All About Adjective by sahil Sharifdin English

 

All About Adjective

By sahil Sharifdin Ëñglísh

INTRODUCTION

I have read somewhere that we should take care of the small things and the big things will naturally fall into place . Similarly, if we understand words properly , we will naturally understand big books . Small grains of sand make big Islands . Little drops of water make big oceans . Likewise, small words form voluminous books. 

 

There is a huge craze in the world for English language . Those who cannot speak English are not even considered literate in in our region . Among the things which the people of this region use to impress one another are government job , car , bike , branded products and particularly English language .   The people of this region can give anything  in order to become the fluent  speakers of English language . It is almost a matter of honour for them .

 

Keeping the same thing in mind, I have tried my level best to teach you almost everything about adjective . Adjective is a part of speech used in English language. All words used in English language have been categorised by the grammarians  into eight  families which are popularly known as eight parts of speech . Anyone who has well command over the eight parts of speech of English language is doubtlessly a master English language . My beautiful people,  buckle up because we are going to learn Adjective and everything that is directly or indirectly connected with it .

 

 

What is Adjective?

An adjective is  a word that adds something to the meaning of NOUN or PRONOUN. E. G. Happy, Tall, Angry.

 

You are a doctor.

You are a (happy) doctor.

 

She is a student.

She is a (tall) Student.

 

Ram is a soldier.

Ram is an (angry ) soldier.

 

How many types of Adjective are there ?

According to my research , there are 26 types of Adjective and they are defined with examples below :-

 

1] Descriptive Adjective/ Adjectives of quality : They describe the qualities of nouns . They have usually three degrees;eg

Good ,better, best

Bad, worse, worst

Honest,  more honest , most honest

 

2] Adjectives of quantity : They indicate the amount or quantity of noun. They refer to the things  that  can not be counted  ;eg whole , much , little , no, none, some , any , enough, sufficient,  all, half , enough of , lots of , plenty of , double

 

She ate the whole food.

 

The man has enough money to go on a world tour .

 

They got much sleep yesternight .

 

I have plenty of wisdom to teach you .

 

I understood his all foolishness.

 

Finally, the family got some relief.

 

3] Adjectives of number/ numerical Adjectives/ cardinal Adjectives : They indicate the number of noun . They refer to the things  that  can  be counted. They also answer they question ‘’how many ?’’ ;eg one , two , three , many ,  all ,  several , some

There are five boys.

 

I have two homes .

 

She invited some guests to her home .

 

All friends are not same.

 

We face many problems.

 Note: Some Adjectives can come under many categories ;eg 

All friends are not same. [All is Numerical Adjective here ]

I understood his all foolishness. [ All is adjective of quantity here ] 

4] Interrogative Adjectives: There are only three Interrogative Adjectives in English language: what , which and whose .

Examples:

What stupidity is this ?

Which lesson did you memorise ?

Whose wife is she ?

 

5] Proper Adjectives : Proper adjectives are directly formed from  proper nouns and their first letters are always capital letters ; eg

Proper noun = proper Adjective

India = Indian

Shakespeare = Shakespearean

Pakistan = Pakistani

China = Chinese

Elizabeth = Elizabethan

 

 

 

6] Intensifying Adjectives /Intensifiers : They are those adjectives which heighten or reduce the effect of the noun they modify. They are used only attributively ; eg

Bloody fool

Sheer nonsense

Mere hypocrisy

Utter nonsense

Own mistake

The very person

Such a beauty

Quite a beauty

 

·      Note: such , very  and quite take articles also . Such a , the very , quite a , quite the

 

 

 

7] Participle Adjectives : These adjectives  look exactly like  past participle and present participle forms of the main verb and function as adjectives ;eg

Smiling face

Aged farmer

Working knowledge

Flying objects

Running horse

Learned men

Destroyed home

 

8] Noun used as Adjective :  when a noun defines or describes another noun , the former noun is considered an adjective; eg

 

Gold chain

Stone wall

Physics lecturer

Ticket counter

Race bike

Love story

War story

Cricket bat

Village beauty

Sports equipment

Tennis court

Boat race

Cigarette packet

 

9] Distributive Adjectives :  Adjectives which are  used to refer to each and every person or thing separately in a group  are  called Distributive Adjectives ; eg  Each, Every, either, neither, any, one, both

 

Each student was searched thoroughly.

