ID0004_M4AA1_Describe

Versin: Septiembre 2012

Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

How do we describe people?
by Jonathan W. Fleeton

Read these sentences.

Some students were disrupting the class today. The teacher stared at the students
who were making the noise until they stopped.
Now, close your eyes and visualize what these sentences have told you. There are no adjectives in these
sentences so its difficult to create a vivid picture of what happened.
You have a mental picture of a man or a woman staring at some rowdy students doing something to make
noise in a class. It is not a very vivid picture because even though I have provided you with enough
information to mentally produce a picture it is not really the picture I wanted to communicate.
Now, read these sentences.
Our teacher is normally a charming agreeable person. She is not very tall and has
blonde hair and a fair complexion. Today, at school, some of the students were
making a lot of noise in the back and were disrupting the class. She became very
angry and stared at the students until they stopped.
Now close your eyes and visualize what these sentences have told you. Its a different picture. I have used
adjectives to paint a more vivid picture of what happened in class and described the teacher. Your mental
picture is much different than the picture you were able to create in your mind from the first sentences.
As you probably know, there are different forms of adjectives. There is the adjective in its base form, the
comparative form and the superlative form. We are going to review it again here. Adjectives are very
important as they will provide you with opportunities to vividly communicate what you are really trying to
say.
There are rules for changing adjectives to the comparative and the superlative form.
Rule # 1 One syllable words ending in the letter e
To form the comparative
When the adjective ends in the letter e and is one syllable you simply add the letter r to the
adjective.

Example

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ID0004_M4AA1_Describe
Versin: Septiembre 2012
Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

wide / wider - fine / finer - cute / cuter

To form the superlative
When the adjective ends in the letter e and is one syllable you simply add the letters st to the
adjective.
Example
wide / widest - fine / finest - cute / cutest
Rule # 2 - One syllable words with one vowel and one consonant at the end.
To form the comparative
When the adjective ends with a consonant and has one vowel you double the consonant and add
er.
Example
hot / hotter - big / bigger - fat / fatter
To form the superlative
When the adjective ends with a consonant and has one vowel you double the consonant and add
est.
Example
hot / hottest - big / biggest - fat / fattest
Rule # 3 - One syllable words with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end.
To form the comparative
When the adjective ends with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end you add
the letters er.
Example
light / lighter - neat / neater - fast / faster
To form the superlative

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ID0004_M4AA1_Describe
Versin: Septiembre 2012
Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

When the adjective ends with more than one vowel or more than one consonant at the end you add
the letters est.

Example
light / lightest - neat / neatest - fast / fastest
Rule # 4 Two syllable words ending in the letter y
To form the comparative
When the adjective ends in the letter y and has two syllables you change the y to an i and add the
letters er.
Example
happy / happier - silly / sillier - lonely / lonlier
To form the superlative
When the adjective ends in the letter y and has two syllables you change the y to an i and add the
letters est.
Example
happy / happiest - silly / silliest - lonely / lonliest
Rule # 5 - Two syllable or more words not ending in the letter y
To form the comparative
When the adjective has two or more syllables and does not end in the letter y you use the word
more before the adjective.
Example
modern / more modern - interesting / more interesting - beautiful / more beautiful
To form the superlative
When the adjective has two or more syllables and does not end in the letter y you use the word
most before the adjective.

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sistema impreso, electrnico, magntico, incluyendo el fotocopiado, la fotografa, la grabacin o un sistema de recuperacin de la informacin, sin la autorizacin por
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ID0004_M4AA1_Describe
Versin: Septiembre 2012
Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

Example
modern / most modern - interesting / most interesting - beautiful / most beautiful
Comparatives are used to compare two things. You can use sentences with than, or you can use a
conjunction like but.
Example
wide / wider than - hot / hotter than - light / lighter than
Cancun is hotter than Geneva.
Geneva is hot but Cancun is hotter.
Superlatives are used to compare more than two things. Superlative sentences usually use the, because
there is only one superlative.
Example
neat / the neatest - happy / the happiest - interesting / the most interesting
Marias room is the neatest in the house.
This is the most interesting of all his books.
Following are two tables of adjectives (positive and negative) used to describe personalities or
characteristics. Read through these adjectives and see which ones you already know. Look for the
meanings of the ones you dont know or are unsure of. You will need to know the meanings for your
exercises.

