ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are one of the eight parts of speech and very important and interesting one also. They are like an essential spice in a dish.

The chief function of an adjective is to change a noun or a pronoun. They usually help us answer one of these three questions about nouns. What kind? How many? Which one?

An illustration would be helpful to make you understand the concept.

•  Recently, the Tata Group of Companies has launched a green product.

In the above sentence, the word ‘green’ helps us know about the product. It tells us ‘how the product’ is. Hence, ‘green’ is the adjective in the above sentence.

Let us look at a few more examples now.

1.      That is an interesting idea.

2.      He is a funny man.

3.      My friend’s sense of humour is horrible.

4.      She drank the hot tea and her tongue was burnt.

5.      There are many lazy students in my class.

6.      I have a tall friend who gets hurt by the classroom door every time he enters.

7.      My neighbour is proud woman.

8.      After stealing eggs from the shop, the thief ran quickly.

9.      The brown cat slept for three long days.

10.  My uncle tells us historic stories.

Q. Write down five adjectives related to touch, time, taste, appearance, situation, personality, emotion and opinion.

Let us look at the various kinds of adjectives that we use or can use to make our sentences complete and more interesting.

    1.      DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES- 

   These are often called adjectives of quality. They describe nouns that refer to action, state,    or quality. For example, careless, excited, happy, upset, long, short, etc.

   a)      Green vegetables are good for health.

   b)      The movie was based on a true story.

   c)      There is a tall tree in my garden.

   d)      Pizzas come in square box.

   e)      Namita is a careless girl.

      

   2.      QUANTITATIVE ADJECTIVES- 

   These adjectives give us details about the number (how many) or amount (how much) of a      noun. For example- much, many, three, few, etc.

  a)      He ate two bananas.

  b)      She didn’t have much money.

  c)      The stray dog has little food to eat.

  d)      Anybody would be happy to get some money.

  e)      We didn’t buy any chocolates.

   3.      DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES- 

  These adjectives show the noun they modify is singular or plural and whether the position     of the noun is near or far from the person who is speaking or writing. They also point out    about nouns. For example- this, that, former, latter, these, those and a few more.

a)      This book is mine and that one is Rohit’s.

b)      What do you think of that skirt?

c)      Those are the people who kicked me yesterday.

d)      I want these things gone by the time those things are arranged.

e)      This shirt is not clean.

      

  4.      POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES-  

 These adjectives express possession of a noun by someone or something. For example- my,  our, its, their, his, her, your, etc.

 a)      I spent my entire day cleaning the house.

 b)      That must be his cap.

 c)      Our parents were childhood friends.

 d)      Her skin is soft like cotton.

 e)      That pencil is mine.

   

  5.      Some grammarians considers the articles (a, an and the) to be adjectives as well.

Adjectives can also be compared, like people and things can be, i.e. the way we can compare things or persons, we can also compare adjectives.

For example, a person may be “polite”, but another person may be “more polite” and a third person may be the “most polite” of the three. The words “more” and “most” have different significance here. “More” here modifies the adjective “polite” to reflect a comparison that is being made, and “most” modifies the adjective to tell us an absolute comparison.

There are major three degrees of adjectives in which they are expressed. The first one is the positive degree, where the adjective is written in the pure form (small), then there is the comparative degree, which is used to compare two things (smaller) and the last is the superlative adjective which is used when we compare two or more things (smallest).

POINTS TO REMEBER

•   If an adjective ends in "e", the endings are "-r" and "-st", for example: wise, wiser, wisest.
• If a 1-syllable adjective ends in "y", the endings are "-er" and "-est", but the y is sometimes changed to an "i". For example: dry, drier, driest.
•  If a 2-syllable adjective ends in "y", the endings are "-ier" and "-iest", for example: happy, happier, happiest.
• If a 1-syllable adjective ends in a consonant (with a single vowel preceding it), then the consonant is doubled and the endings "-er" and "-est" are used, for example: big, bigger, biggest.
•  Some 2-syllable adjectives use the standard "-er" and "-est suffixes", including adjectives that end in "er", "le", or "ow". For example: narrow, narrower, narrowest.
•  For most adjectives with two or more syllables, the comparative is formed by adding the word "more," and you form the superlative by adding the word "most", for example: colorful, more colorful, most colorful
•   Some comparative and superlative adjectives are irregular, including some very common ones such as good/better/best and bad/worse/worst.

EXAMPLES-

BY ADDING ‘ER’ AND ‘EST’
POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
Bright	Brighter	Brightest
Bold	Bolder	Boldest
Clever	Cleverer	Cleverest
Cold	Colder	Coldest
Fast	Faster	Fastest
Great	Greater	Greatest
High	Higher	Highest
Kind	Kinder	Kindest
Long	Longer	Longest
Small	Smaller	Smallest
Strong	Stronger	Strongest
Sweet	Sweeter	Sweetest
Tall	Taller	Tallest
Young	Younger	Youngest

BY ADDING ‘R’ AND ‘ST’
POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
Brave	Braver	Bravest
Fine	Finer	Finest
Large	Larger	Largest
Nice	Nicer	Nicest
Noble	Nobler	Noblest
Simple	Simpler	Simplest
Wise	Wiser	Wisest
White	Whiter	Whitest

BY DELETING THE FINAL ‘Y’ AND ADDING ‘IER’ AND ‘IEST’
POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
Costly	Costlier	Costliest
Dry	Drier	Driest
Easy	Easier	Easiest
Happy	Happier	Happiest
Heavy	Heavier	Heaviest
Lazy	Lazier	Laziest
Mercy	Mercier	Merciest
Wealthy	Wealthier	Wealthiest

BY DOUBLING THE FINAL CONSONANTS
POSITIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
Big	Bigger	Biggest
Dim	Dimmer	Dimmest
Fat	Fatter	Fattest
Hot	Hotter	Hottest
Thin	Thinner	Thinnest

EXERCISES-

Q. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences-

1. Rahul is the _____ of all.

2. Seema shouts _____ than Anita.

3. Rashika is a _____ girl.

4. His house is _____ to mine than to Sanjay’s.

5. We should give our _____ efforts.

6. Honesty is the _____ policy.

7. My grandfather is an _____ man.

8. Elizabeth is not ____ than Ben.

9. Sara is the _____ of them all.

10.  Shina is ____ courageous than Krtika.

11. No other dramatist is so _____ as Shakespeare.

12. Some students in our class are not ____ than Sunil.

13. Ruma sings ____.

14. It is still ____ inside the house.

15. They are the ____ modern family in our entire neighbourhood.