Every bird is beautiful.

You can have it in either colour. [Either used as Adjective]

There are two ways . Take either way. [Either used as Adjective]

He made me two offers, but I did not accept either. [ Either used as pronoun]

Either you buy it or you don’t. [ Either used as conjunction]

 

Neither boy looks attractive. [ Neither used as Adjective]

Neither definition seems correct. [ Neither used as Adjective]

My mother isn’t a teacher. Neither am I. [Neither used as Adverb]

Neither of us knew what to do. [Neither used as pronoun]

Neither you nor I like it. [Neither used as conjunction]

 

Do you know any girl here . [Any as Adjective]

I haven’t got any money. [Any as Adjective]

Any person can eat it .  [Any as Adjective]

Do you know any of them. [ Any as pronoun ]

Any may apply . [  Any as pronoun ]

I looked around for toilet paper, but there wasn’t any. [ Any as pronoun ] 

 

Both books are my favourite. [Both as Adjective]

Both of them are guilty. [ Both as pronoun]

Did you want this one or that one?” — “Give me both.” [ Both as pronoun]

 

 

10] Emphatic Adjectives :The adjectives which are used to lay emphasis on noun are called the emphasizing adjectives. The common emphatic Adjectives are  own , the same and the very . They look slightly different from intensifying adjectives.

Examples:

I saw him with my own eyes.

This was the very gift  that my wife wanted.

The same car was sold by my friend recently.

 

11] Exclamatory Adjective : ‘what’ is the only exclamatory adjective in English language; eg

What an ass!

What a book !

What an idea!

What a blessing!

What a foolishness!

What a management!

 

12] Possessive Adjectives: My, your, his, her, its, our,  and their modify nouns by showing possession or ownership.  They are called possessive adjectives.

Mine , ours , thine , yours , his, hers , theirs are wrongly called as Possessive Adjectives. They are not . They are possessive pronouns. Pronouns replace nouns whereas adjectives modify nouns ;eg

She is my student. [Adjective]

She is a student of mine .  [pronoun]

 

Have you seen our new home ?[Adjective

Have you seen the new home of ours ? [pronoun]

 

 

13] Latin Adjectives of comparative degree : Superior , interior , inferior, junior, senior, prior etc are called Latin Adjectives of comparative degree. They are followed by ‘’to’’ and not ‘’than ‘’ ;eg

We are senior to them .

She is junior to me .

 

Note: They are also used as Adjectives of positive degree without ‘’to’’ ; eg

He is a senior officer.

Look at the interior parts of my home .

 

Note: They are also used as nouns ;eg

He is my junior .

They are our seniors.

 

14] Adjectives used as nouns : Some adjectives are used as nouns to indicate a group or an individual or something; eg

Much was said but little was done .

We are equals .

They are our seniors.

We are going from bad to worse .

We did our best.

In short , we lost the match.

The beautiful kissed the the unpleasant.

The deceased is survived by his wife.

She married the jobless .

The injured have been taken to hospital.

The insane are mentally ill.

The old are no longer young.

The poor have little money .

The rich have a lot of money .

The sick are physically ill.

The wealthy are rich.

The wicked are morally bad.

The wounded are injured by a weapon.

The young have lived for only a short time . 

The funny  laughed at the angry .

The blind cannot see.

The deaf cannot hear.

The rich should help the poor.

The employed must not laugh at the jobless.

The destitute have no money.

The dead are no longer alive.

The dying are about to die.

The elderly are old.

The faithful believe in a religion.

The homeless have no home .

 The intelligent helped the blunt .

 

15] Adjectives after nouns/postpositive adjective  :  some adjectives are used after nouns ; eg

God Almighty, Heir  Apparent , Attorney General, Queen Regnant , monsters unseen , people responsible, teachers concerned , time immemorial, letters patent , governor elect , at page five

16] Demonstrative Adjectives : They point out which persons or things are meant ; eg

Give me that blue water cap.

This time I won’t help you.

I want those beautiful pens

I wanted to kiss you that day.