Positive Personality Adjectives

adaptable
adorable
agreeable
alert
alluring
ambitious
amused
boundless
brave
bright
calm
capable
charming
cheerful
coherent
comfortable
confident
cooperative
courageous

exuberant
fabulous
fair
faithful
fantastic
fearless
fine
frank
friendly
funny
generous
gentle
glorious
good
happy
harmonious
helpful
hilarious
honorable

productive
protective
proud
punctual
quiet
receptive
reflective
relieved
resolute
responsible
rhetorical
righteous
romantic
sedate
seemly
selective
self-assured
sensitive
shrewd
4

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sistema impreso, electrnico, magntico, incluyendo el fotocopiado, la fotografa, la grabacin o un sistema de recuperacin de la informacin, sin la autorizacin por
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ID0004_M4AA1_Describe
Versin: Septiembre 2012
Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

credible
cultured
dashing
dazzling
debonair
decisive
decorous
delightful
detailed
determined
diligent
discreet
dynamic
eager
efficient
elated
eminent
enchanting
encouraging
endurable
energetic
entertaining
enthusiastic
excellent
excited
exclusive

impartial
industrious
instinctive
jolly
joyous
kind
kind-hearted
knowledgeable
level
likeable
lively
lovely
loving
lucky
mature
modern
nice
obedient
painstaking
peaceful
perfect
placid
plausible
pleasant
pleasant
plucky

silly
sincere
skilful
smiling
splendid
steadfast
stimulating
successful
succinct
talented
thoughtful
thrifty
tough
trustworthy
unbiased
unusual
upbeat
vigorous
vivacious
warm
willing
wise
witty
wonderful
zany
zealous

Table 1. Positive Personality Adjectives.

Negative Personality Adjectives (144)

abrasive
fierce
abrupt
filthy
abusive
finicky
afraid
flashy
aloof
flippant
ambiguous
foolish
angry
forgetful
annoyed
frantic
anxious
fretful
arrogant
frightened
ashamed
furtive
awful
greedy
bad
grieving
belligerent
grouchy
bewildered
gruesome
boorish
grumpy
bored
guarded
boring
gullible
callous
helpless
careless
hesitant
clumsy
homeless

ruthless
sad
scary
secretive
selfish
silly
slow
sneaky
snobbish
sore
spendthrift
squeamish
stingy
strange
sulky
tacky
tense
terrible
testy
thick-skinned
thoughtless
5

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ID0004_M4AA1_Describe
Versin: Septiembre 2012
Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

combative
confused
cowardly
crazy
creepy
cruel
cynical
dangerous
deceitful
defeated
defective
defiant
demonic
depressed
deranged
disagreeable
disillusioned
disturbed
domineering
draconian
embarrassed
envious
erratic
evasive
evil
faded
fanatical

horrible
hungry
hurt
ignorant
ill
irresolute
jealous
jittery
lacking
lazy
lonely
malicious
materialistic
mean
mysterious
naive
nasty
naughty
nervous
noisy
obnoxious
outrageous
panicky
pathetic
possessive
quarrelsome
repulsive

threatening
tight
timid
tired
tiresome
troubled
truculent
typical
undesirable
unsuitable
unsure
upset
uptight
vague
vengeful
venomous
volatile
voracious
vulgar
wary
wasteful
weak
weary
wicked
worried
worthless
wretched

Table 2. Negative Personality Adjectives.

Learning adjectives and how to correctly apply them will make it must easier to relay your message(s).
Dont be afraid to experiment with them. There will be situations where you will have to explain yourself,
activity or another person or people. How you explain yourself or make your description(s) can greatly
influence desired results.
In every business or workplace there is a protocol. Protocol is a system of rules and acceptable behavior.
At times, the protocol may be just a matter of applying common sense or knowing what to do or what not to
do in a situation. At other times the business itself may have policies and procedures that must be adhered
to in given situations.
Read
http://www.ehow.com/how_6328944_follow-protocol-workplace.html
http://www.ehow.com/way_5877075_do-workplace-violence-incident.html

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sistema impreso, electrnico, magntico, incluyendo el fotocopiado, la fotografa, la grabacin o un sistema de recuperacin de la informacin, sin la autorizacin por
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ID0004_M4AA1_Describe
Versin: Septiembre 2012
Revisor: Darlene Gonzlez Miy

Reference

Learn English Network. (2010) Personality Adjectives. Retrieved from

http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/adjectivepersonality.htm on May 31, 2012

UVEG. Derechos reservados. Esta obra no puede ser reproducida, modificada, distribuida, ni transmitida, parcial o totalmente, mediante cualquier medio, mtodo o
sistema impreso, electrnico, magntico, incluyendo el fotocopiado, la fotografa, la grabacin o un sistema de recuperacin de la informacin, sin la autorizacin por
escrito de la Universidad Virtual del Estado de Guanajuato.