ADJECTIVES

What is ADJECTIVE?
 An adjective is a word that modifies or
describes a noun or pronoun.
Adjectives can be used to describe the
qualities of someone or something
independently or in comparison to
something else.
 Examples of Adjectives
 Adjectives are words that describe the
qualities or states of being of nouns:
enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun,
fast
 They can also describe the quantity of
nouns: many, few, millions, eleven
 much vs many
 Much is used to describe mass nouns or
noncount nouns like juice, rice, patience, and
happiness. When using much, the noun will
always be singular; it cannot be plural.
 Many is used to describe count nouns or nouns
that can be counted like books, ideas, leaves, and
shoes.
 Adjective Exercises: much vs many
 Decide whether you have to use much or many
1. We saw _many_ animals at the zoo.
2. How _many_ oranges did you put in the box?
3. There isn’t _much_ sugar in my coffee.
4. I don’t have _many_ friends.
5. The old man hasn’t got _much_ hair on his head.
6. I’ve packed _many_ bottles of water.
7. I didn’t get _much_ sleep last night.
8. How _much_ fruit do you eat in an average day?
 ADJECTIVES

1. Kinds of Adjective
2. Formation of Adjective
3. Position and Sequence of Adjectives in a
Sentence
4. Comparison of Adjectives
5. Articles
Examples, as used in a sentence:

1. I like old houses.

2. The boy is tall and skinny.
3. Jane is smarter than her brother.
4. Lisa is wearing a sleeveless shirt today.
5. He writes meaningless letters.
6. This shop is much nicer.
 What does an adjective describe in a sentence?

