Adjectives It is sometimes said that the adjective is the

enemy of the noun. This is because, very

often, if we use the precise noun we don't
An adjective is a word that tells us more
need an adjective. For example, instead of
about a noun. (By "noun" we include
saying "a large, impressive house" (2
pronouns and noun phrases.)
adjectives + 1 noun) we could simply say "a
mansion" (1 noun).
An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a
noun (a big dog).

Adjectives can be used before a noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain verbs (It is
hard).

We can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady).

A, An or The?
When do we say "the dog" and when do we say "a dog"? (On this page we talk only
about singular, countable nouns.)

The and a/an are called "articles". We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" like
this:

Articles
Definite Indefinite
the a, an

We use "definite" to mean sure, certain. "Definite" is particular.

We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is general.

When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the. When we are talking
about one thing in general, we use a or an.

Think of the sky at night. In the sky we see 1 moon and millions of stars. So normally
we would say:

• I saw the moon last night.

 • I saw a star last night.

Look at these examples:

the
• The capital of France is Paris.
• I have found the book that I lost.
• Have you cleaned the car?
• There are six eggs in the fridge.
• Please switch off the TV when you
finish.
a, an
• I was born in a town.
• John had an omelette for
lunch.
• James Bond ordered a drink.
• We want to buy an umbrella.
• Have you got a pen?

Of course, often we can use the or a/an for the same word. It depends on the situation,
not the word. Look at these examples:

• We want to buy an umbrella. (Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)

• Where is the umbrella? (We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our
umbrella, a particular umbrella.)

This little story should help you understand the difference between the and a, an:

A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street. The woman saw a dress that she
liked in a shop. She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her. He said: "Do you
think the shop will accept a cheque? I don't have a credit card."

Possessive Adjectives
We use possessive adjectives to show who owns or "possesses" something. The
possessive adjectives are:

• my, your, his, her, its, our, their

• whose (interrogative)

possessive
number person gender example sentence
adjective

singular 1st male/female my This is my book.

2nd male/female your I like your hair.

3rd male his His name is "John".

female her Her name is "Mary".

 The dog is licking its
neuter its
paw.

We have sold our

1st male/female our
house.

Your children are

plural 2nd male/female your
lovely.

The students thanked

3rd male/female/neuter their
their teacher.

male/female (not Whose phone did

singular/plural 1st/2nd/3rd whose
neuter) you use?

Compare:

your = possessive adjective

you're = you are

its = possessive adjective

it's = it is OR it has

their = possessive adjective

they're = they are
there = adverb (I'm not going there / look over there / there is a car outside)

whose = possessive adjective

who's = who is OR who has

Be careful! There is no apostrophe (') in the possessive adjective "its". We use an

apostrophe to write the short form of "it is" or "it has". For example:
it's raining = it is raining
it's finished = it has finished

I'm taking my dog to the vet. It's broken its leg.

Each, Every
Each and every have similar but not always identical meanings.

Each = every one separately

Every = each, all
Sometimes, each and every have the same meaning:

• Prices go up each year.

• Prices go up every year.

But often they are not exactly the same.

Each expresses the idea of 'one by one'. It emphasizes individuality.

Every is half-way between each and all. It sees things or people as singular, but in a
group or in general.

Consider the following:

• Every artist is sensitive.

• Each artist sees things differently.
• Every soldier saluted as the President arrived.
• The President gave each soldier a medal.

Each can be used in front of the verb:

• The soldiers each received a medal.

Each can be followed by 'of':

• The President spoke to each of the soldiers.

• He gave a medal to each of them.

Every cannot be used for 2 things. For 2 things, each can be used:

• He was carrying a suitcase in each hand.

Every is used to say how often something happens:

• There is a plane to Bangkok every day.

• The bus leaves every hour.

Verbs with each and every are always conjugated in the singular.

Some, Any
Some = a little, a few or a small number or amount

Any = one, some or all

Usually, we use some in positive (+) sentences and any in negative (-) and question (?)
sentences.

some any example situation

I have some
+ I have $10.
money.
I don't have any I don't have $1 and I don't have $10 and I don't
-
money. have $1,000,000. I have $0.
Do you have any
? Do you have $1 or $10 or $1,000,000?
money?

