The Adjective

Chapter 15
 The Adjective

● An adjective is a word used with a noun to describe or

point out a person, animal, place or thing which the noun
names, or to tell the number or quantity
Sita is a clever girl (describes what kind)
I don’t like that person (points out which person)
He gave me five mangoes (number)
There is little time for preparation (how much time)
 The Adjective

● The adjective modifies the noun; it describes the

quantities of the noun( many students, much petrol,
enough food),
states its limits or qualities ( a dog, the car, his pen, clever
boy, intelligent girl, developed country)
or distinguishes it from others (Cricket team, British
council)
E.g. Several people were killed in the fierce encounter
in front of the American Embassy
 The Adjective

● An adjective is a qualifying word and is generally placed

either before the word it qualifies or after the verb ‘to be’
We have many boys but only a few girls in our
class
Sachin is a famous sportsman
Give me some food, please!
King Solomon was rich
The children are happy
 A broad classification

Simple Adjectives Derived Adjectives

Derived from
Most basic kind other words by
of descriptive adding suffixes or
adjectives prefixes
E.g. kind, E.g Admirable,
pretty, busy, fearful, heroic,
lavish, attractive,
rich, old, shy,
famous, windy,
sour unfair, impossible
Use of Adjectives

Attributive and
Predicative
Adjectives modify nouns in
two ways:
They either pre-modify
nouns (The lazy boy was
punished)
or serve as the
#
complements of linking
verbs (The boy is lazy)
A pre-modifying adjective is generally
placed before the noun it modifies.
The use of adjectives to pre-modify
nouns is called the attributive use
E.g. a memorable event, an
inseparable companion
Arjun is a good boy
This is a red pen
When an adjective is
used as the
complement of a
linking verb, it is said
to be predicatively
used
E.g. John remained
inactive
What Mary said is
true
 Predicative Adjectives

The adjectives functioning

as object complements
often show the result of the
process suggested by the
verb
E.g. He pulled the string
tight
● Most adjectives in English can be used both attributively
and predicatively
Happy family;
The family appeared happy

● But some adjectives work only one way

● There are attributive only adjectives and
predicative only adjectives
 Attributive Only...
E.g. Clergymen are answerable to a higher authority

‘Higher’ is strictly attributive

Could not refer to ⇒
The authority is higher

Sole survivor
The survivor is sole
 Attributive Only...
His elder brother went abroad for higher studies
His brother who is elder went abroad for studies

This is the main problem at the moment

This problem is the main

We sell live seafood in the market everyday

The seafood we sell in the market everyday are live
Some adjectives can be used only attributively:
● Noun adjectives→ nouns that serve as adjectives(attributive
nouns)
World peace, English saddle, telephone company,
table leg
Cannot be used in any other manner
● Adjectives that refer to permanent attributes can be used
only attributively
An atomic scientist
● Some attributive only adjectives show relationship
A former president
● Some intensify a noun
Downright cheating , utter confusion, total
disregard, sheer, sure

● Some limit the noun

The main thrust
 Predicative Only…
E.g. Clergymen are answerable to a higher
authority
‘Answerable’ is exclusively predicative
Could not refer to ⇒
“an answerable clergyman”

Aware, asleep, awake, ablaze, afire,

afloat,afraid, aghast, alike, alive, alone,
fond,aloof, ashamed etc.. are
predicative only adjectives
The baby is awake
Teh awake baby is crying
The dog is keeping the baby awake
The baby awake is crying
The girl is fond of frozen yogurt
The fond girl of frozen yogurt
The major is aware of the situation
The aware major of the situation
 ● An Attributively used adjective
generally comes before the noun it
modifies

E.g. Do you want a ceramic

Attributive figurine?
adjectives ● A few adjectives come after the
noun they modify

E.g. The present members have to

renew their membership
The members present voted down
the resolution
 ● Adjectives with Indefinite pronouns ending in
one, body, thing, or where, are always placed
after the word
Post-modifying E.g. get someone trustworthy, someone
Adjectives or special, something rare, something important
Attributive ⇒
adjectives after Let’s go somewhere quiet
She told me something funny today
the noun Nothing interesting ever happens there
 ● Attributive adjectives are placed after nouns
in certain fixed phrases especially legal terms
Post-modifying E.g. accounts payable, paradise lost, stage left,
Adjectives or time immemorial, the heir apparent, a battle
Attributive ⇒ royal, matters philosophical, Secretary
adjectives after General, Poet Laureate, Court marshal, notary
public, postmaster general, …
the noun
 ● Some adjectives ending in ‘-ible’ and ‘-able’
are also present after the nouns they qualify
Post-modifying E.g. We tried all means possible (=all the
Adjectives or means that were possible)
Attributive ⇒
adjectives after Book all the tickets available (=tickets
which are available)
the noun
 ● Most of the a-adjectives when used
attributively are placed after the noun

