20. Children should not play near parked cars.

Exercise 10. Check that an adjective has not been used where a noun is required and vice
versa.
1.The deep of the ocean is measured using sophisticated sonar equipment.
A B C D
=> depth
2. Competitors in the lunge events claim to be motivated by a spirit of adventurous.
A B C D
=> adventure

3. The unicorn, a fabled one-horned beast of the Middle Ages, was actually a
A B C
non - existence animal.
D
4. It is of course the fact that the ball used in American football is an oblate spheroid
A B

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rather truly sphere in shape that makes it difficult to catch.
C D
5. When Krakatoa erupted in the nineteenth century, the noisy was heard hundreds of
A B C D
miles away. => noise