ADJECTIVES

WHAT IS AN ADJECTIVE?
Adjective is one of the most
important parts of speech in
English grammar.
It describes nouns (people or
things) by giving extra
information. They make our use
of language more effective and
interesting
Adjectives tell us about the quality,
colour, size and age of something or
someone.
They also enable us to describe the
nationality, purpose and make of things.

Example :
- a blue car
- a nice picture
- an old man
- a big elephant
- some Mexican food
 Adjectives help us identify which
noun is being talked about.
Ex :
A shirt > Which shirt?
The comfortable shirt
Which comfortable shirt?
The comfortable pink shirt
Which comfortable pink shirt?
The comfortable pink silk shirt
 Order of adjective
1. Determiner (the, an, a, my, her, some, etc)
2. Opinion (rich, beautiful, diligent, etc)
3. Size (small, short, etc)
4. Age (new, old, etc)
5. Shape (round, square, thin, etc)
6. Color (blue, red, etc)
7. Origin ( Indonesia, Malaysia, etc)
8. Material (rubber, gold, etc)
9. Purpose (tennis, etc)
10.Noun .
• The cute small young fat white cat .
• A beautiful tall old Indonesia
woman.
• The diligent short young Indonesia
woman.
 Where is the position of
adjective?
1. Place adjectives after the
determiner and before the noun or
noun phrase

Determiner + adjective + Noun

Ex :
The blue car
My new shirt
2. Place adjectives after the indefinite
pronouns (anybody, anyone, anything,
everybody, everyone, everything, nobody,
no-one, nothing, somebody, someone,
something)
Pronoun + adjective
Ex :
Nothing special
Someone nice
Anything smaller
You say…nice person
You do not say….nice someone
3. Adjectives can also be placed
after the link verb. For more
examples go to Linking Verb.

Subject + Link Verb + adjective

Ex :
The car is blue
The houses are big
• Linking verb : to be
• Present : is (he, she, it)
• am (I)
are (they, we, you)
• Past : was ( he, She, it, I)
• were ( you, we, they)
ADJECTIVE ENDING
–ING AND -ED
1. The – ing ending is used on
adjectives which describe a
person or thing or situation.

2. The – ed ending is on
adjectives which describe the
effect this person, thing or
situation has on us.
 For example:
- It was such as a boring party, I was bored
and so was everyone.

- I didn’t think the film was very frightening,

but my younger brother was frightened by
it.

- I think the student are depressed largely

because the weather is so depressing.
Other examples of common adjectives
ending –ing and –ed include :

Surprising – surprised
Exhausting – exhausted
Confusing – confused
Frightening – frightened
Astonishing – astonished
Interesting – interested
Exciting – excited
Terrifying – terrified
Tiring – tired
Fascinating – fascinated
Embrassing – embarrased
Disappointing - dissappointed
 List of common adjectives and the
prepositions that normally follow
them :
accustomed to 
afraid of 
answerable to 
attached to
aware of
 capable of
dependent on 
different to 
doubtful about 
enthusiastic about 
excited about 
famous for 
fond of
interested in 
keen on
pleased with 
popular with
proud of 
related to  
rich in 
satisfied with 
serious about
similar to 
suitable for
 used to (= accustomed to)
• She is afraid of insect.
• He is keen on math.
• The parents are proud of their
children.
ADVERBS
 What is an adverb?
Basically, most adverbs tell
you how, where, or when
something is done. In
other words, they describe
the manner, place, or
time of an action.
 Here are some examples:
1.Manner
Tom drives slowly.

2. Place
The party is going to take place here.

3. Time
I called him yesterday.
• 1. she sings beautifully.
How to recognize an adverb
Many adverbs end with
the suffix -LY. Most of
these are created by
adding -LY to the end of
an adjective.
 For example :
Adjective - Adverb

slow - slowly

delightful - delightfully

hopeless - hopelessly

aggressive - aggressively
However, this is NOT a reliable way
to find out whether a word is an
adverb or not, for two reasons:
1. many adverbs do NOT end in -
LY (some are the same as the
adjective form), and
2. many words which are NOT
adverbs DO end in -LY (such as
kindly, friendly, elderly and
lonely, which are adjectives)
 Here are some examples of adverbs
which are the same as adjectives:

Adjective - Adverb

fast - fast good – well

late - late

early - early
Loud , little, hard, much, straight
 How to tell the word is an
adverb?
The best way to tell if a word is
an adverb is to try making a
question, for which the
answer is the word. If the
question uses how, where or
when, then the word is
probably an adverb.
 Here is an example:
1. John plays tennis aggressively.
How does John play tennis?
Yes -- uses HOW.

2. They have a small house.

What kind of house do they have?
No -- uses WHAT KIND OF, so this is an adjective.

3. Steven called the police immediately.

When did Steven call the police?
Yes -- uses WHEN.
What are Adverbs of Frequency?

An adverb of frequency describes how

often an action happens. There are six
main adverbs of frequency that we use
in English: always, usually
(or normally), often, sometimes,
rarely, and never.
• Sara always goes out on Saturday
evenings.
• Jane’s boyfriend usually picks her
up and they drive into the city
centre.
• Ben and Emma often go for lunch
together.
• In the winter Sara sometimes goes
Skiing in France.
• James and Stephen rarely go to the
cinema in the summer because they
prefer to stay outside.
• As Marta is so busy she never gets
home from work before 7
• Sometimes she does her homework
with friends.

• Usually they study on their own.

 The Question Form

• How often do you watch films?

• How often does he play tennis?
• How often do the trains arrive late?

• Once a week
• Twice a month
• Three times a year
• Sometimes, usually , etc.
• Do you often come here?
• Yes, I do/ no, I don’t.
• Does she always work so hard?
• Yes, she does / no, she doesn’t.
• Do they ever pay on time?
• Yes, they do. / no. they don’t.
• (‘ever’ instead of ‘never’ for questions)