 An adjective is a word that modifies a

noun or pronoun to make the sentence
clearer and more specific. Adjectives
answer the following questions: What
kind? How many? Which one?
 How do you start a sentence with adjectives?
 Opening Adjective - an adjective at the
beginning of a sentence, either as the first word
of the sentence or as the first word in an
adjective phrase. You must ALWAYS put a
comma after an opening adjective.
 Example: “Speechless, Bryson scanned the
small living room.
 What are simple adjectives?
 Simple adjectives, as their name suggests, are
the most basic kind of descriptive adjectives.
They function to express quality. Aspects such
as feelings, time, sound, quantity, taste,
appearance, size, age, color, shape, and
material are expressed through simple
adjectives.
8 Order of adjectives in a sentence
 Generally, the adjective order in English is:
• Quantity or number.
• Quality or opinion.
• Size.
• Age.
• Shape.
• Color.
• Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or
material)
• Purpose or qualifier.
8 Order of adjectives in a sentence
 There is a rule for the proper order of
adjectives in a sentence. The rule obeys the
mnemonic: Never OPEN My Purse: Number,
opinion, physical condition, essentials (size,
shape, age, color), nationality, material, and
purpose.
 The best example of the adjective order is the
movie title, My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding
8 Order of adjectives in a sentence
 Example:
1. I love that beautiful old big green antique car
that always parked at the end of the
street. [quality – age – size – color – proper
adjective]
2. My sister has a big beautiful tan and white
bulldog. [size – quality – color – color]
Order of adjectives in a sentence
 Type of Adjective:
 1. Descriptive adjectives
Descriptive adjectives are adjectives that describe the
characteristics, traits, or qualities of a noun or pronoun. Most
adjectives are descriptive adjectives. Words such as purple,
friendly, and attractive are examples of descriptive adjectives.
 Examples
1. A lot of interesting people visit this park.
2. She told a scary story.
3. The leaves turned orange and red.
 Type of Adjective:
 2. Comparative adjectives
Comparative adjectives are used to compare two different people or
things to each other. Some examples of comparative adjectives
include words such as smaller, faster, more expensive, and less
reasonable.
Examples:
1. Whales are larger animals than dolphins.
2. We moved to a cheaper apartment.
3. The sequel was even more incredible than the first movie.
 Type of Adjective:
 3. Superlative adjectives
Superlative adjectives are used to compare more than two people or
things by indicating which one is the most supreme or extreme. Some
examples of superlative adjectives include words such as smartest,
loudest, most impressive, and least valuable.
 Examples
1. Adrian is the fastest member of our team.
2. Out of all of my books, this one is the oldest.
3. We are trying to figure out the least confusing way to explain the
lesson to the new students.
 Type of Adjective:
 4. Predicate adjectives
Predicate adjectives are adjectives that appear in the predicate of a
sentence as a subject complement rather than directly next to the
nouns or pronouns that they modify. Predicate adjectives follow
linking verbs in sentences and clauses.
 Examples
1. Andrea is tall.
2. Freddy became angry.
3. The steak looks delicious.
 Type of Adjective:
 5. Compound adjectives
Compound adjectives are adjectives that are formed from multiple
words, which are usually connected by hyphens. Some examples of
compound adjectives include never-ending, cross-eyed, and run-of-
the-mill.
 Examples
1. She had enough of the double-dealing salesman.
2. My happy-go-lucky daughter loved our trip to Disneyland.
3. The better-off members of the city live by the river.
 Type of Adjective:
 6. Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are often used to express possession or
ownership. The most commonly used possessive adjectives are
my, your, its, her, his, our, their, and whose.
 Examples
1. My favorite food is pizza.
2. Sydney spent the day with her parents.
3. Canadians celebrated their team’s victory at the Olympics.
 Type of Adjective:
 7. Demonstrative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives are used to express relative positions in
space and time. The most commonly used demonstrative adjectives
are this, that, these, and those.
 Examples
1. This watch is cheaper than that one.
2. This weekend is going to be really fun.
3. Watch out for those prickly rose bushes next to you.
 Type of Adjective:
 8. Proper adjectives
Proper adjectives are adjectives formed from proper nouns. In
general, proper adjectives are commonly used to say that something
is related to a specific person or place. Proper adjectives include
words such as African, Napoleonic, and Shakespearian.
 Examples
1. He was reading a Russian newspaper.
2. I think Haitian food is tasty.
3. We studied the history of Victorian England in school today.
 Type of Adjective:
 9. Participial adjectives
Participial adjectives are adjectives that are based on participles,
which are words that usually end in -ed or -ing and derive from
verbs. Participial adjectives include words like amazing,
impressed, and fascinating.
 Examples
1. Travis was late for his swimming lessons.
2. Please hand me my reading glasses.
3. The silly clown cheered up the bored children.
 Type of Adjective:
 10. Limiting adjectives
Limiting adjectives are adjectives that restrict a noun or pronoun rather
than describe any of its characteristics or qualities. Limiting adjectives
overlap with other types of adjectives such as demonstrative adjectives
and possessive adjectives. Limiting adjectives include words such as
these, your, and some.
 Examples
1. I bought some eggs at the store.
2. She found three pennies under the couch cushions.
3. Take a look at that house over there.
 Type of Adjective:
 11. Interrogative adjectives
Interrogative adjectives are adjectives that are used to ask
questions. The interrogative adjectives are what, which,
and whose.
 Examples
1. What color is your favorite?
2. Which button turns off the lights?
3. Whose turn is it to wash the cat?
 Type of Adjective:
 12. Attributive adjectives
Attributive adjectives are adjectives that are directly next to the noun
and pronoun that they modify. Usually, attributive adjectives come
directly before nouns and pronouns but they modify. But they can
sometimes appear after them.
 Examples
1. She has beautiful handwriting.
2. The hungry gorilla ate the fresh mangoes.
3. Myra gave his dad something special for his birthday.
 Type of Adjective:
 13. Distributive adjectives
Distributive adjectives are used to refer to members of a group
individually. Examples of distributive adjectives include each,
every, either, and neither.
 Examples
1. Each puppy got their own little doghouse.
2. Every member of the team scored a goal.
3. I’ll be happy if either candidate wins the election.
FORMATION OF ADJECTIVES
 Adjectives can be formed from
the nouns, verbs, and other
adjectives by adding suffixes and
prefixes
RULES IN USING ADJECTIVE AND
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
1. PLACEMENT: Adjective and adjectival
phrases usually come before or after the noun and
pronoun they modify.
Example:
1. The tall tree swayed in the wind.
2. The new car caught everyone’s attention.
RULES IN USING ADJECTIVE AND
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
2. COMMAS: If the adjective and adjectival phrase
comes before the noun or pronoun, use a comma to
separate it from the rest of the sentence.
Example:
1. The tree, tall and sturdy, swayed in the wind.
2. The car, shiny and new, caught everyone’s attention.
RULES IN USING ADJECTIVE AND
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
3. ORDER: Adjective and adjectival phrase
should follow a specific order: opinion, size,
age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose
Example: A beautiful, large, antique, round,
red, French, wooden, dining table
RULES IN USING ADJECTIVE AND
ADJECTIVAL PHRASE
4. HYPHENS: Use hyphens to connect
two or more words that form a single idea
modifying a noun or pronoun.
Example: The well-known author wrote a
best-selling book.
Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives
 We often use adjectives [and adverbs] to
compare. There are three degrees of
comparison:
1. Positive (or negative)
2. Comparative
3. Superlative
Degree of Adjectives in a Positive Form
 The positive degree of an adjective or adverb offers
no comparison.
 Example: rich, pretty, handsome, good
 As used in a sentence:
1. Coleen is rich girl.
2. She is pretty.
3. Robert is a handsome guy.
4. The Castro family is known to be good.
 Degree of Adjectives in a Comparative Form

