Adjectives

Introduction to adjectives

An adjective describes (tell us something about) a noun.

We've got an old house. I like old houses.

An adjective has the same form in the singular and in the plural, e.g. an old house, old houses.

This is a nice coat. This coat is nice.

An adjective comes before a noun (a nice coat) or after be (... is nice).

The boys are afraid of the dark. The driver was still alive.

A few adjectives come after be but do not normally come before a noun. Examples: afraid, alive, alone asleep, awake, ill, well.

The regular comparison of adjectives

cheaper, cheapest, more expensive, most expensive

This radio's cheap. It's only £10. This one's cheaper than that. It's only £7.50. This must be the cheapest one. It's only £4.75.

Short adjectives of one syllable (e.g. cheap, tall, nice) take -er in the comparative (cheaper) and -est in the superlative (cheapest).

This is an expensive coat. It's £80. I can't afford a more expensive coat. This one is the most expensive of all. It's £120.

Longer adjectives of three or more syllables (e.g. expensive, interesting, dangerous) take more in the comparative (more expensive) and most in the superlative (most expensive).

You're taller than Bob/than Bob is.

After the comparative form we can use than. After than we can put a noun phrase (than Bob) or a noun phrase + verb (than Bob is).

You're taller than him/than he is.

A personal pronoun without a verb after than has the object form (than him).

Which is the longuest bridge in the world?

After a superlative we often use a phrase with a preposition.

It's the most exciting book I've ever read.

After a superlative we often use a relative clause without a pronoun.

silly, sillier, the silliest; simple, simpler, the simplest; clever, cleverer, the cleverest; quiet, quieter, the quietest.

Note on adjectives of two syllables. These adjectives usually take -er/-est (but they can take more/most)

Adjectives in -ed usually take more/most, even adjectives of one syllable.

Some examples: tired, bored, amused, annoyed, surprised.

Most other two-syllable adjectives take more/most:

careful, more careful, the most careful; boring, more boring, the most boring; modern, more modern, the most modern; correct, more correct, the most correct; famous, more famous, the most famous.

polite, stupid, narrow, pleasant, common, handsome.

With these adjectives either -er/-est or more/most is used.

The irregular comparison of adjectives

good, better, the best; bad, worse, the worst.

Nottingham has some good shops. Sheffield is better for shopping. The shops in Manchester are best.

good, better, the best

Thursday is market day. It's a bad day for parking. The problem is worse in summer. Saturday is the worst time of the week.

bad, worse, the worst

Comparison:

as... as and so... as

The train is just as expensive as the plane. They both cost £85. Unfortunately the news was as bad as we had expected.

In positive sentences we use as... as to compare two things that are the same in some way.

Today isn't as cold as yesterday. Today isn't so cold as yesterday.

In negative sentences we use either as... as or so... as.

Everything is just the same as before, really.

We also use as after the same. Compare different from.

Comparison: less, least

less and least are the opposites of more and most

Comparative with and

We can repeat a comparative after and to talk about a change happening over a period of time.

Comparative with the

We use the + comparative to talk about a change in one thing which causes a change in something else.

latest, last; nearest, next; further, farther

last, next, farther

The M7 is our latest motorway. It was open only last week. The M7 will be the last motorway. There's no money to build any more.

latest - newest; last - final (but last week - the week before this)

There are no garages here. The nearest one is 25 miles away. You'd better get some petrol at this garage. The next one is 25 miles away.

nearest - closest, least - far; next - the one after this.

How much further/farther is it to Glasgow? Let's hope there are no further problems.

further/farther - longer in distance; further - more.

the + adjective

use of the + adjective

The rich are healthier than the poor.

We use the + adjective to talk about a whole group of people, e.g. the young, the old, the unemployed. The rich - rich people.

You've got to take the good with the bad.

We also use the + adjective to talk about abstract ideas, e.g. the news, the unknown, the absurd.

Nationality words

We can also use an adjective to refer to people, or nations, e.g. They're Spanish. She's a French girl. English people love dogs.

I've bought some Italian shoes. It's a japanese radio. Was it an English film?

We can use a nationality word as an adjective

Can you speak Italian? I'm trying to learn Japanese. My English is getting better.

We can use a nationality word as the name of a language

The owner is an Italian. A lot of Japanese come here in summer. There was an Englishman opposite me.

We can use a nationality word to talk about a person or a group of people

Italians/ The Italians are very artistic. the Japanese sell lots of things to Europe. Englishmen/The English love dogs.

We can use a nationality word to talk about a nation as a whole