Using adjectives in English

- When we use more than one adjective in front of a noun, there is a specific order in which they must appear. In a sentence, the adjectives usually appear after the determiner, and before the noun they modify. The breakdown of the nine categories is found in the chart below.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Number	Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Color	Origin	Material	Purpose

- Most nouns do not have more than three adjectives in front of them.

Ex	Her ugly old cat
	The blue shopping bag
	A few new French wines.

Adjective types	Examples
Number	One, three, a few, several
Opinion	Silly, charming, comfortable
Size	Large, small, tiny
Age	Old, young, new, 12-year-old
Shape	Square, rectangular
Color	Red, blue, green
Origin	American, French, Ghanaian
Material	Wood, iron, ceramic
Purpose	Running (where the purpose of the noun is to run e.g. running shoes), cooking, school (as in "school supplies")

Adjectives modify nouns, giving them descriptions about size, color, shape, origin, etc. Superlative adjectives are used to describe the noun to the upper and lower limits of a quality. There are some basic rules on how to convert an adjective into a superlative adjective.

Add “-est” onto a one-syllable word to make the superlative form. If this word ends with an “–e”, just at the –“st”.

Ex	Fine à finest
	Large à largest

Two-syllable adjectives that end in “-y” require you to change that letter to an “-i” and then add on the ‘-est”.

Ex	Funny à Funniest
	Groovy à grooviest

For all adjectives that are two or more syllables, use the words most or least to indicate either the upper, or the lower limit of the adjective.

Ex	Comfortable à most comfortable / least comfortable
	Rectangular à most rectangular / least rectangular

Adjectives modify nouns, adding descriptions about size, color, shape, origin, etc. Comparative adjectives are used to compare two nouns. For example: “This table is larger than that one”.

Add “-er” onto a one-syllable word to make the comparative form. In some cases an adjective ending in a consonant requires us to double that consonant before adding the “-er”. When it already ends with an “-e”, just add on the “-r”.

Ex	Large à larger
	Fat à fatter

When a two-syllable adjective ends in a “-y”, we must change it to and “-i” before adding the “-er”.

Ex	Crazy à crazier
	Happy à happier

Three-syllable adjectives require adding “more” or “less.”

Ex	Comfortable à more comfortable / less comfortable
	American à more American / less American

- Uncomparable adjectives describe absolute conditions. You cannot use modifiers like “more” or “less” with them. They cannot be used in the comparative form either.

Most common uncomparable adjectives

Absolute	False	Favorite	Impossible
Perfect	Possible	Inevitable	Complete
Broken	Only	Ideal	Infinite
Fatal	Adequate	Whole	Unique

Comparative adjectives are used to compare two nouns. For example: “This dog is faster than that one.” It is used with the word than, which compares the two items. Below you can see the two sentence structures possible.

Subject

+ To be

+ Adjective

+ -ER

+ Than

Ex	The dresser is bigger than the chair.
	The soup is spicier than the lasagna.

Subject

+ To be

+ More

+ Adjective

+ Than

Ex	Lisa is more comfortable than I am.
	Bruno is more studious than Casey.

The superlative adjective is used to distinguish one item from all the other items in a group by using “-est” or the most / least. Below are the two sentence structures possible with superlative adjectives.

Subject

+ To be

+ The

+ Adjective

+ -EST

Ex	She is the youngest child.
	New York City is the coolest city in the world.

Subject

+ To be

+ The

+ Most

+ Adjective

Ex	Lisa is the most organized person ever.
	This exam is the most important part of our grade.

- A linking verb is used to express further information about the subject, instead of an action. While to be, to become, and to seem are always linking verbs, others are only sometimes used as linking verbs. Here are some of the most common linking verbs in English:

To feel	To taste	To smell
To appear	To look	To feel
To grow	To prove	To remain

- To distinguish these verbs' action form from their linking form, try replacing the verb in question with is in the form of a question. If the question makes sense, it’s in the linking verb form.

Ex	Kerry grew tired after dinner. à Was Kerry tired after dinner? *The question makes sense with this sentence; therefore, to grow is being used in the linking verb form.
	Chris grew roses in his garden. à Was Chris roses in his garden? * This question doesn’t make sense. This means the verb to grow is being used in the action verb form.

- Usually, only adverbs come directly after a verb in a sentence, modifying it. However, if it’s a linking verb, it will be followed by an adjective.

Subject	+ Linking Verb	+ Adjective
Kiralyn	appeared	tired
The house	was	cold

- This can be a complicated grammar rule to understand. While the adjective appears after the linking verb, it doesn’t necessarily come directly after it. If the adverb describes the adjective, the adverb will come after the verb and before the adjective.

Subject	+ Linking Verb	+ Adverb	+ Adjective
The Cat	was	alarmingly	still
I	felt	unusually	happy

- Compound adjectives are a combination of two or more adjectives that modify the same noun. They require a hyphen to avoid confusion. Examples include:

French-speaking	Small-town	Slow-moving	Up-to-date
All-too-common	Low-risk	Ill-equipped	Sure-footed
Long-winded	Part-time	Open-minded	Four-year

Ex	Erin received high marks on her well-written essay.
	Luna installed a state-of-the-art technology in her office.
	Stephanie was broken-hearted after her soccer team lost.

There are several other formulas that can be used to make compound adjectives. For example:

Noun + present participle or present participle or adjective

Ex	Record-breaking
	Oven-baked
	World- famous

Adjective + present participle or present participle or noun

Ex	Slow-moving
	Cold-blooded
	Last-minute

- A compound adjective, composed of a number followed by a time period, requires a hyphen and the singular form of the time period.

Ex	A three-week vacation, not three-weeks vacation
	A two-year contract, not two-years contract

To show an equality between two items in a comparative phrase we can use one of four sentence structures: "as," "nearly," "quite as," and "just as." These create a positive sentence structure; however, each one means something slightly different.

Ex	Jonathan is as funny as Tom

This sentence plainly states that Tom and Jonathan are both equally funny.

Ex	Jonathan is nearly as funny as Tom

In this phrase, Jonathan is almost as funny as Tom. This indicates a slight difference betweenthe two.

Ex	Jonathan is just as funny as Tom
	Jonathan is quite as funny as Tom

Here, the "just" and "quite" emphasize that the two items are the same. For example, this would be used if the interlocutor doesn’t believe that two are equal.