Adjectives

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. (By "noun" we include pronouns and noun phrases.)

An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a noun (a big dog).

Adjectives can be used before a noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain verbs (It is hard).

We can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady).

It is sometimes said that the adjective is the enemy of the noun. This is because, very often, if we use the precise noun we don't need an adjective. For example, instead of saying "a large, impressive house" (2 adjectives + 1 noun) we could simply say "a mansion" (1 noun).

Determiners
the, a/an, this, some, any

Adjective Order (with Quiz)
beautiful, long, dark brown

Comparative Adjectives
richer, more exciting

Superlative Adjectives
the richest, the most exciting

Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives | Quiz

see also:

Noun as Adjective
coffee cup, bus station, research centre

A, An, The | Possessives | Each, Every | Some, Any | Determiners Quiz

Determiners

Determiners are words like the, an, my, some. They are grammatically similar. They all come at the beginning of noun phrases, and usually we cannot use more than one determiner in the same noun phrase.

Articles:

• a, an, the

Possessive Adjectives:

• my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose

Other determiners:

• each, every
• either, neither
• some, any, no
• much, many; more, most
• little, less, least
• few, fewer, fewest
• what, whatever; which, whichever
• both, half, all
• several
• enough

Determiners Quiz

Some grammarians do not consider determiners as adjectives, but give them a class of their own

A, An, The | Possessives | Each, Every | Some, Any | Determiners Quiz Possessive Adjectives Warning! These are adjectives. Don't confuse them with pronouns! We use possessive adjectives to show who owns or "possesses" something. The possessive adjectives are: my, your, his, her, its, our, their whose (interrogative) number person gender possessive adjective example sentence singular 1st male/female my This is my book. 2nd male/female your I like your hair. 3rd male his His name is "John". female her Her name is "Mary". neuter its The dog is licking its paw. plural 1st male/female our We have sold our house. 2nd male/female your Your children are lovely. 3rd male/female/neuter their The students thanked their teacher. singular/plural 1st/2nd/3rd male/female (not neuter) whose Whose phone did you use? Compare: your = possessive adjective you're = you are its = possessive adjective it's = it is OR it has their = possessive adjective they're = they are there = adverb (I'm not going there / look over there / there is a car outside) whose = possessive adjective who's = who is OR who has Be careful! There is no apostrophe (') in the possessive adjective "its". We use an apostrophe to write the short form of "it is" or "it has". For example: it's raining = it is raining it's finished = it has finished I'm taking my dog to the vet. It's broken its leg. Terms | Privacy | Contact | Report error © 1997-2014 EnglishClub Each, Every Each and every have similar but not always identical meanings. Each = every one separately Every = each, all Sometimes, each and every have the same meaning: Prices go up each year. Prices go up every year. But often they are not exactly the same. Each expresses the idea of 'one by one'. It emphasizes individuality. Every is half-way between each and all. It sees things or people as singular, but in a group or in general. Consider the following: Every artist is sensitive. Each artist sees things differently. Every soldier saluted as the President arrived. The President gave each soldier a medal. Each can be used in front of the verb: The soldiers each received a medal. Each can be followed by 'of': The President spoke to each of the soldiers. He gave a medal to each of them. Every cannot be used for 2 things. For 2 things, each can be used: He was carrying a suitcase in each hand. Every is used to say how often something happens: There is a plane to Bangkok every day. The bus leaves every hour. Verbs with each and every are always conjugated in the singular. Some, Any Some = a little, a few or a small number or amount Any = one, some or all Usually, we use some in positive (+) sentences and any in negative (-) and question (?) sentences. some any example situation + I have some money. I have $10. - I don't have any money. I don't have $1 and I don't have $10 and I don't have $1,000,000. I have $0. ? Do you have any money? Do you have $1 or $10 or $1,000,000? In general, we use something/anything and somebody/anybody in the same way as some/any. Look at these examples: He needs some stamps. I must go. I have some homework to do. I'm thirsty. I want something to drink. I can see somebody coming. He doesn't need any stamps. I can stay. I don't have any homework to do. I'm not thirsty. I don't want anything to drink. I can't see anybody coming. Does he need any stamps? Do you have any homework to do? Do you want anything to drink? Can you see anybody coming? We use any in a positive sentence when the real sense is negative. I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money) She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty) Sometimes we use some in a question, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We could say that it is not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.) Would you like some more tea? Could I have some sugar, please? Top of Form Bottom of Form
Adjective Before Noun | Adjective After Verb | Quiz Adjective Order There are 2 basic positions for adjectives: before the noun after some verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste) adjective before noun noun verb adjective after verb 1 I have a big dog. 2 Snow is white. In this lesson we look at the position of adjectives in a sentence, followed by a quiz to check your understanding: Adjective before noun Adjective after verb Adjective order quiz