[ This,  that,  these,  those , such , yonder etc]

 

17] Non-gradable /degreeless Adjectives : They are those adjectives which have no comparative and superlative forms ;eg

Absolute , excellent, impossible, right , wrong , unique , universal, dead , blind , matchless , dumb , perfect,  etc

 

18] compound Adjectives : They are made of more than one words and are often hyphenated ;eg

 

Look at the three-legged stool .

You have a three-hour break .

It is just a two-year old baby .

I am looking for a part-time job .

19]Predicate adjectives : When an  adjective functions as  a complement , it is called predicate adjective. It is used after linking verbs only ;eg

You are angry .

She is beautiful.

It seems funny .

 

20] Indefinite adjectives : Adjectives that are used to talk about people or things in a general way without saying exactly who or what they are are called Indefinite adjectives ; eg several, all, every, any, each, few, many, much, most, some,

 

21] Coordinative adjectives: when a number of adjectives connected by a co-ordinating Conjunction are used to modify a noun or pronoun , they are called Coordinative adjectives ; eg

 

My friend is tall , healthy , mature , educated and bold .

 

They are religious, honest , rich and generous people .

22] Article adjectives: A , an and The commonly known as Articles are actually Adjectives and they function exactly like adjectives;eg

I have a pen. The pen is writing black .

 

23] Attributive Adjectives: They are put before a noun to describe it ; eg

 He is a tall boy .

They are poor people.

She has white skin .

 

 

24] Ordinal Adjectives : Ordinal adjective indicate the position of a noun ;eg

She came third in today’s class test .

Imran is the twenty-second prime minister of Pakistan.

 

 25] Adverb used as Adjective; some  adverbs do the function of adjectives ;eg 

He was made rich by the then king of Egypt . [Then used as Adjective]

I did not understand it then . [Then used  as Adverb] 

Did you read the above lines ? [Above used as Adjective] 

Look at  the pictures given above . [Above used as Adverb ] 

The after reactions of his TV interview were disastrous. [ After used as Adjective]

 They lived happily ever after.  [After used as Adverb] 

 26. Adjective phrase : It is a group of words functioning as an adjective in a sentence . Usually, its head word is an adjective ;eg

Sahil is a wealthy person.
Sahil is a person of huge wealth .

Srinagar is a populous city .
Srinagar is a city having a large number of inhabitants.

Mushtaq gifted his wife a golden ring .
Mushtaq gifted his wife a ring made of gold . 

 

Degrees of Adjectives?

In English language, most adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive , comparative and superlative . The positive degree is used when there is no comparison at all . The comparative degree  is used when two things are being compared with each other. The superlative degree is used when more than two things are being compared with one another.

 

·      Note: The three degrees of Adjectives have been invented by the users of English language to describe and define nouns accurately .

 

The long adjectives usually take MORE and MOST to form the comparative degrees and the superlative degrees respectively . However, the short adjectives take ‘’er’’ and ‘’est’’. The rules on making the different degrees of adjectives are  listed  below :

 

Rule 1 : The short adjectives follow usually ER /EST rule ;eg

 

Black Blacker Blackest

Tall Taller Tallest

Quiet Quieter Quietest

Long Longer Longest

Short shorter shortest

Sweet sweeter sweetest

 

Rule 2 : when the short Adjectives end on the letter ‘’e’’ , they follow R/ST rule ;eg

Late Later Latest

Wise wiser wisest

Fine finer finest

Brave Braver Bravest

 

 

Rule 3 : When the short Adjectives end on the letter ‘’y’’ preceded by a consonant , they follow IER/ IEST rule ; eg

Dirty Dirtier Dirtiest

Ugly Uglier Ugliest

Easy Easier Easiest

Wealthy  wealthier wealthiest

Happy Happier Happiest

Holi Holier  Holiest 

Pretty Prettier         Prettiest

Angry Angrier         Angriest

 

Rule 4 : When the short Adjectives end on the letter ‘’y’’ preceded by a vowel  , they follow ER/EST rule ;eg

Gay Gayer Gayest

Grey Greyer Greyest

 

Rule 5 : When a short Adjective ends on a consonant letter preceded by a vowel,  the consonant letter is doubled ;eg