Post-modifying E.g. ablaze, alone, aghast, afloat,

afraid, awake, ashamed
Adjectives or There were lights still ablaze as they
Attributive ⇒ drove up to the house
adjectives after Somehow we kept the boat afloat
the noun (=floating on water)
It’s hard bringing up the children
alone (=without the help of others)
 ● Some adjectives (absent, present, involved,
visible…) change their meaning depending on
whether they occur in front of the noun or
after it
Post-modifying E.g. President elect (= president soon to
assume office)
Adjectives or Bombay proper (=the city of Bombay as
Attributive ⇒ strictly defined)
adjectives after The present members have to renew their
the noun membership (=at the present moment)
The members present voted down the
resolution (=present on this occasion)
The man involved has been arrested
(=was a part of)
 ● The post-modifying adjective can be
considered a relative clause in verbless
Post-modifying adjectival clause
Adjectives or The members present asked for the
Attributive ⇒ president’s comment
adjectives after The members who were present asked for
the noun the president's comment
The people upstairs are having a party
The people who live upstairs are having a
party
 E.g. He is ill (=not feeling well/ suffering
from a disease)
There is ill feeling between the two brothers
(=animosity)
Although most adjectives
can be used both
John is poor (=having little money/
attributively and
possessions)
predicatively, there is
I thought of poor old John (=deserving
some change of meaning
sympathy)
when certain adjectives
are used attributively
He is certain to win (=without any doubts)
A certain man asked after you (=particular
but not named, described or known well)
One group of
predicative only
adjectives is usually
used to refer to a
condition rather than a
characteristic.
E.g. Most health
adjectives like ill, well,
unwell, and faint...
 Kinds of Adjectives
1. Adjectives of Quality (Descriptive Adjectives)→ show the kind or quality of a person, thing or place
E.g. Kolkata is a large city This is a grammar of the English language
He is an honest man The foolish old cow tried to sing
Adjectives formed from Proper nouns are sometimes called Proper Adjectives. (French wines,
Indian tea etc.. they are generally classified with adjectives of quality. )
2. Adjectives of Quantity → Show how much of a thing is meant (answer the question: how much?)
E.g. I ate some rice He showed much patience
We have had enough exercise You have no sense
There has not been sufficient rain this year Take great care of your health
3. Adjectives of number → show how many persons or things are meant, or in what order a person
or thing stands
E.g. Few cats like cold water All men must die
Here are some ripe mangoes Most boys like cricket
Sunday is the first day of the week The hand has five fingers
 Kinds of Adjectives
Adjectives of number answer the question: how many?
Adjectives of number are of three kinds:-
a. Definite Numeral Adjectives→ which denote an exact number
One, two, three - Cardinals (denote how many)
First, second, third - Ordinals (denote the order of things in a series)
b. Indefinite Numeral Adjectives→ which do not denote an exact number
All, no, many, few, som, any, certain, several, sundry(various kinds, several)
c. Distributive Numeral Adjectives→ which refer to each one of a number
Each boy, every man, either pen will do, neither accusation is true
 Kinds of Adjectives
4. Demonstrative Adjectives → point out which person or thing is meant
E.g. This boy is stronger than Hari That boy is industrious
These mangoes are sour Yonder fort belonged to Ashoka
Don’t be in such a hurry I hate such things

5. Interrogative Adjectives → what, which, and whose, when they are used with nouns
to ask questions
E.g. What manner of man is he Which way shall we go?
Whose book is this?
6. Participle Adjectives→ swimming pool, shocking news, moving shadow,
Elected president, dried fruit
 The order of Adjectives
● It is unusual to have more than three adjectives in a sentence
● When we have a string of adjectives, we are often confused as to how to arrange
them.
● Next before the noun comes the adjective of style

It is preceded by the participle adjective

Participle adjectives are preceded by adjectives of colour, adjectives of age, and

general adjectives in that order.

