1.

4 Adjectives
Adjectives are words that give more information
about a noun or pronoun and can go in different
positions in a sentence.
Where adjectives go in a sentence
We use adjectives to describe nouns.
Most adjectives can be used in front of a noun:
They have a beautiful house.
We saw a very exciting film last night.

or after a link verb like be, look or feel:

Their house is beautiful.
That film looks interesting.

Adjectives with '-ing' and '-ed' - PARTICIPLES

A lot of adjectives are made from verbs by adding -
ing or -ed:
-ing adjectives – PRESENT PARTICIPLES
The commonest -ing adjectives are:
amusing frightening
annoying tiring
boring shocking
disappointing surprising
exciting worrying
interesting  
If you say something is interesting, you mean
it interests you:
I read a very interesting article in the newspaper
today.
If you say something is terrifying, you mean
it terrifies you:
That Dracula film was absolutely terrifying.

-ed adjectives – PAST PARTICIPLES

The commonest -ed adjectives are:
annoyed excited
bored frightened
closed tired
delighted worried
disappointed  
If something bores you, you can say you feel bored.
We had nothing to do. We were really bored.
If something terrifies you, you can say you
are terrified.
I didn't really enjoy the Dracula film. Most of the time
I was terrified.
VERBALS – has 3 types
- Verbs in form but function
differently, they do not show
actions
1. Gerund – used a NOUN
2. Infinitives – adjectives or adverbs
3. Participles - adjectives

Adjective order
Two adjectives
We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:
a handsome young man
a big black car
that horrible big dog
Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use
these adjectives to describe almost any noun:
WHAT KIND
good nice awful
bad beautiful important
lovely brilliant wonderful
strange excellent nasty

He's good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful teacher.

That's a good/wonderful/brilliant/bad/dreadful book.
Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only
use these adjectives to describe particular kinds of
noun, for example: WHAT KIND -SPECIFIC TOPIC
DESCRIBED
Food Furniture, buildings People, animals
clever
delicious comfortable
intelligent
tasty uncomfortable
friendly

We usually put a general opinion in front of a

specific opinion:
nice tasty soup
a nasty uncomfortable armchair
a lovely intelligent animal
We usually put an opinion adjective in front of a
descriptive adjective:
a nice red dress
a silly old man
those horrible yellow curtains

Three or more adjectives

Sometimes we have three adjectives in front of a
noun, but this is unusual:
 a nice handsome young man     
a big black American car     
that horrible big fierce dog
It is very unusual to have more than
three adjectives.
Adjectives usually come in this order:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Genera Specifi
Shap Nationalit
l c Size Age Colour Material
e y
opinion opinion
Adjectives in front of nouns
A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:
north northern countless indoor
south southern occasional outdoor
east eastern lone
west western mere  
We say:
He lives in the eastern district.
There were countless problems with the new
machinery.
but we do not say:
The district he lives in is eastern.
The problems with the new machinery
were countless.
Comparative adjectives
We use comparative adjectives to show
change or make comparisons:
This car is certainly better, but it's much more
expensive.
I'm feeling happi-er now.
We need a big-g-er garden.
We use than  when we want to compare one thing
with another:
She is two years older than me.
New York is much bigger than Boston.
He is a better player than Ronaldo.
France is a bigger country than Britain.
When we want to describe how something or
someone changes we can use two comparatives
with and:
The balloon got bigger and bigger.
Everything is getting more and more
expensive.
Grandfather is looking older and older. 
We often use the with comparative adjectives
to show that one thing depends on another:
The faster you drive, the more dangerous it is. 
(= When you drive faster, it is more dangerous.)
The higher they climbed, the colder it got. 
(= When they climbed higher, it got colder.)
Superlative adjectives
We use the with superlative adjectives:
It was the happi-est day of my life.
Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
That’s the best film I have seen this year.
I have three sisters: Jan is the oldest and Angela
is the youngest. 

