3 Adjectives
Let's Remember
Underline the adjectives in the sentences given below.
1 Ralph is a Swede who is married to a French citizen.
2 Which pen is yours?
3. I have a few tickets still left with me.
4 She came up with unique ideas.
5. We have about
twenty students in this group.
6. The air in the hills is purer than in the city.
7. Your notebooks are kept on that shelf.
8. He is as hard-working as his sister.
9 David is a
dependable person.
10. Whose books you reading?
are
11. These mangoes are very sweet.
12. Ms Patel is our new teacher.
13. There was some confusion regarding the show timing.
14. The Japanese tea ceremony is a ritual of preparing and serving green tea.
15. Gaurav won a gold medal at the tournament.
An adjective is a describing word. It tells us something specific about a noun.
Adjectives can be used either before or after the noun they describe
Examples:
(a) David is a dependable person. (before)
before attributiveadjective
(b) Rupa is very kind. (after)
after predicativeadjective
(c) Both are hard-working dancers. (before)
(d) Rupa's dancing is better. (after)
Kinds of Adjectives
Adjectives Function Examples
Qualitative describe shape, size, colour, She came up with unique ideas.
(of Quality) state, manner He gave me a pleased look.
Quantitative answer how much or how We have about twenty students here.
(of Quantity) many questions I have a fewtickets still left with me.
Possessive show possession Ms Patel is our new teacher.
Your exercise books are kept on that shelf.
Demonstrative point out or identify nouns These mangoes are very sweet.
I have already cleaned those shelves.
Interrogative used for asking questions Which pen is yours?
(usually followed by nouns) Whose book are you reading?
Proper formed from proper nouns Ralph is a Swede who is married to a
(especially names of places) French citizen.
B ldentify the adjectives in the following sentences and state their kind.
1. This town has withstood
many fierce battles.
2. I write every
day in little blue
my diary.
3. I'm sorry, I have no money to lend you.
4. Which band member do
you like more?
5. The naive man believed the story.
6. I am not going these shoes.
to buy
7. This
palace was built in the 19th century.
8. Many Indian students are enrolled in American universities.
9. It was a
glorious day with a clear blue sky.
10. There is little in what
sense was being suggested.
Participles as Adjectives
The presernt and past
used as adjectives.
participles of verbs are commonly Present participle =verb -ing +
Past participle verb +-d/-t/
Examples: -
n/-ed/-en
(a) I watched an
interesting film last night.
(b) There was broken glass
all over the
floor.
The present participle of a verb used as an adjective can often show an exis
state or an action that is going on. existing
Examples:
(a) The rising temperature is making life difficult for everybody.
(b) The firefighters saved everyone from the burning
building.
The past participle of a verb used as an adjective can often
show an action that is complete.
Examples:
(a) The excited children were quite happy with the decision.
(b) The police claim that they have recovered the stolen goods.
Fill in the blanks with suitable participles of verbs given in brackets.
1.
Ihave just received a
very ... (puzzle) bit of news.
2. We withdrew the offer because
nobody was.. (interest).
3. She has a very... . (engage) way of talking.
4. The (burn) remains of the paper held all1
the clues.
5. She has joined a group of. perform) artists.
6. Everybody felt very .. . (annoy) by the things
that happened.
7. He felt. ....
(trap) in the difficult situation.
8. The experts are really worried about the.....
population.
(increase)
9. That jug on the table has some ... (sparkle) water.
10. When the dog ran out, Mohit had a ...
. . (worry) look.
Compound Adjectives
Compound adjectives are made up of two or more words.
Compound adjectives are often joined by a hyphen.
Examples:
(a) I
have never known a more kind-hearted person.
(b) I will wear that
bottle-green dress today.
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I f the first part of the adjective is an adverb, then there is no hyphen
between the words that make up the adjective.
Examples:
(a) I came across a funnily dancing monkey.
(b) Inoticed the carefully cleaned kitchen in the house.
DMatch the compound adjectives with their appropriate meanings.
Adjective Meaning
1. weak-kneed a. focused and determined
2. short-sighted b. undera lot of stress or strain
3. single-minded C. widely known
4. able-bodied
d. caring only about personal gain
5. hard-pressed e.
shaky; lacking courage
6. thick-skinned
f. tolerant; not conservative
7. well-known
8 physically sound and strong
8. self-seeking
h. lacking imagination or foresight
9. broad-minded
unaffected by criticism
10. hard-nosed
j. realistic and determined; tough-minded
E Fill in the blanks with the
compound adjectives from Exercise D.
1. We need to
carry heavy parcels to the car. We need a few ..
people.
2.
Considering the expenditure required to fix the roads, we are...
for money.
3. We should be .
... and not let
petty prejudices rule our view of others.
4. One has to be ...
.... to not be
embarrassed by such criticism.
5. She has
become a very. artist
and her paintings are very popular.
6. We need to finish this
project so let's get down to
it with a . es********** . . * . attitude.
A. tlde
Comparison of Adjectives
There are three degrees of adjectives as can be seen in this table.
Positive Comparative Superlative
Regular adjectives large larger largest
clear clearer clearest
pure purer purest
Irregular adjectivesgood better best
worst
bad worse
far further furthest
more most
many
Adjectives with more more intelligent most intelligent
intelligent
than two syllables most confused
confused| more confused
When making an unequal comparison, we use the comparative degree of
adjectives with than.