Glad Gladder Gladdest

Thin Thinner Thinnest

Slim Slimmer Slimmest

Big Bigger Biggest

Red Redder Reddest

Sad sadder saddest

Fat Fatter Fattest

Hot Hotter Hottest

Mad Madder Maddest

 

 

Rule 6 : Irregular forms

Good Better Best

Bad Worse Worst

Evil worse worst

Many more most

Much more most

Far Farther  Farthest

Far Further Furthest

Little Less/Lesser Least

Old older/elder oldest

Up Upper Uppermost/Upmost

Out Outer/utter outermost/Utmost/Uttermost

 

 

Rule 7 : The long adjectives usually take MORE and MOST to form the comparative degrees and the superlative degrees ;

Beautiful More Beautiful Most Beautiful

Intelligent More Intelligent Most Intelligent

Difficult More difficult Most Difficult

 

Rule 8 : some Adjectives have only the positive degrees and the superlative degrees, not the comparative degrees ;

Northern , Northernmost

Southern , Southernmost

Top , Topmost

 

 

 

 

Formation of Adjectives?

Well , there is no golden rule for the formation of Adjectives. However, we can succeed in  identifying  some Adjectives by their endings :

1] Adjectives ending in ABLE

Comfortable, honorable, charitable,

 

2] Adjectives ending in OUS

Envious, anxious , mysterious , adventurous

 

3]Adjectives ending in LESS

Needless, lifeless, helpless, jobless

 

4] Adjectives ending in LY

Friendly, brotherly, kingly, heavenly

 

5]Adjectives ending in LIKE

Childlike, warlike, doglike

 

6]Adjectives ending in ATE

Affectionate, fortunate, passionate

 

7]Adjectives ending in ISH

Childish, devilish, bookish, foolish

 

8] Adjectives ending in IC

Satanic, Metallic, majestic, Angelic

 

9] Adjectives ending in Y

Cloudy, dirty, angry, bloody

 

10] Adjectives ending in ARY

Disciplinary, monetary , exemplary

 

11] Adjectives ending in FUL

Awful, hateful, beautiful, merciful

 

12] Adjectives ending in AL

Influential, medical, clerical, horizontal

 

13] Adjectives ending in IVE

Abusive, defective, talkative , massive

 

 

some special tips about adjectives :

1] comparison of two things using ‘’Rather than’’  :

 

I prefer to sleep rather than talk.

I would prefer to starve rather than beg

I would rather be a teacher  than a soldier.

I would (prefer to ) be a teacher rather than a soldier .

I would rather be handsome than wise .

I would rather go away than stay here .

I had rather keep mum than agrue with

 Fools .

I had better keep mum than argue with fools .  [ Had better is synonymous to Had rather ]

 

*NOTE: we use bare infinitive before and after ‘’rather than’’ as shown in the sentences above . We also use verbs , nouns or adjectives before and after ‘’rather than’’ .

 

 

 

2] Use of ‘’Than ‘’ ?

Than takes a  bare infinitive after it ;eg

It is more intelligent to run than fight .

It is good to study hard than waste time with digital games .

 

3] Double comparatives?

[It denotes gradual decrease or increase]

She is progressing more and more .

They are getting better and better .

They are getting worse and worse .

He helps more and more people .

 

[ It denotes parallel increase and decrease]

The higher you go , the cooler it is .

The lesser you eat, the weaker you grow .

 

4] Error in using comparative Adjectives

A] When the comparative degree denotes comparison , ‘’than’’ is used ; when it denotes selection , ‘’of’’ is used ;eg

Fiza is more intelligent than all other girls .

Fiza is more intelligent of all girls .

 

Sahira is taller than her three sisters.

Sahira is taller of the four sisters .

 

B] whether an adjective is short or long , we always use ‘’more’’ to make its comparative degree in order to compare the two qualities in the same person or thing;

Mehvish is kinder than angry. [Wrong]

Mehvish is more kind than angry .[ Right]

 

Sahil is richer than wise . [Wrong]

Sahil is more rich than wise . [ Right]

 

C]  ANY vs ANY OTHER

 

Sahil is healthier than any boy  in our school.  [Wrong]

Sahil is healthier than any other boy  in our school.  [Right]

 

D] The use of comparative degree to compare more than two things is incorrect;eg

Physics is more difficult than History .[ Right]

Physics is more difficult than History, Biology and Maths . [Wrong] 

 

E] Comparing two unlike things is wrong ;eg

 

My bag is more expensive than Nisar . [Wrong because ‘’my bag ‘’ is compared with ‘’Nisar’’ .]

My bag is more expensive than Nisar’s bag .[Correct]

 

F] Error of double comparatives ?

She is more taller than her mother . [Wrong]

She is taller than her mother .[correct]

 

Books are more dearer to me than toys . [Wrong]

Books are  dearer to me than toys .[correct]

 

G] Elder and eldest are specially used with close relatives , However, older and oldest are used with anyone and anything ;eg

 

Mohsin is my elder brother.

Sairaj is my eldest son .

Feroz is my oldest friend .

This book is older than that book.

He is older than his brother. [Right]

He is elder than his brother . [Wrong]

Khan villa is the oldest building in this village.

 

5] Use of Intensifiers with comparative/superlative degrees of  Adjectives

The words yet, still, all the, even, so much, very much , much far , by far , much much , far far  etc are called Intensifiers . They are used with the comparative/superlative degrees of Adjectives for emphasis;eg

I feel now much much better than yesterday.

The exam was by far easier.

Paris is by far the largest city in France.

She is yet more beautiful than anyone else .

She is still more beautiful than anyone else .

The fact that they had written the play by themselves made it all the more impressive.

 

6] Few AND Little ?

 Few as an adjective is used with countable nouns and Little with uncountable nouns ;eg

 

I have few friends in the city . [Almost none]

I have little food in the bag . [Almost nothing]

 

I have a few friends in the city . [A significant number ]

I have a  little food in the bag . [A significant quantity ] 

 

The  few friends I had  in the city are dead now . [Not many but all they were there ]

 

The little food I had  in the bag was stolen by someone . [Not much but all that was there] 

 

7] Later AND Latter ?

* Later and Latest denote time;eg

I will call you later .

What is the latest news?

 

*Latter and Last denote place ;eg

Sahil and Zara are my students. The former is more obedient to me than the latter .

 

We are reading the last chapter of the book .

 

8] Nearest and Next ?

Next denotes position;eg

He is standing next to his father .

 

Nearest denotes distance;eg

He is my nearest neighbour.

9] Farther and Further?

 Our school is farther from your home than my home . [Denotes distance]

 

I can’t not tolerate further investigation on it . [ Further means additional] .

 

10] More than one adjectives?

   She is a fat lucky white-faced and slim figured girl .

Or

She is a girl lucky ,  white-faced and slim figured .

Note: we can use more than one adjectives before or after a noun they qualify. Both these ways are acceptable.

 

Interchange of the degree of comparison 

 

We can very easily transform one degree of adjective into another without changing the meaning .

 

Sahil is the healthiest boy in our school.  [Superlative]

Sahil is healthier than any other boy  in our school.  [ Comparative]

Or

Sahil is healthier than all other boys  in our school. [ Comparative] 

Or

Sahil is healthier than anyone/anybody else in our school. [ Comparative] 

*Note : All other takes a plural noun,  whereas, any other takes a single noun .

No other boy in our school is so healthy as Sahil . [Positive]

 

 

Agra is the hottest city of India .[Superlative]

Agra is hotter than all other cities of India . [ Comparative]

No other city of India is so hot as Agra . [Positive]

 

 

Mudasir is the cleverest boy in my village.

Mudasir is çleverer than any other boy in my village .

No other boy in my village is so clever as Mudasir .

 

Order of Adjectives?

Adjectives can come in any order in a sentence. There is no universally accepted rule with regards to the order of  adjectives . However, it does not mean that people will follow their own instincts and preferences in using many adjectives together.  Native speakers consider it preferable to use the adjectives of size before the adjectives shape , adjectives of nationality before adjectives of material etc . In view of the same , the widely accepted orders of using many adjectives in a sentence  have surfaced over the time and two of them are given below:

 

ORDER 1 . OSASCOMP

 

 OSASCOMP is an acronym for  opinion, size , age , shape , colour , origin , material & purpose .