Adjective Before Noun

We often use more than one adjective before the noun:

• I like big black dogs.
• She was wearing a beautiful long red dress.

What is the correct order for two or more adjectives?
1. First of all, the general order is:
opinion, fact
"Opinion" is what you think about something. "Fact" is what is definitely true about something.

• a lovely new dress (not a new lovely dress)
• a boring French film (not a French boring film)

2. The "normal" order for fact adjectives is

other / size, shape, age, colour / origin / material / purpose

• a small 18th-century French coffee table
• a rectangular black wooden box

3. Determiners usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:

• articles (a, the)
• possessives (my, your...)
• demonstratives (this, that...)
• quantifiers (some, any, few, many...)
• numbers (one, two, three)

Note that when we want to use two colour adjectives, we join them with "and":

• Many newspapers are black and white.
• She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.

Here are some examples of adjective order:

adjectives							head noun
determiner	opinion adjectives	fact adjectives
		other	size, shape, age, colour	origin	material	purpose*
two	ugly		black			guard	dogs
a		well-known		Chinese			artist
a			small, 18th-century	French		coffee	table
your	fabulous		new			sports	car
a	lovely		pink and green	Thai	silk		dress
some			black	Spanish	leather	riding	boots
a			big black and white				dog
this		cheap			plastic	rain	coat
an			old		wooden	fishing	boat
my			new			tennis	racket
a	wonderful		15th-century	Arabic			poem

*often a noun used as an adjective

Not all grammarians agree about the exact order of adjectives, and the detailed rules are complicated. The rules on this page are for the normal, "natural" order of adjectives. These rules are not rigid, and you may sometimes wish to change the order for emphasis. Consider the following conversations:

Conversation 1
A "I want to buy a round table."
B "Do you want a new round table or an old round table?"

Conversation 2
A "I want to buy an old table".
B "Do you want a round old table or a square old table?"

Adjective After Verb »

Adjective After Verb

An adjective can come after some verbs, such as: be, become, feel, get, look, seem, smell, sound
Even when an adjective comes after the verb and not before a noun, it always refers to and qualifies the subject of the sentence, not the verb.
Look at the examples below: subject verb adjective

• Ram is English.
• Because she had to wait, she became impatient.
• Is it getting dark?
• The examination did not seem difficult.
• Your friend looks nice.
• This towel feels damp.
• That new film doesn't sound very interesting.
• Dinner smells good tonight.
• This milk tastes sour.
• It smells bad.