In general, we use something/anything and somebody/anybody in the same way as

some/any.

Look at these examples:

• He needs some stamps.

• I must go. I have some homework to do.
• I'm thirsty. I want something to drink.
• I can see somebody coming.

• He doesn't need any stamps.

• I can stay. I don't have any homework to do.
• I'm not thirsty. I don't want anything to drink.
• I can't see anybody coming.

• Does he need any stamps?

• Do you have any homework to do?
• Do you want anything to drink?
• Can you see anybody coming?

We use any in a positive sentence when the real sense is negative.

• I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money)
• She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty)

Sometimes we use some in a question, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We
could say that it is not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.)

• Would you like some more tea?

• Could I have some sugar, please?

Comparative Adjectives
When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they are the
same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and different in other ways.
We can use comparative adjectives to describe the differences.

We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or more
things).

In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective "big":

A1 A2
A1 is bigger than A2.

In this lesson we will look first at how we make comparative adjectives, and then at
how we use them:

• Formation of Comparative Adjectives

• Use of Comparative Adjectives

Formation of Comparative Adjectives

There are two ways to make or form a comparative adjective:

• short adjectives: add "-er"

• long adjectives: use "more"

Short adjectives

• 1-syllable adjectives old, fast

• 2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy

Normal rule: add "-er" old → older

Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -r late → later

Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel,

big → bigger
consonant, double the last consonant

Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → happier

Long adjectives

• 2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant

• all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual

 modern → more
modern
Normal rule: use "more"
expensive → more
expensive

With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-er' or 'more':

• quiet → quieter/more quiet

• clever → cleverer/more clever
• narrow → narrower/more narrow
• simple → simpler/more simple

Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:

• good → better
• well (healthy) → better
• bad → worse
• far → farther/further

Use of Comparative Adjectives

We use comparative adjectives when talking about 2 things (not 3 or 10 or 1,000,000
things, only 2 things).

Often, the comparative adjective is followed by "than".

Look at these examples:

• John is 1m80. He is tall. But Chris is 1m85. He is taller than John.

• America is big. But Russia is bigger.
• I want to have a more powerful computer.
• Is French more difficult than English?

If we talk about the two planets Earth and Mars, we can compare them as shown in the
table below:

Earth Mars

Diameter (km) 12,760 6,790 Mars is smaller than Earth.

Distance from Sun (million

150 228 Mars is more distant from the Sun.
km)

A day on Mars is slightly longer than a

Length of day (hours) 24 25
day on Earth.
Moons 1 2 Mars has more moons than Earth.

Surface temperature (degrees

22 -23 Mars is colder than Earth.
Celcius)

Although we use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three or
more things), in fact one or both of the things may be a group of things.

• Mt Everest is higher than all other mountains.

Here, we are talking about hundreds of mountains, but we are still comparing one thing
(Mt Everest) to one other thing (all other mountains).

Superlative Adjectives
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality. We use a
superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing in a group of things.

In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective "big":

ABC
A is the
biggest.

In this lesson we will look first at how we make superlative adjectives, and then at how
we use them:

Formation of Superlative Adjectives

As with comparative adjectives, there are two ways to form a superlative adjective:

• short adjectives: add "-est"

• long adjectives: use "most"

We also usually add 'the' at the beginning.

Short adjectives

1-syllable adjectives old, fast

2-syllable adjectives ending in -y happy, easy

Normal rule: add "-est" old → the oldest

Variation: if the adjective ends in -e, just add -st late → the latest

Variation: if the adjective ends in consonant, vowel,

big → the biggest
consonant, double the last consonant

Variation: if the adjective ends in -y, change the y to i happy → the happiest

Long adjectives

2-syllable adjectives not ending in -y modern, pleasant

all adjectives of 3 or more syllables expensive, intellectual

modern → the most

modern
Normal rule: use "most"
expensive → the most
expensive

With some 2-syllable adjectives, we can use '-est' or 'most':

• quiet → the quietest/most quiet

• clever → the cleverest/most clever
• narrow → the narrowest/most narrow
• simple → the simplest/most simple

Exception
The following adjectives have irregular forms:

• good → the best

• bad → the worst
• far → the furthest

Use of Superlative Adjectives

We use a superlative adjective to describe one thing in a group of three or more things.
Look at these examples:

• John is 1m75. David is 1m80. Chris is 1m85. Chris is the tallest.