 Comparative Degree: An adjective is said to be in the

comparative degree when it is used to compare two
nouns/pronouns.
 We use comparative adjectives to show change or make
comparisons:
1. This car is certainly better, but it's much more expensive.
2. I'm feeling happier now.
3. We need a bigger garden.
 Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 1. When two items/people are compared, a
comparative degree is used by putting ‘er’ to the
adjective word in association with the word
‘than’. In some cases ‘more’ is used.
 Comparative degree example:
1. She is smarter than her sister.
2. She is more cheerful than her sister.
Similarly, when more than two things/people are
compared, the superlative degree is used by putting
‘est’ to the adjective word or in some cases ‘most’
is used.
 Superlative degree of comparison examples:
1. He is the strongest wrestler.
2. He is the most handsome actor.
 Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 2. ‘More’ is used when you compare
qualities of a single thing/person. Even if the
first adjective is a single syllable word.
 Degree of comparison examples:
Incorrect: She is smarter than clever.
Correct: She is more smart than clever.
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 3. Do not use double comparative
adjectives or superlative adjectives.
 Degree of comparison examples:
Incorrect: These mangoes are more tastier
than those.
Correct: These mangoes are tastier than
those.
 Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 4. Never use ‘more or most’ with
adjectives that give absolute sense.
 Degree of comparison example:
Incorrect: This track is more parallel to that
one.
Correct: This track is parallel and the other is
not.
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 5. There are a few adjectives that are accompanied by ‘to’,
like, senior, junior, superior, inferior, preferable, prefer, elder.
Do not use ‘than’ with these adjectives.
 Degree of adjective examples:
Incorrect: I am elder than her.
Correct: I am elder to her.
 Another example:
Incorrect: This car brand is superior than that.
Correct: This card brand is superior to that.
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 6. When comparing two things, similarity should
be there, i.e. similar things should be compared.
 Examples of degree of comparison:
Incorrect: This wall color is more beautiful than the old
one. (wall color is compared with the wall)
Correct: This wall color is more beautiful than that of the
old one. (compare wall color with wall color)
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 7. When the comparative degree is used in the
superlative degree sense
 Use ‘any other’ when thing/person of the same group is
compared.
 Degree of comparison example:
Incorrect: Reena is smarter than any student of her class.
Correct: Reena is smarter than any other student of her class.
 Use ‘any’ if comparison of things/person is outside the group.
Incorrect: Delhi is cleaner than any other city in Bangladesh.
Correct: Delhi is cleaner than any city in Bangladesh.
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 8. When in the same sentence two
adjectives in different degrees of comparison are
used, both should be complete in themselves.
Incorrect: She is as good if not worse than her
sister.
Correct: She is as good as if not worse than her
sister.
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule 9. To show whether the difference between the compared thing/person is small or big, we
use quantifiers for the comparative degree of an adjective such as (A bit, a little, a lot, far, much, a
great deal, significantly, etc).
 Example:
1. My hostel is only marginally bigger than yours.
2. She is a little more popular than her sister in their school.
3. Australia is slightly smaller than Africa.
 We don’t use quantifiers with superlative degrees of adjectives but there are certain phrases
commonly used with the superlative degrees of comparison.
 Degree of Comparison Example:
1. In metropolitan cities, metros are by far the cheapest mode of transportation.
2. Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages in the world.
3. Siddhivinayak is the second richest temple in India.
Degree of Comparison Rules
 Rule. 10. While changing the degree of comparison for
the irregular adjectives, the word completely changes
instead of adding ‘er’ or ‘est’.
 Examples:
1. She has little milk in the jar.
2. She has less milk than he has.
3. She has the least amount of milk.
How do you use degree of adjective in a sentence?