These verbs are "stative" verbs, which express a state or change of state, not "dynamic" verbs which express an action. Note that some verbs can be stative in one sense (she looks beautiful | it got hot), and dynamic in another (she looked at him | he got the money). The above examples do not include all stative verbs.
Note also that in the above structure (subject verb adjective), the adjective can qualify a pronoun since the subject may be a pronoun.
Now check your understanding »

Comparative Adjectives When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they are the same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives to describe the differences. We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things). In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective "big": A1 A2 A1 is bigger than A2. In this lesson we will look first at how we make comparative adjectives, and then at how we use them: Formation of Comparative Adjectives Use of Comparative Adjectives
Formation of Comparative Adjectives There are two ways to make or form a comparative adjective: short adjectives: add "-er" long adjectives: use "more" Short adjectives 1-syllable adjectives old, fast 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy Normal rule: add "-er" old → older Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r late → later Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant big → bigger Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → happier Long adjectives 2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual Normal rule: use "more" modern → more modern expensive → more expensive With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-er' or 'more': quiet → quieter/more quiet clever → cleverer/more clever narrow → narrower/more narrow simple → simpler/more simple Exception The following adjectives have irregular forms: good → better well (healthy) → better bad → worse far → farther/further Use of Comparative Adjectives »

Use of Comparative Adjectives

We use comparative adjectives when talking about 2 things (not 3 or 10 or 1,000,000 things, only 2 things).
Often, the comparative adjective is followed by "than".
Look at these examples:

• John is 1m80. He is tall. But Chris is 1m85. He is taller than John.
• America is big. But Russia is bigger.
• I want to have a more powerful computer.
• Is French more difficult than English?

If we talk about the two planets Earth and Mars, we can compare them as shown in the table below:

	Earth	Mars
Diameter (km)	12,760	6,790	Mars is smaller than Earth.
Distance from Sun (million km)	150	228	Mars is more distant from the Sun.
Length of day (hours)	24	25	A day on Mars is slightly longer than a day on Earth.
Moons	1	2	Mars has more moons than Earth.
Surface temperature (degrees Celcius)	22	-23	Mars is colder than Earth.

Although we use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more things), in fact one or both of the things may be a group of things.

• Mt Everest is higher than all other mountains.

Here, we are talking about hundreds of mountains, but we are still comparing one thing (Mt Everest) to one other thing (all other mountains).

[See also Superlative Adjectives]

