What is an adjective

An adjective modifies a noun or a

pronoun by describing, identifying,
or quantifying words. An adjective
usually precedes the noun or the
pronoun which it modifies.

 In the following examples, the highlighted

words are adjectives:
The truck-shaped balloon floated over the
treetops.
Mrs. Morrison papered her kitchen walls with
hideous wallpaper.
The small boat foundered on the wine dark sea.
The coal mines are dark and dank.
Many stores have already begun to play irritating
Christmas music.
A battered music box sat on the mahogany
sideboard.
The back room was filled with large, yellow rain
boots.

 An adjective can be modified by an

adverb, or by a phrase or clause
functioning as an adverb. In the
sentence
My husband knits intricately
patterned mittens.
The adverb "intricately" modifies the
adjective "patterned.

 Some nouns, many pronouns, and many

participle phrases can also act as
adjectives. In the sentence
Eleanor listened to the muffled sounds of the
radio hidden under her pillow.

Both highlighted adjectives are past

participle.
Grammarians also consider articles
("the," "a," "an") to be adjectives.

Positions of Adjective
Nearly always appear before the noun or
noun phrase that they modify.
Adjective Order.
When indefinite pronouns such as
something, someone, anybody are
modified by an adjective, the adjective
comes after the pronoun

Adjective Order
The categories can be described as follows:
Determiners articles and other limiters.
Description post determiners and limiter adjectives (e.g., a
real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to subjective
measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting, delicious, gorgeous)
Size adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g. big, little,
enormous, large)
Age adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)
Shape adjectives denoting shape (e.g., square, triangular)
Color adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
Origin denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g.,
French, American, Canadian)
Material denominal adjectives denoting what something is
made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)
Qualifier final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g.,
rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover)

Degrees of Adjectives
Use the comparative for comparing two things
and the superlative for comparing three or more
things. The word than frequently accompanies
the comparative and the word the precedes the
superlative. The suffixes -er and -est suffice to
form most comparatives and superlatives,
although we need -ier and -iest when a twosyllable adjective ends in y (happier and
happiest); otherwise we use more and most
when an adjective has more than one syllable.

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

Rich
Lovely
Beautiful
Good
Bad
Far
Little
Some, many,
much

Richer
Lovelier
More beautiful
Better
Worse
Farther / further
Less
More

Richest
Loveliest
Most beautiful
Best
Worst
Farthest/ Furthest
Least
Most

EXERCISE
Pick the correct words in the brackets.
1. My father is as (strong, stronger, strongest) as his father.
2. She is (pretty, prettier, prettiest) than her sister.
3. You are not as (tall, taller, tallest) as your brother.
4. That pond is the (shallow, shallower, shallowest) in this
area.
5. That has to be the (interesting, more interesting, most
interesting) film I have seen.
6. Which university offers (the good, the better, the
best) degree courses?.
7. This clown is not as (funny, funnier, funniest) as the other
one.
8. He is easily the (bad, worse, worst) player in the team.
9. The second half of the play was (little, less, the least)
interesting.
10. What is (far, farther, the farthest) distance you have ever
run?

KEY ANSWER
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

My father is as strong as his father.

She is prettier than her sister.
You are not as tall as your brother.
That pond is the shallowest in this area.
That has to be the most interesting film I have
seen.
6. Which university offers the best degree courses?.
7. This clown is not as funny as the other one.
8. He is easily the worst player in the team.
9. The second half of the play was the least
interesting.
10. What is the farthest distance you have ever run?