Examples:
(a) This room is larger than the earlier one.
(b) The air in the hills is purer than in the city.
of adjectives.
Negative comparisons using not often use the positive degree
Examples:
(a) My left arm is not as strong as my right one.
(b) He is not as hard-working as his sister.
of
When making a comparison at the same level, we use the positive degree
adjectives.
Examples:
(a) The film is as interesting as its prequel.
Some say Kolkata is as fascinating as Cairo.
(b)
When one thing or person is singled out in a
group, we use the superlative degree of adjectives.
Examples:
(a) My brother is the tallest boy in his group.
taller tallest
(b) This is the longest essay in the entire book. tall
Fill in the blanks with comparative or superlative forms of the adjectives given "
brackets. Some may have more than one answer.
1. They claim that the new chairs are... (sturdy) than the older ones.
2. Nothing could be fortunate) than this.
3. Chimpanzees are. . . . (clever) than most people think.
4. The weather today is . .(bad) this month.
5. WhenI am . (old), I will join taekwondo classes.
6. Shesaid she would visit us when she is.
. (good).
7. Our vacations always seem.
. (happy) to us.
8. The hamlet looks. (crowded) from up here.
9. Itfeels.. (nice) to sit out in the park of
all places.
10. Your pens are , ...
(expensive) tharn mine.
11. The classrooms on the first floor are
(bright) than those on the ground floor.
12. This story is... ....
(fascinating) than any I have ever read.
13. In my class I
live. ..
(far) from the school than the others.
14. The lesson is... (clear) to me now than it was earlier.
15. My youngest sister eats.. (fast) than everybody else in the family.
Order of Adjectives
A be
noun can
qualified by more than one adjective. In such a case,
a certain order according to their adjectives are placed in
meaning. Usually we follow the following sequence.
Group Examples
opinion (how good) perfect, nice, horrible, ordinary
size (how big)
large, vast, big, long, spacious
other qualities
fast, important, angry, famous
age (how old) old, ancient, new, recent
colour
white, black, green, blue
origin (from where) Indian, Japanese, Malaysian
material (made of)
steel, iron, stone, plastic,
paper
type (what kind) an electronic gadget, a political statement, a train
journey
purpose (what for) sports car, bath towel, face wash,
restrooms, picture frame
svate
mnetro
rail
transport
in the. city.
Examples: extensive,
neuw
those auful, rickety, old iyoad
rickety,o
tran1
travelin
imnresstve,
hey
have
(b) They will get body
ney
an
a c h e s if
they
wport
modify then
and
noun.
Using Commas
adjectives that precede
between
a r e used
as
bulky bOx. t h e second
iective and the
adis...
Example: That is a big, heavy, modifies
first adjective
ommas a r e n o t used when the
noun.
second adjective modifies the
Example: The snart new teacher.
in brackets in the
Kewrite the sentences with the adjectives
given .
most suitable
1. We visited a ....... ... ... gOods le
Snowroom recently. (new, spacious, nice, sports)
2. We had a.. journey lastt
month. (long, peaceful, smooth, train)
3. We saw a ...... . . tomb. (ancient
white, marble, beautiful)
4. There are some.... trees on the
beach. (tall, coconut,
slender, palm)
5. Please wash that....
6. He has
......
(bath, wet, blue,
new) towel.
7.
discarded his .....
....
jacket. (short, leather, old,
They bought an
8. I would like a..
...
carpet. (Persian, tight-fittinol
ing
elegant, woollen,
(creamy, sweet, cold, expensive
vanilla) ice cream
Let's Revise
Underline the
1. There are adjectives in the given sentences
a
few lotus and state
2. There are plants in the pond. their type.
3. There isn'tsom boys quanitafme
in the
4.
5. Are therg any
any hall.quanitate
sugar
left.quardche
rose
6. THArae
The audience newly
plants
is in your
garden?
7.
the Annual
Concert.
installed.
applauded the lead 9uamAtaive
They ate Des vocalist of the
8 She gave aherplate of French (9ahü band at
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husband a silver fries.Pe&eie
ring on their weddi
of th
in
the
he blanks using
b the comparative
orsuperlativeform
Fill
in
brackets
others is one of the
Helping
(noble) deeds.
Your
older brother is .
(tall)
2.
than you.
This is the couple's photo taken in their
3. . . . (young) days.
town.
in the
...
man
is the (wealthy)
The factory
owner
.
won the. . . (good) athlete trophy
this year.
Farah
5. in itaite>*
sentences by corecting the order of
adjectives
Rewrite the following
wherever required.
Add commas street of the city.
through
walked the narrow old congested busy
1. They pavements.
It was difficult to walk along the stone old uneven slippery
2.
3. That film
is exciting family new entertainer.
an
bar.
4. Children enjoyed the new crunchy chocolate big
electronic fabulous gadget.
5. The visitors were fascinated by the German latest
Complete the table by filling up the missing adjectives.
Superlative
Positive Comparative
1. stronger
Worst
2.
3. deliciou1s
friendliest
4.
5. bright
broader
7.important
8. immense
9 much
10. most
d i