Formation of Superlative Adjectives | Use of Superlative Adjectives Superlative Adjectives A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. We use a superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a group of things. In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective "big": A B C A is the biggest. In this lesson we will look first at how we make superlative adjectives, and then at how we use them: Formation of Superlative Adjectives Use of Superlative Adjectives We can use superlative adjectives when talking about three or more things (not two things).
		Formation of Superlative Adjectives | Use of Superlative Adjectives Formation of Superlative Adjectives As with comparative adjectives, there are two ways to form a superlative adjective: short adjectives: add "-est" long adjectives: use "most" We also usually add 'the' at the beginning. Short adjectives 1-syllable adjectives old, fast 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy Normal rule: add "-est" old → the oldest Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st late → the latest Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel, consonant, double the last consonant big → the biggest Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → the happiest Long adjectives 2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual Normal rule: use "most" modern → the most modern expensive → the most expensive With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-est' or 'most': quiet → the quietest/most quiet clever → the cleverest/most clever narrow → the narrowest/most narrow simple → the simplest/most simple Exception The following adjectives have irregular forms: good → the best bad → the worst far → the farthest/furthest Use of Superlative Adjectives »
Use of Superlative Adjectives We use a superlative adjective to describe one thing in a group of three or more things. Look at these examples: John is 1m75. David is 1m80. Chris is 1m85. Chris is the tallest. Canada, China and Russia are big countries. But Russia is the biggest. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. If we talk about the three planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter, we can use superlative adjectives as shown in the table below: Earth Mars Jupiter Dia- meter (km) 12,760 6,790 142,800 Jupiter is the biggest. Dis- tance from Sun (million km) 150 228 778 Jupiter is the most distant from the Sun. Length of day (hours) 24 25 10 Jupiter has the shortest day. Moons 1 2 16 Jupiter has the most moons. Surface temp. (degrees Celcius) 22 -23 -150 Jupiter is the coldest. When we compare one thing with itself, we do not use "the": England is coldest in winter. (not the coldest) My boss is most generous when we get a big order. (not the most generous) [See also Comparative Adjectives]
Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives | Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives Quiz Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns. Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest). The adjective hot is gradable. Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are: extremes (for example: freezing) absolutes (for example: dead) classifying (for example: nuclear) The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable. Gradable Adjectives A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples: grading adverbs a little, dreadfully, extremely, fairly, hugely, immensely, intensely, rather, reasonably, slightly, unusually, very + gradable adjectives angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep, fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot, important, long, popular, rich, strong, tall, warm, weak, young "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives". "Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers". A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms: big, bigger, the biggest hot, hotter, the hottest important, more important, the most important Look at these example sentences: My teacher was very happy with my homework. That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular. He said that France was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold. But Sweden was the coldest. The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is an absolute. Dead is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader" than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfect Non-gradable Adjectives A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs: It was rather freezing outside. The dog was very dead. He is investing in slightly nuclear energy. Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms: freezing, more freezing, the most freezing dead, deader, the deadest nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone: It was freezing outside. The dog was dead. He is investing in nuclear energy. Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's better to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable. This is a matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have never heard of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it doesn't make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably have the same idea in your language. However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example: non-grading adverbs non-gradable adjectives absolutely awful extreme utterly excellent completely terrified totally dead absolute nearly impossible virtually unique essentially chemical classifying mainly digital almost domestic Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives: Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the exam again. Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique. It starts an essentially chemical reaction. Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense. For example: adjective common = He's got a very old car. gradable not young I saw my old boyfriend yesterday. non-gradable former, ex- He has some dreadfully common habits. gradable vulgar "The" is a very common word in English. gradable prevalent The two countries' common border poses problems. non-gradable shared Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives: gradable non-gradable Please don't forget! It's really important. He was really terrified. He's a fairly rich man. It's a fairly impossible job. He's pretty tall. It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it. "Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with: adjective quite = It's quite warm today. gradable fairly, rather Are you quite certain? non-gradable completely, absolutely Reference  Non-gradable adjectives Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying. alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole   Non-grading adverbs Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all non-gradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't. absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely, mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives Quiz >

Noun as Adjective

As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word that describes a noun:

adjective	noun
clever	teacher
small	office
black	horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun "acts as" an adjective.

noun as adjective	noun
history	teacher
ticket	office
race	horse

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this it will help you to understand what is being talked about:

• a race horse is a horse that runs in races
• a horse race is a race for horses
• a boat race is a race for boats
• a love story is a story about love
• a war story is a story about war
• a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis
• tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis
• a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers
• a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in the singular form.

Right		Wrong
boat race	boat races	NOT boats race, boats races
toothbrush	toothbrushes	NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes
shoe-lace	shoe-laces	NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces
cigarette packet	cigarette packets	NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.
A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are unchanged:

• a news reporter, three news reporters
• one billiards table, four billiards tables
• an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions:
When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs, accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

• clothes shop, clothes shops
• sports club, sports clubs
• customs duty, customs duties
• accounts department, accounts departments
• arms production

How do we write the "noun as adjective"?

We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:

• two separate words (car door)
• two hyphenated words (book-case)
• one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)

How do we say the "noun as adjective"?

For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

• shoe shop
• boat-race
• bathroom

Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective" together. Look at these examples:
car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
		costs
	production	costs
car	production	costs

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains the team that plays football for England

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
			coach
		team	coach
	football	team	coach
England	football	team	coach

Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun as adjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns (foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that words evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" are regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list "tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not.
government road accident research centre: we are talking about a centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government

noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun as adjective	noun
				centre
			research	centre
		accident	research	centre
	road	accident	research	centre
government	road	accident	research	centre

Newspapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look at this example:
BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY
To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.
Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a "noun as adjective" structure:

• empty coffee jar
• honest car salesman
• delicious dog food
• rising car production costs
• famous England football team coach