Use either as as or not as as in the sentences

below.
1) The blue car is the red car. (fast)
2) Peter is Fred. (not/tall)
3) The violin is the cello. (not/low)
4) This copy is the other one. (bad)
5) Oliver is Peter. (optimistic)
6) Today is yesterday. (not/windy)
7) The tomato soup was the mushroom
soup. (delicious)
8) Grapefruit juice is lemonade. (not/sweet)
9) Nick is Kevin. (brave)
10) Silver is gold. (not/heavy)

ANSWER KEY
1) The blue car is as fast as the red car.
2) Peter is not as tall as Fred.
3) The violin is not as low as the cello.
4) This copy is as bad as the other one.
5) Oliver is as optimistic as Peter.
6) Today it's not as windy as yesterday.
7) The tomato soup was as delicious as the mushroom
soup.
8) Grapefruit juice is not as sweet as lemonade.
9) Nick is as brave as Kevin.
10) Silver is not as heavy as gold.

Positive
difficult
important
poor
heavy
plain
clever
new
funny
big
lazy

Comparative

Superlative

Positive
difficult
important
poor
heavy
plain
clever
new
funny
big
lazy

Comparative
more difficult
more important
poorer
heavier
plainer
cleverer
newer
funnier
bigger
lazier

Superlative
most difficult
most important
poorest
heaviest
plainest
cleverest
newest
funniest
biggest
laziest

Positive
curious
funny
little
distant
likely
hungry
delicious
dull
punctual
angry

Comparative

Superlative

Positive
curious
funny
little
distant
likely
hungry
delicious
dull
punctual
angry

Comparative
more curious
funnier
less
more distant
likelier/more likely
hungrier
more delicious
duller
more punctual
angrier

Superlative
most curious
funniest
least
most distant
likeliest/most likely
hungriest
most delicious
dullest
most punctual
angriest

Fill in the blanks with the word in brackets, and use

the proper form
1) He reads a book. (quick)
2) Mandy is a girl. (pretty)
3) The class is loud today. (terrible)
4) Max is a singer. (good)
5) You can open this tin. (easy)
6) Today is a day. (terrible)
7) She sings the song . (good)
8) He is a driver. (careful)
9) He drives the car . (careful)
10) The dog barks . (loud)

Put in the adjective in bold into the correct form of comparative or

superlative.
1.This is a nice cat. It's much than my friend's cat.
2.Here is Emily. She's six years old. Her brother is nine, so he is ..
3.This is a difficult exercise. But the exercise with an asterisk is
the exercise on the worksheet.
4.He has an interesting hobby, but my sister has the hobby in the
world.
5.In the last holidays I read a good book, but father gave me an
even one last weekend.
6.School is boring, but homework is than school.
7.Skateboarding is a dangerous hobby. Bungee jumping is than
skateboarding.
8.This magazine is cheap, but that one is .
9.We live in a small house, but my grandparents' house is even than
ours.
10.Yesterday John told me a funny joke. This joke was the joke I've ever
heard.

Put in the adjective in bold into the correct form of comparative or

superlative.
1.This is a nice cat. It's much nicer than my friend's cat.
2.Here is Emily. She's six years old. Her brother is nine, so he is older.
3.This is a difficult exercise. But the exercise with an asterisk is the most
difficult exercise on the worksheet.
4.He has an interesting hobby, but my sister has the most
interesting hobby in the world.
5.In the last holidays I read a good book, but father gave me an
even better one last weekend.
6.School is boring, but homework is more boring than school.
7.Skateboarding is a dangerous hobby. Bungee jumping is more
dangerous than skateboarding.
8.This magazine is cheap, but that one is cheaper.
9.We live in a small house, but my grandparents' house is
even smaller than ours.
10.Yesterday John told me a funny joke. This joke was the funniest joke
I've ever heard.

Use either as as or not as as in the sentences below.

1) The blue car is the red car. (fast)
2) Peter is Fred. (not/tall)
3) The violin is the cello. (not/low)
4) This copy is the other one. (bad)
5) Oliver is Peter. (optimistic)
6) Today it's yesterday. (not/windy)
7) The tomato soup was the mushroom soup. (delicious)
8) Grapefruit juice is lemonade. (not/sweet)
9) Nick is Kevin. (brave)
10) Silver is gold. (not/heavy)