 Examples
1. My house is (large, larger, largest) than hers.
2. This box is (small, smaller, smallest) than the one I lost.
3. Your dog runs (fast, faster, fastest) than Jim's dog.
4. The rock flew (high, higher, highest) than the roof.
5. Jim and Jack are both my friends, but I like Jack (good, better,
best). (" than Jim" is understood)
ARTICLES
 The words the, a, and an, are a special
group of adjectives called article adjectives.
They are sometimes called noun markers.
 Like adjectives, articles modify nouns.
English has two articles: the and a/an. “The”
is used to refer to specific or particular
nouns; “a/an” is used to modify non-specific
or non-particular nouns.
TYPES OF ARTICLES
1. Definite article (the) - is used before a noun to
indicate that the identity of the noun is known to the
reader.
2. Indefinite article (a, an) - is used before a noun
that is general or when its identity is not known.
 Example:
1. I want an apple.
2. I want the red apple.
Position of articles in a sentence
 The usual word order is article + adjective + noun. If the
article is indefinite, use a or an based on the word that
immediately follows it.
1. Eliza will bring a small gift to Sophie's party.
2. She found a penny on the ground. (P is a consonant.)
3. He ate an apple. (A is a vowel.)
4. A hungry monkey stole my peanuts.
5. We saw an airplane fly across the sky.
6. The sushi chef prepared meals for a hungry crowd.
7. It was an early morning for me.
TEST ON ARTICLES
1. I've got _____ good news for you. C. No article
A. A D. An
B. The 4. Tell dad _____ dinner is ready.
C. An A. A
D. No article B. The
2. Give me _____ book which is on the table. C. No article
A. A D. An
B. The 5. We are having _____ dinner with _____
C. No article Sharmas.
D. An A. A / the
3. I like to play with _____ baseball. B. No article /the
A. A C. No article
B. The D. A / an
TEST ON ARTICLES
6. I met him on _____ rainy Friday. A. A / an
A. A B. The / the
B. An C. No article
C. The 9. What sort of _____ man he is?
D. No article A. A
7. I'd been sitting here for ten minutes before _____ class B. An
started. C. The
A. A D. No article
B. An 10. I like _____ music in general and I really like _____ music
C. The playing right now.
D. No article A. No article / the
8. _____ Chinese are more conservative than _____ English. B. The / the
C. No article
God bless you all.