• Canada, China and Russia are big countries. But Russia is the biggest.
• Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

If we talk about the three planets Earth, Mars and Jupiter, we can use superlative
adjectives as shown in the table below:

Earth Mars Jupiter

Dia-
12,760 6,790 142,800 Jupiter is the biggest.
meter (km)

Dis-
Jupiter is the most distant from
tance from Sun (million 150 228 778
the Sun.
km)

Length of day (hours) 24 25 10 Jupiter has the shortest day.

Moons 1 2 16 Jupiter has the most moons.

Surface temp.
22 -23 -150 Jupiter is the coldest.
(degrees Celcius)

When we compare one thing with itself, we do not use "the":

• England is coldest in winter. (not the coldest)

• My boss is most generous when we get a big order. (not the most generous)

Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives

Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns.

• Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot,
hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest).

The adjective hot is gradable.

• Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are:

a. extremes (for example: freezing)
b. absolutes (for example: dead)
c. classifying (for example: nuclear)

The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable.

Gradable Adjectives

A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade
or intensity. Look at these examples:

grading adverbs gradable adjectives

a little, dreadfully, extremely, angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep,
fairly, hugely, immensely, + fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot,
intensely, rather, reasonably, important, long, popular, rich, strong,
slightly, unusually, very tall, warm, weak, young

A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:

EC Tip: "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives".
"Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers".

• big, bigger, the biggest

• hot, hotter, the hottest
• important, more important, the most important

Look at these example sentences:

• My teacher was very happy with my homework.

• That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular.
• He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather
cold. But Sweden was the coldest.

EC Tip: The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is an absolute. Dead

is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader"
than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfect

Non-gradable Adjectives

A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:

• It was rather freezing outside.

• The dog was very dead.
• He is investing in slightly nuclear energy.

Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms:

• freezing, more freezing, the most freezing

• dead, deader, the deadest
• nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear

Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone:

EC Tip: Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's
better to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable.
This is a matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have
never heard of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it
doesn't make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably
have the same idea in your language.

• It was freezing outside.

• The dog was dead.
• He is investing in nuclear energy.

However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which

usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example:

non-grading non-gradable
adverbs adjectives

absolutely awful

utterly excellent extreme

completely terrified

totally dead

impossibl
nearly absolute
e

virtually unique

essentially chemical

classifyin
mainly digital
g

almost domestic

Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives:

• Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the
exam again.
• Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique.
• It starts an essentially chemical reaction.

Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable

Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for the same
adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense. For
example:

common
adjective
=

not
He's got a very old car. gradable
young

non- former,
I saw my old boyfriend yesterday.
gradable ex-
He has some dreadfully common habits. gradable vulgar

"The" is a very common word in English. gradable prevalent

The two countries' common border poses non-

shared
problems. gradable

Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable

adjectives

The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant
degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable
adjectives:

gradable non-gradable

Please don't forget! It's really

He was really terrified.
important.

He's a fairly rich man. It's a fairly impossible job.

It's pretty ridiculous when you

He's pretty tall.
think about it.

"Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it
with:

adjective quite =

It's quite warm

gradable fairly, rather
today.

Are you quite non- completely,

certain? gradable absolutely

Reference
Non-gradable adjectives
Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable adjectives,
here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself whether they are
extreme, absolute or classifying.

alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental,
excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal,
overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique,
unknown, white, whole

Non-grading adverbsAgain, no need to learn lists. Here are a few

examples. There are many more. Remember that you cannot use all non-
grading adverbs with all non-gradable adjectives. Some collocate (go
together). Some don't. absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively,
fully, largely, mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually