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Monday, 30 December 2013

Adjective

Example of Adjective

An adjective is essentially a ‘describing word’.

Adjectives are words that describe a noun or pronoun. It can also be said that they modify another person or thing in the sentence. Essentially, adjectives are any and all words that are used to describe something.

For example, ‘a loyal dog’. The adjective here is the term ‘loyal’ which is used to describe the dog.

Examples of adjective:
A loud sound
A furry cat
The car was blue
There were four glasses in the cabinet
The nostalgic thrill of dew-wet mornings in Spring

An adjective can be anything that is used to describe:
  • Appearance: adorable, beautiful, clean, etc.
  • Color: red, orange, yellow, blue, etc.
  • Condition: alive, better, careful, etc.
  • Feelings: angry, bewildered, agreeable, brave, calm, etc.
  • Shape: broad, chubby, crooked, etc.
  • Size: big, colossal, gigantic, huge, etc.
  • Sound: deafening, faint, loud, quiet, etc.
  • Time: brief, early, fast, late, etc.
  • Taste: bitter, delicious, fresh, etc.
  • Touch: chilly, cold, cool, hot, dry, etc.
  • Quantity: empty, few, full, heavy, light, etc.

Adjectives can be of two different forms: Comparative and Superlative. Comparative Adjectives are adjectives that are used to compare two things, whereas Superlative Adjectives are adjectives that are used to compare three or more things. The comparative ending (suffix) for short, common adjectives is generally "-er"; the superlative suffix is generally "-est." For example: big, bigger and biggest. Big is an adjective. Bigger is a Comparative Adjective, as it states that among two things, one is bigger than the other. Biggest is a Superlative Adjective because it indicates that one thing is the biggest among three or more things. For words that cannot be made comparative by ending "-er", can be made comparative by adding ‘more’ For example, ‘more comfortable’ or ‘more careful’.

Adjective


Adjective is a word that modifies (gives more information about) a noun or pronoun.
For example, tall man, old house, red car. The words “tall, old, red” are adjectives which give more information about nouns “man, house, and car” in these examples.
More than one adjective can also be used for a single noun in sentence.
Examples.
        The beautiful girl entered into the room.
        The tall, beautiful girl entered into the room.
        The tall, thin, beautiful girl entered into the room.
        The tall, thin, beautiful and intelligent girl entered into the room.

An adjective gives information about the colour, size, characteristic, quality, quantity or personal traits of a noun or pronoun.

Some examples.





  • White, red, black, green, purple, yellow, orange, brown, and black are adjectives because they mention the colour of noun or pronoun.
  • Beautiful, pretty, ugly, thin, slim, fat, tall, and short are adjectives and they describe physical characteristic of a noun or pronoun.
  • Intelligent, brave, courageous, determined, exuberant and diligent are adjective and they describe the personal traits of a noun or pronoun.


Use of adjective in sentence.

Adjective is used in sentence at two places depending upon the structure of sentence.
  • Before noun
  • After some verbs (After stative verbs like seem, look, be (when used as stative verb), feel etc)

 

Use of adjective before noun (Examples)


      He ate a delicious mango.
      She bought a red car.
      A fat man was running in the street.
      I saw a cute baby.
      I don’t like hot tea.
      They live in a small home.
      Poor can’t afford expensive clothes.
      Severe headache and fever are symptoms of malaria.
      He is facing a difficult problem.

Use of adjective after verbs.
Adjectives may be used after stative verbs (i.e. seem, look, sound, taste, appear, feel, be). Adjective are used after such verbs which behaves like stative verbs.
For example, Iron is hot
“Hot” is adjective in the above sentence which comes after “is” and “is” behaves like a stative verb in this sentence. “Hot” after verb “is” but it tells us about the noun (subject) “iron”

Examples.
Your problem seems difficult.
That book was good.
This pizza tastes delicious.
The story sounds interesting.
He is stupid.
The man became angry.
She looks attractive.

 

Degrees of Adjectives and their use.

 
There are three degrees of adjectives.
     1. Positive Adjective     2. Comparative Adjective         3. Superlative Adjective
 Some Examples:

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

Big Bigger Biggest
Great Greater Greatest
Short Shorter Shortest
Old Older Oldest
Large Larger Largest
Happy Happier Happiest
Lucky Luckier Luckiest
Heavy Heavier Heaviest
Beautiful More beautiful Most beautiful
Horrible More horrible Most horrible
Good Better Best
Bad Worse Worst
Little Less Least
Many More Most

Use of comparative adjective.


Comparative adjectives are used to express characteristic of one thing in comparison to another thing (one thing). It makes comparison between two things (only two things not more than two).

Word “than” is mostly used after comparative adjective but sometimes other words “to” may be used after comparative adjective. See the following examples.

Examples.
           She is taller than Mary.
           A cup is smaller than a glass.
           He is junior to me.
           Chinese is more difficult than English.
           Paris is more beautiful than New York.

Use of Superlative adjective.


Comparative adjectives are used to express characteristic of one thing in comparison to other things (many things). It makes comparison among things more than two. Superlative is the highest degree of a thing in comparison to other things. A superlative adjective means that a object is surpassing all others (things in comparison) in quality or characteristic.   For example, John is the most intelligent student in his class. It means John is surpassing all other students in his class and no other student in his class is as intelligent as John.
Article “the” is used before superlative degree. “In” or “of” etc is used after the superlative and modifying noun in sentence.
Examples.
      Bills Gate is the richest person in world.
      Brunel is the most beautiful hotel in England.
      Mount Everest is the highest mountain in world.
      She is the tallest girl in class.
      Our generation is the most modern.
      His house is the biggest in the street.
      The winter is the coldest time of year.

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