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Introduce
1. Adjectives are invariable:
They do not change their form depending on the gender or number of the noun.
| A hot potato | Some hot potatoes |
2. To emphasise or strengthen the meaning of an adjective use 'very' or 'really':
|
A very hot potato |
Some really hot potatoes. |
(BUT see also Modifiers/Adverbs)
Position of adjectives
a) Usually in front of a noun:
A beautiful girl.
b) After verbs like "to be", linking verbs like "become", "seem", "appear", "turn", "get", "be",.. and cognitive verbs like "look", "taste", "sound", "smell",...
Examples
- The girl is beautiful
- You look tired
- This meat tastes funny
c) After the noun: in some fixed expressions:
Examples
- The Princess Royal
- The President elect
- a court martial
d) After the noun with the adjectives involved, present, concerned:
Examples
- I want to see the people involved/concerned (= the people who have something to do with the matter)
- Here is a list of the people present (= the people who were in the building or at the meeting)
Be careful! When these adjectives are used before the noun they have a different meaning:
- An involved discussion = detailed, complex
- A concerned father = worried, anxious
- The present situation = current, happening now
ex: I couldn't see anything wrong here.
Forming adjectives
Some adjectives can be identified by their endings. Typical adjective endings include:
- -able/-ible understandable, capable, readable, incredible
- -al mathematical, functional, influential, chemical
- -ful beautiful, bashful, helpful, harmful
- -ic artistic, manic, rustic, terrific
- -ive submissive, intuitive, inventive, attractive
- -less sleeveless, hopeless, groundless, restless
- -ous gorgeous, dangerous, adventurous, fabulous
Sometimes when adding these endings changes have to be made. Here are some rules for forming adjectives and their exceptions:
| Add | Exceptions | Word | Adjective |
| -al | If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it | Nature Function |
Natural Functional |
| -y | If ending with an ‘e‘, drop it | Ice Oil |
Icy Oily |
| -ful | If ending with a ‘y‘, replace with an ‘i‘ | Beauty Peace |
Beautiful Peaceful |
| -ous/-ious | If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it | Mystery Danger |
Mysterious Dangerous |
| -ic | If ending with a ‘y‘, drop it | History Rust |
Historic Rustic |
Forming adjectives from nouns and verbs
Adjectives can be formed from different words. They can be formed from nouns:
| Noun | Adjective |
| accident | accidental |
| danger | dangerous |
| length | long |
| star | starry |
| wind | windy |
From verbs:
| Verb | Adjective |
| enjoy | enjoyable |
| help | helpful |
| obey | obedient |
| play | playful |
| talk | talkative |
Or even from other adjectives:
| Adjective | Adjective |
| comic | comical |
| correct | corrective |
| elder | elderly |
| red | reddish |
| sick | sickly |
*Some adjectives and adverbs have to write and how to read the same:
|
Adjectives |
Adverbs |
|
fast |
fast |
|
only |
only |
|
late |
late |
|
pretty |
pretty |
|
right |
right |
|
short |
short |
|
sound |
sound |
|
hard |
hard |
|
fair |
fair |
|
even |
even |
|
cheap |
cheap |
|
early |
early |
|
much |
much |
|
little |
little |
*** Besides, we can use adjective in structures:
- be + too + adj + to do something
ex: She is too short to play basketball. - be + adj + enough (+for someone/something) + to do something
ex: Lisa is intelligent enough to do that work. - Subject + be/ verb + so + adj + that + clause ( S +V)
ex: She is so kind that everyone loves her. - S + V + such + a/an + adj + that + clause
ex: It was such a hot day that we decided to stay indoors. - adjective in exclamative sentence:
- What + a/an + adj + Noun !
ex: What an awful day! - How + adj + S + V!
ex: How kind the girl is! - S + find + it + adj + to do ST
ex: Bin found it difficult to learn English.
- What + a/an + adj + Noun !