Parts of Speech
Adjectives
Adjective
An adjective is a word that modifies (or describes) a noun or a pronoun.
Adjectives answer these questions: Which? How many? What kind of?
How much?
This is a beautiful day.
Beautiful is an adjective that describes the noun day. It answers the question "What kind of day?"
Betty wore a gorgeous dress to the dance.
The adjective gorgeous describes the noun
dress.
Comparison of adjectives
Most adjectives have three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative.
Use the positive degree when you are referring to one person or thing.
Joan is a
pretty girl.
Use the comparative degree when you are comparing two people or things.
Joan is
prettier than Betty.
Use the superlative degree when you are comparing more than two people or things.
Joan was the
prettiest girl at the party.
Usually, the degrees are formed by adding –er and –est to the positive degree to form the comparative and the superlative degrees, respectively.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|
|
pretty
|
prettier
|
prettiest
|
|
tall
|
taller
|
tallest
|
Other adjectives use
more for the
comparative degree and
most for the
superlative degree.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|
|
beautiful
|
more beautiful
|
most beautiful
|
|
wonderful
|
more wonderful
|
most wonderful
|
If you are making a comparison in a negative way, you will use
less and
least.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|
|
beautiful
|
less beautiful
|
least beautiful
|
|
remarkable
|
less remarkable
|
least remarkable
|
No comparison
Some adjectives, such as unique, perfect, and pregnant, cannot be compared.
This problem is
more unique.
This problem is
unique.
Because the problem is unique, it cannot be compared to any other problem.
Likewise, if something is perfect, it cannot be improved.
Avoid double comparisons.
Susan is the
most prettiest girl in the class
Susan is the
prettiest girl in the class.
The use of other
Sometimes you have to use other in the sentence to make a correct comparison.
Simon is taller than any boy in his class.
Simon is taller than any
other boy in his class.
Unless you use the word other in the above sentence, you are saying that Simon is taller than he himself, because he is a boy and he is in the class.
However, note that you do not need to use other in the sentence below, because Simon is not a girl.
Simon is taller than any girl
in his class.
Exceptional verbs
Some verbs need an adjective, not an adverb, after them because they are linking verbs, not action verbs.
These linking verbs are listed in the table below.
| appear |
become |
feel |
look |
| seem |
smell |
sound |
taste |
The church bell sounded
harshly on Sunday morning.
The church bell sounded
harsh on Sunday morning.
The student felt
badly because he didn't study for the test.
The student felt
bad because he didn't study for the test.
Demonstrative adjective
The demonstrative adjectives are shown in the table below.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|
|
this
|
these
|
|
that
|
those
|
This refers to something near, while that refers to something farther away.
Betty wore that dress to the dance.
That
dress answers the question "Which dress?" Therefore, that
is a demonstrative adjective.
This day is beautiful.
Because this describes the noun day,
then this is a demonstrative adjective.
Use a singular demonstrative adjective to modify a singular noun, and a plural demonstrative adjective to modify a plural noun.
The child prefers
this kinds of candy.
The child prefers
these kinds of candy.
The child prefers
this kind of candy.
Note: This, that, these, and those are demonstrative
adjectives only if they modify a noun. If they are used alone, they are demonstrative
pronouns.
This is a beautiful day.
In this sentence this is a demonstrative pronoun because
it is used as the subject of the verb is.
Articles
Articles are the words a, an, and the.
-
It was a long, tiresome day
for the weary travellers by the time the
crowded bus finally arrived at the luxurious
hotel.
- They were quickly ushered into the spacious lobby to
get individual keys and collect the battered
luggage.
- For many of them, it was the first time that they had
a hot bath in several days.
- As they checked out the comfortable beds and the flat-screen televisions, they realized the long
ordeal had finally ended.
- For the next few days they
could relax by the kidney-shaped pool or in the
steaming sauna as the friendly, attentive
staff catered to them.