How to form comparative and superlative

adjectives
We usually add –er and –est to one-syllable
words to make comparatives and superlatives:
BASE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
old Older oldest
long Longer longest

If an adjective ends in –e, we add –r or –st:

nice Nicer nicest
large Larger largest
If an adjective ends in a vowel and a consonant, we
double the consonant:
big bigger Biggest
fat fatter Fattest

If an adjective ends in a consonant and –y, we

change –y to –i and add –er or –est:
happy Happier happiest
silly Sillier silliest
We use more and most to make comparatives and
superlatives for most two syllable adjectives and for
all adjectives with three or more syllables:
careful More/less careful  Most/least careful
interesting more interesting  most interesting
However, with these common two-syllable
adjectives, you can either add –er/–r and –est/-
st or use more and most:
common narrow
cruel pleasant
gentle polite
handsome simple
likely stupid
He is certainly handsomer than his brother.
His brother is handsome, but he is more
handsome.
She is one of the politest people I have ever
met.
She is the most polite person I have ever met.
The adjectives good, bad and far have irregular
comparatives and superlatives:
good Better best
Bad Worse worst
Far farther/further  farthest/furthest

Noun modifiers – naming words/name of

things/places etc.
We often use two nouns together to show that one
thing is a part of something else:
the village church – church is a part of the village
the car door – door is a part of the car
the kitchen window – window is a part of the
kitchen
the chair leg
my coat pocket
London residents
adjectives- it tells what kind, what size, what
color, what age, etc.
In these examples, the first noun is called a noun
modifier.
Be careful!
We do not use a possessive form for these things. We
do NOT talk about:
the car's door
the kitchen's window
the chair's leg
We can use noun modifiers to show what
something is made of:
a gold watch
a leather purse
a metal box
We often use nouns ending in -ing as noun
modifiers:
a shopping list     
a swimming lesson     
a walking holiday     
a washing machine
We often put two nouns together
and readers/listeners have to work out what they
mean:
an ice bucket
(= a bucket to keep ice in)
an ice cube
(= a cube made of ice)
an ice breaker
(= a ship which breaks ice)
the ice age
(= the time when much of the Earth was
covered in ice)
1.5 Adverbs
An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another
adverb:
Modifying a verb:
Our marketing department works efficiently.
VERB ADV

Modifying an adjective:
She was not dependable, although she was highly
intelligent. ADV
ADJ
Modifying another adverb:
His territory was too broadly diversified, so he
moved
extremely cautiously.
ADV ADV
Most of the adverbs mentioned are adjectives turned
into adverbs by adding -ly, which is how many
adverbs are formed:
Adjective Adverb
efficient efficiently
extreme extremely
high highly
official officially
separate separately
special specially
Some adverbs are made by dropping or changing the
final letter of the adjective and then adding -ly:
Adjective Adverb
due duly
busy busily

Other adverbs don’t end in -ly at all. Here are a few

examples of this type:
often fast too
soon very so
Some adverbs are difficult to distinguish from
adjectives. For example, in the following sentences,
is the underlined word an adverb or an adjective?
They worked well.
SUBJ.-VERB-ADV S-V-ADV
The baby is well. S-LV-ADJ
SUBJ.- LV-ADJ.
In the first sentence, well is an adverb modifying the
verb worked. In the second sentence, well is an
adjective modifying the noun baby. To choose
correctly between adverbs and adjectives, remember
that verbs of being link a noun to an adjective
describing the noun. In contrast, you would use an
adverb to describe an action verb.

Adjective Adverb
He is a good worker. He works well.
(What kind of worker is he?) (How does he work?)
It is a real computer. It definitely is a
computer.
(What kind of computer is it?) (To what extent is it a
computer?)
The traffic is slow. The traffic moves slowly.
(What quality does the (How does the traffic
move?)
traffic have?)

1.5.1 Negative Adverbs

Negative adverbs (such as neither, no, not,
scarcely, and seldom) are powerful words and
therefore do not need any help in conveying a
negative thought. In fact, using double negatives
gives a strong impression of illiteracy.

Wrong:
I don’t want no mistakes. -DOUBLE NEGATION
Correct:
“I don’t want any mistakes.”
or
“I want no mistakes.”)

Wrong:
They couldn’t hardly read the report.
Correct:
 “They could hardly read the report.”
or
“They couldn’t read the report.”)
Wrong:
They scarcely noticed neither one.
Correct:
“They scarcely noticed either one.”
or
“They noticed neither one.”)

1.5.2 Comparative Degree

Like adjectives, adverbs can be used to compare
items. Generally, the basic adverb is combined with
more or most like adjectives. However, some
adverbs have one-word comparative forms:
One Item Two Items Three Items
quickly more quickly most quickly
sincerely less sincerely least sincerely
fast faster fastest
well better best