Or in other words, the the adjectives have to be arranged in the following order

● General opinion→ Specific opinion → size → physical quality → shape → age →

colour → origin (nationality) → material → type → purpose
 The order of Adjectives
1. Opinion (explains what you think about something) - unusual, lovely, beautiful
2. Size (tells you how big or small something is) - big, small, tall
3. Physical quality - thin, rough, untidy
4. Shape - round, square, rectangular
5. Age- young, old, youthful
6. Colour -blue, red, pink
7. Origin/ Nationality - Indian, Dutch, Japanese, Korean
8. Participle - carved, elected, dried, confused, relaxed
9. Material (describes what something is made from) - metallic, wooden, plastic
10. Type- general purpose, four-sided, u-shaped
11. Purpose (describes what something is used for)- cleaning, hammering, cooking
12. Style - Gothic, Victorian, Renaissance, Neoclassical, Mughal, Carnatic
 The order of Adjectives
E.g. A carved Gothic door

A splendid, large, old, red and blue carved wooden Gothic door

It was made of a strange, green, metallic material

She was a beautiful, tall, plump, young, black-haired, Scottish woman

What an amazing, little, old, Chinese cup and saucer

A horrible, big, fierce dog

A lovely, little, oval-shaped, grey tinted, Florentine oil painting

A lovely, glittering, Parisian, gold and diamond necklace

 Comparison of Adjectives
Consider the following statements:

1. Rahul’s mango is sweet

2. Rohan’s mango is sweeter than Rahul’s
3. Anjali’s mango is the sweetest of all

In sentence 1, the adjective sweet merely tells us that Rahul’s mango has the quality
of sweetness, without saying how much of this quality it has

In sentence 2, the adjective sweeter tells us that Rohan’s mango, compared with
Rahul’s, has more of the quality of sweetness

In sentence 3, the adjective sweetest tells us that of all these mangoes Anjali’s
mango has the greatest amount or highest degree of sweetness
● Adjectives change in form to show comparison - sweet, sweeter, sweetest
● They are called the three Degrees of Comparison
● The adjective ‘sweet’ is said to be in the Positive Degree
The adjective ‘sweeter’ is said to be in the Comparative Degree
The adjective ‘sweetest’ is said to be in the Superlative Degree
● The Positive Degree of an adjective is the adjective in its simple form. It is used when no
comparison is made
● The Comparative Degree of an adjective denotes a higher degree of the quality than the
Positive, and is used when two things are compared as

This bot is stronger than that

● The Superlative Degree of an adjective denotes the highest degree of the quality , and is
used when more than two things are compared as

The boy is the strongest in the class

 Formation of Comparative and Superlative
● All adjectives of one syllable, and most disyllabic adjectives form the Comparative by adding
-er and the Superlative by adding -est to the Positive
Positive Comparative Superlative

Sweet Sweeter Sweetest

Small Smaller Smallest

Tall Taller Tallest

Bold Bolder Boldest

Clever Cleverer Cleverest

Kind Kinder Kindest

Young Younger Youngest

Great Greater Greatest

Long Longer Longest

● When the Positive ends in ‘e’, only -r and -st are added

Positive Comparative Superlative

Brave braver bravest

Fine finer finest

White whiter whitest

Large larger largest

Able abler ablest

Noble nobler noblest

Wise wiser wisest

● When the Positive ends in ‘y’, preceded by a consonant, the ‘y’ is changed into ‘i’ before
adding -er and -est

Positive Comparative Superlative

Happy happier happiest

Easy easier easiest

Heavy heavier heaviest

Merry merrier merriest

Wealthy wealthier wealthiest

● When the Positive is a word of one syllable and ends in a single consonant, preceded by
a short vowel, the consonant is doubled before adding -er and -est

Positive Comparative Superlative

Red redder reddest

Big bigger biggest

Hot hotter hottest

Sad sadder saddest

Fat fatter fattest

● Adjectives of more than two syllables form the Comparative and Superlative by placing
adverbs ‘more’ and ‘most’ before the Positive

Positive Comparative Superlative

Beautiful More beautiful Most beautiful

Difficult More difficult Most difficult

Industrious More industrious Most industrious

Courageous More courageous Most courageous

● The following disyllabic adjectives take either -er and- -est or more and most:

Polite, simple, feeble, gentle, narrow, cruel, common, handsome, pleasant, stupid, curious,
angry

He is politer/more polite than his brother

She is the politest/most polite of them

 ● The Positive forms in, out and up are really adverbs

in→ inner→ inmost/innermost

out→ outer→ utmost/uttermost

up→ upper→ upmost/uppermost

● The comparative in -er is not used when we compare two qualities in the same person
or thing. If we wish to say that the courage of John is greater than the courage of
David, we say,

John is braver than David

But if we wish to say that the courage of John is greater than his prudence, we must
say,

John is more brave than prudent

 Irregular Comparison
● The following Adjectives are compare irregularly, that is, their Comparative and Superlative
are not formed from the Positive
Positive Comparative Superlative

