To Be + Adjective

An adjective is a word that gives us a description about something or someone.

 John is old.
Old is an adjective. Old is a description of John.
With an adjective, we frequently use TO BE. The order is:
To be + adjective
 John is old.

TO BE + ADJECTIVE
Some examples of To be + adjective:
 I am tired.
 You are nervous.
 He is tall.
 She is happy.
 It is round.
 We are cold.
 You are hot.
 They are angry.
TO BE + NOT + ADJECTIVE
 John is old.
What is the opposite of old?
Young.
To make a negative sentence we use TO BE + NOT + ADJECTIVE
 John is not young.
Our examples from before … now in negative form.
 I am not tired.
 You are not nervous.
Remember you can make a contraction of are not … which becomes aren’t and is
not which becomes isn’t
 You are not nervous. OR
 you aren’t nervous.
The rest of the examples:
 He is not tall.
 She is not happy.
 It is not round.
 We are not cold
 You are not hot.
 They are not angry.
So, the negative sentence is: TO BE + NOT + ADJECTIVE.
Let’s look at negative sentences using opposites.
 I am not sad. I am happy.
 Flowers aren’t ugly. They are beautiful.
 Ice cream isn’t hot. It is cold.
 Lemons aren’t sweet. They are sour.
 This exercise isn’t difficult. It is easy.
 A piano isn’t light. It is heavy.
 Elephants aren’t small. They are big.
 My shoes aren’t clean. They are dirty.

QUESTIONS – TO BE + ADJECTIVE
We can also make questions with To Be and an adjective.
 He is happy. (This is an affirmative sentence)
To make a question we change the order of To Be…
Instead of he is… it becomes Is he….?
 Is he happy?
And then you can give a short answer:
Yes, he is. OR No, he isn’t.
Another example:
 She is nervous.
To make this a question, it becomes…
 Is she nervous?
And then you can give a short answer:
Yes, she is. OR No, she isn’t.
Another example:
 They are confused.
To make this a question, it becomes…
 Are they confused?
And then you can give a short answer:
Yes, they are. OR No, they aren’t.

PRACTICE EXERCISES
Exercise 1
Complete these sentences using: is, isn’t, are, or aren’t.
(The answers appear in our video.)
 1. The Earth _____ round.
 2. Diamonds _____ cheap.
 3. Pillows _____ soft.
 4. A balloon _____ heavy.
 5. Turtles _____ slow.
 6. Chocolate _____ sweet.
  7. A rose _____ ugly.
 8. Bananas _____ blue.

Exercise 2
Now write the opposite of each sentence. Use TO BE + Adjective.
For example: 1. The Earth is round. The Earth isn’t square.
Exercise 3
Describe your city…
 Is your city large or small?
 Is your city old or modern?
 Is your city clean or dirty?
 Is your city dangerous or safe?
 Is your city boring or interesting?
 Tell us more about your city.
To Be + Adjective – Summary Chart