Unit 5

Descriptive words
Objective: To learn about the words which are used for describing.
Idioms:
You cant judge a book by its cover (You cannot judge the quality or character of someone or
something just by looking at them)
E.g. She doesn't look very intelligent, but you can't judge a book by its cover.

Bite off more than you can chew (to take on a task that is too much for you to handle)
E.g. This is probably too big a mortgage for me to handle. I may be biting off more than I can chew, but
Im gonna do it. Besides, Ill be getting a raise soon!!

Phrasal Verbs
Break down (End negotiations unsuccessfully/ Start crying/ Stop working/ analysing something in detail)
E.g. The talks between management and the unions broke down acrimoniously.
He break down in tears.
My car's broken down, so I came by taxi.
You need to break down the maths problem in order to solve it properly.

Descriptive words: The words that describe nouns are called as Adjectives in grammar.

Types of Adjectives
Following are the kinds of adjectives which are commonly used:
1. Adjectives of Quality:
o Adjectives of Quality answer the question Of what kind
o Examples : Large, Small, Intelligent, Beautiful
2. Adjectives of Quantity:
o Adjectives of Quantity answer the question How much
o Examples : Some, Little, Any, Enough
3. Adjectives of Number:
o Adjectives of Number answer the question How many
o Examples : Two, Seven, Second, Third
4. Demonstrative Adjectives:
o Demonstrative Adjectives answer the question Which
o Examples : This, That, These, Those
5. Interrogative Adjectives:
o Interrogative Adjectives are used to ask questions about a noun.
o Examples : What, Which, Whose
6. Descriptive Adjective
Descriptive adjectives can be classified into different categories such as color, size, sound,
taste, touch, shape, time, personality and age.
Colors as adjectives: Black, Blue, White, Green, Red
Sizes as adjectives: Big, Small, Large, Thin, Thick
Shapes as adjectives: Triangular, Round, Square, Circular
Qualities as adjectives: Good, Bad, Mediocre
Personality traits as adjectives: Happy, Sad, Angry, Depressed
Time as adjective: Yearly, Monthly, Annually
7. Predicative Adjectives
This form of adjective is not part of the noun phrase followed by the noun it modifies, but it is
the complement of a copulative function, which links it to the noun. For instance, in the
sentence, The house is big, the predicative adjective here is big, which is linked to the noun
house, by the verb is. Most of the descriptive adjectives can be also used as predicative
adjectives. Pronouns can also be used as adjectives, like in the sentence He is happy. Even
hyphenated adjectives containing past participles are used as predicate adjectives, like in the
sentence The belief is widespread. However, there are also few adjectives which are only
used predicatively. They are words such as Afloat, Afraid, Alive, Alone, Asleep and
Aglow.
8. Personal Titles
Titles such as Mr, Mrs, Auntie, Uncle, Dr and Lord are classified as adjectives, if they are
attached in front of a name. For instance, in the sentence Did you visit Uncle Neil on your way
back home? Herein the word Uncle is an adjective.
9. Possessive Adjective
This form of adjective is used in a sentence before a noun to indicate possession. For instance,
in the sentence, Do not touch my diary. It is personal., the word my inserted just in front of
the noun diary is the adjective. Few other examples of possessive adjectives are your, his,
her, our, their, etc.
10. Indefinite Adjective
While demonstrative adjectives point out specific things, indefinite adjectives do not indicate
anything specific. Indefinite adjectives are formed from indefinite pronouns and the most
common ones among them are any, many, few, several, etc. In the sentence, Several
soldiers died in the Pacific War., the word several placed just before the noun soldiers is an
adjective, which does not indicate the specific number of soldiers, who died in the war.

List of Adjectives, Adjective Examples
Abundant Elderly Nasty
Accurate Elegant Naughty
Addicted Embarrassed Nervous
Adorable Empty New
Adventurous Encouraging Noisy
Afraid Enthusiastic Nutritious
Aggressive Excellent Obedient
Alcoholic Exciting Obese
Alert Expensive Obnoxious
Aloof Fabulous Old
Ambitious Fair Overconfident
Ancient Faithful Peaceful
Angry Famous Pink
Animated Fancy Polite
Annoying Fantastic Poor
Anxious Fast Powerful
Arrogant Fearful Precious
Ashamed Fearless Pretty
Attractive Fertile Proud
Auspicious Filthy Quick
Awesome Foolish Quiet
Awful Forgetful Rapid
Bad Friendly Rare
Bashful Funny Red
Beautiful Gentle Remarkable
Belligerent Glamorous Responsible
Beneficial Glorious Rich
Best Gorgeous Romantic
Big Graceful Royal
Bitter Grateful Rude
Bizarre Great Scintillating
Black Greedy Secretive
Blue Green Selfish
Boring Handsome Serious
Brainy Happy Sharp
Bright Harsh Shiny
Broad Healthy Shocking
Broken Heavy Short
Busy Helpful Shy
Calm Hilarious Silly
Capable Historical Sincere
Careful Horrible Skinny
Careless Hot Slim
Caring Huge Slow
Cautious Humorous Small
Charming Hungry Soft
Cheap Ignorant Spicy
Cheerful Illegal Spiritual
Chubby Imaginary Splendid
Clean Impolite Strong
Clever Important Successful
Clumsy Impossible Sweet
Cold Innocent Talented
Colorful Intelligent Tall
Comfortable Interesting Tasty
Concerned Jealous Tense
Confused Jolly Terrible
Crowded Juicy Terrific
Cruel Juvenile Thick
Curious Kind Thin
Curly Large Tiny
Cute Legal Ugly
Damaged Light Unique
Dangerous Literate Untidy
Dark Little Upset
Deep Lively Victorious
Defective Lonely Violent
Delicate Loud Vulgar
Delicious Lovely Warm
Depressed Lucky Weak
Determined Macho Wealthy
Different Magical Wide
Dirty Magnificent Wise
Disgusting Massive Witty
Dry Mature Wonderful
Dusty Mean Worried
Early Messy Young
Educated Modern Youthful
Efficient Narrow Zealous