Good, well better best

Bad, evil, ill, worse worst

Little less, lesser least

Much more most(quantity)

Many more most(number)

Late later(time), latter(position) latest(time), last(position)

Old older(both persons and oldest(both persons and

things), things),
elder(only of persons eldest(only of persons)

Far farther(distance) farthest

 Points to Remember
1. A noun can sometimes serve as an adjective, and such nouns are
known as attributive nouns. E.g. Eye hospital
2. Both the present participle and the past participle forms can function
as adjectives, e.g. swimming pool, written constitution.
Sometimes it becomes difficult to say whether the word is an
adjective or a participle as in the case of “The door was closed”
3. Some adjectives preceded by the indefinite article become noun
phrases with singular or plural reference, for example,
The best is yet to come
The poor are always with us
The article is often left out in parallel constructions as in ‘young and
old’
 Points to Remember
4. Non-gradable adjectives (adjectives that describe qualities that are
completely present or completely absent) like unique do not have degrees
of comparison(absolute adjectives). Nor do they take adverbs like very,
extremely, totally etc… before them.
Complete, equal, dead, fatal, essential, first, full, ideal, impossible,
infinite, married, perfect, pregnant, universal, unique, unknown, true

5. An adjective becomes defining or non-defining depending on how it is

used. The adjective ‘athletic’ in the adjectival phrase ‘my athletic son
becomes defining if the speaker has more than one son, non-defining if
the speaker has only one son.
 Get Your Doubts Cleared

1. Which one is the correct usage?

The Principal spoke high of you
Or
The Principal spoke highly of you

The latter→ The Principal spoke highly of you.

The adjective ‘high’ has two adverb forms: hig itself and highly
‘High’ often refers to altitude or position → e.g. The balloon rose high into the air
‘Highly’ means to a high degree or very favourable→ E.g. She spoke highly of you
 Get Your Doubts Cleared
2. What is the difference between ‘sick’ and ‘ill’ as adjectives?
The adjective ‘sick’ means mentally or physically ill.
‘Ill’ means not in full health.
So the two words have the same meaning. But ‘ill’ is always used as a part of the
predicate. It can be used attributively, that is before a noun, only when it means ‘not good’.
E.g. John has been ill all these days
Ill health has affected his work
‘Sick’ can be used only attributively
E.g The sick students were taken to the infirmary
‘Sick’ may also mean to vomit and in this sense it can be used predicatively
E.g. She was sick during the early months of her pregnancy
A few adjectives that describe health and feelings are used only predicatively.
They are: fine, glad, sorry, upset etc… Some of these adjectives can be used attributively if
they are preceded by an adverb
E.g. I saw a terribly upset manager
She seemed upset
 Get Your Doubts Cleared
3. Is the use of the adjective ‘concerned’ in the following statement correct?

There was scarcity of drinking water at the school and the concerned
parents complained to the Principal

This sentence is correct. When ’concerned’ has the meaning ‘worried’, it comes
before the noun but when it means ‘involved’ it should be placed after the noun.

The Principal advised me to discuss my problem with the teacher

concerned
A few adjectives like concerned, responsible, visible, present etc… can have two
different meanings depending on whether they come before the noun or after it
 Get Your Doubts Cleared

4. Is the adjective ‘handsome’ used only in the context of male beauty that is to
describe physically attractive men?

It is used in most cases to describe a man having attractive features. The

expression a ‘handsome woman’ is possible but then it would suggest that the
woman has large, strong features.
She is handsome rather than beautiful
Conversely, ‘beautiful’ and ‘pretty ‘ are usually used to describe women and if they
are used to describe a man, they would suggest a feminine appearance.
‘Good-looking’ like ‘handsome’ is usually applied to men; ‘attractive can be applied
to both men women .
 Get Your Doubts Cleared
5. What are gradable adjectives?

Adjectives that can be modified by adverbs such as very, extremely, etc… are called
gradable adjectives, for example, ‘happy’, ‘friendly’, ‘tasty’ etc.
Adjectives like ‘awful’, ‘furious’, ‘dreadful’, ‘invaluable’, ‘impossible’, ‘huge’ etc., are
upgradeable. We cannot use very, extremely etc., before them. This is because the
upgradeable adjectives themselves have ‘very’ in their meaning. However, it is
common to use adverbs like totally, really, entirely, absolutely, completely etc.,
before some upgradeable adjectives.
E.g. It is completely impossible
It is pretty invaluable
Negative adjectives are more liable to be modified by intensifiers than other
adjectives. We may say ‘completely wrong’ but we cannot say ‘most right’