 

ORDER 2. D-sqac-snm-P

 

D-sqac-snm-P is an acronym for Determiner , size , quality, age , colour , shape , nationality, material & purpose.

 

The examples of ORDER 2 given below will give you an idea of how to use many adjectives in a single sentence :

 

I)                Our english teacher is a tall old American man .

A= Determiner

Tall= size

Old = age

American= nationality

II)             I would like a piece of the delicious  square Chinese  dessert.

A= Determiner

Delicious=quality

Square = shape

Chinese = nationality

 

III)          I bought a long expensive blue drawing pen .

A= Determiner

Long= size

Expensive = Quality

Blue= colour

Drawing = purpose 

 

IV)          Our family bought a big white riding horse .

A= Determiner

Big= Size

White = colour

Riding = Purpose

 

V)             She is a tall kind young brown slim Pakistani entertaining  girl .

A= Determiner

Tall = size

Kind = Quality

Young = age

Brown = colour

Slim = shape

Pakistani= Nationality

Entertaining = purpose .

 

 

 

 

 

Exercises

A]  Identify the adjectives in the following sentences ?

1] Turkey is a country of brave wolves .

2] The sky is cloudy .

3] your hands are warm .

4] Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

5] The principal of our institute has a kind heart .

6] she married a rich man and her brother married a beautiful woman.

7] I miss those old days .

8] Never trust the words of a weeping woman .

9] He is senior to me.

10]  Beat the hot iron .

 

 

 

B] Name the following adjectives as shown in the examples .

* Honest man  = Descriptive Adjective

* Five men = Numerical Adjective

*American soldier = Proper Adjective

* You are Angry = Predicative adjective

1. Sleeping cells

2. Senior journalist

3. Awkward moment

4. Slim figure

5. Wild tiger

6. God Almighty

7. Page Ten

8. The rich man

9. Gold chain

10. Fourth day

11. Disloyal girl

12. Hardworking farmer

13. Rude guy

14. They are wise .

15. Private hospitals

 

C] Give the comparative and superlative degrees of the following adjectives .

 

Eager ,         easy , elated, tall ,

Gifted      , glamorous,       gleaming, much,

Glorious  , good,      gorgeous, Less,

Graceful,         grieving    ,grotesque, long,

Grumpy,     handsome         ,happy, short, beautiful

 

 

D]  Use the correct degree of comparison given in brackets .

 She is .......[taller/more tall] than me.

 

China is ....... [Bigger/more big ] than Pakistan.

 

God is .....[great /greater/greatest]than all .

 

The days in summer are ........[longer/longest] than the days in winter .

 

Men generally are .....[wiser/wisest] than women .

 

Physics is ........[tougher/more tough] than Biology.

 

The president of Azerbaijan is .....[smart/smartest].

 

Shakespeare is the ...........[ great/greatest] poet of England.

 

Mehjoor is the ......[great /greatest ] poet of kashmir. 

 

The middle finger is the .....[longer/Longest] finger in the human hand .

 

Helen was  thought to be the .......[beautiful/most beautiful] woman in the world.

 

E] Rectify the errors

 

I have a few water in my water bottle .

 

He is my older brother.

 

They are my next neighbours.

 

What is the last news ?

 

I fear Almighty God.

 

Open the book at ten page .

 

Shakespeare is the greater poet of England. 

 

Our home is  more smaller than your home.

 

Talib is my bestest friend.

 

Zara is more Prettier than all other  students.

 

F] Change the degree of comparison without changing the meaning .

 

Kashmir is the most beautiful place in Asia .

 

Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on the earth. 

 

Nile is the longest river in Egypt .

 

God is great .

 

Shabrooza is the only  beautiful girl in the  class .

 

Samad Mir  is greater than all other romantic poets of kashmir. 

 

Srinagar is the most developed city of Kashmir.

 

Wular  is the biggest lake of Kashmir .

 

No other metal is so useful as iron .

 

No other boy in my village is so wise as Nisar

 

G] insert the adjectives in correct order .

 

She is a tall  slim Pakistani entertaining kind young brown girl .

 

Our english teacher is a American tall old man .

 

I miss those happy old long hectic days

 

Look at the  blue Indian big sky .

 

 

The big  yellow old ugly truck ran  along the road.

 

 

THEN END