ADJECTIVE

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns and pronouns.

attractive voice.
 Their spacious room.
 The old man is coming to you.
An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. In general, adjectives usually give us
more information about a noun or pronoun by describing it or providing more information about
it. For example, the adjective short is used to say something about tallness or shortness.
Common types of adjectives
here on, we are going to briefly examine different types of adjectives.
1. Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are often used to express possession or ownership. The most commonly
used possessive adjectives are my, your, its, her, his, our, their, and whose.
Example:
 My favorite food is roasted meat.
 We spent the holiday with our parents.
 Ethiopians celebrate their New Year holiday on September 11.
2. Demonstrative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives are used to express relative positions in space and time.
The most commonly used demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, and those.
Example:
 This cellphone is cheaper than the one I bought last year.
 This weekend is going to be really fun.
 Watch out for those children playing at the next door.
 That room is really nice to rest in.
 These computers are really sophisticated to use.
3. Proper adjectives
Proper adjectives are adjectives formed from proper nouns. In general, proper adjectives are
commonly used to say that something is related to a specific person or place. Proper adjectives
include words such as: Ethiopian, African, Armenian, and Shakespearian.
Example:
 He was reading a Russian newspaper.
 Ethiopian food is tasty.
 We studied the history of Ethiopian Empress Saba in our stay in college.
 He graduated from a highly reputed African Institute of Technology.
4. Descriptive adjectives
Descriptive adjectives are adjectives that describe the characteristics, traits, or qualities of a
noun or pronoun. Most adjectives are descriptive adjectives. Words such as purple, sociable,
friendly, and attractive are examples of descriptive adjectives.
Example:
 A friendly people will assist you in times of difficulties.
 She told a tedious story.
 The leaves turned orange and red.
 Emanuel is one of our sociable colleague.
5. Interrogative adjectives
Interrogative adjectives are adjectives that are used to ask questions. The interrogative
adjectives are what, which, and whose.
Example:
 What color is your favorite choice?
 Which Radio or TV program do you attend?
 Whose car was stolen yesterday?
 What size is your shoes?
6. Distributive adjectives
Distributive adjectives are used to refer to members of a group individually. Examples of
distributive adjectives include each, every, either, and neither.
Example:
 Each student is expected as soon as possible.
 Every member of the committee played its role.
 I won’t be happy if either candidate wins the election of this year
Cases of adjectives
Adjectives can be used:
1) Attributive position or
2) Predicate position
Attributive adjectives are placed immediately before the noun they modify.
 I am a fast learner.
 Let me ask you a few quick questions.
While Predicate adjectives are placed after linking verbs (seem, appear, look, taste, feel, smell,
become) or after a form of the verb to be.
 The traffic was light this morning.
 She is not happy.
Rules for adjectives
1) Adjectives are always singular.
 Let me ask you a quick question.
 Let me ask you a few quick questions.
2) Adjectives can take the form of a present participle verb.
 Some working experiences
 A loving mother
 A stirring story
3) Nouns can play the role of adjectives when they are used to modify or describe other nouns.
 There was no traffic jam this morning.
 I have been working as a payroll clerk for the last two years.
4) More than one word can be put together to form another adjective. They are usually joined by
a hyphen.
 Hard-working
 Right-handed
 Kind-hearted
5) Adjectives can also describe how much or how many something is. These adjectives are:
fewer, many, less, a lot of, much, and several. For things that can be counted, use fewer and
many. For things that can’t be counted, use less, a lot of, much.
 I do not need a lot of experience.
 I ate fewer candies than you thought.
  We had much fun today.
 Too many students are awaiting for you.
 Fewer political candidates started election campaign.
 Don’t put lots of sugar in your coffee.
 Don’t take too much aspirin for headache.
Use of adjectives in comparison
Adjectives can be used in the comparison of people, situation or things/objects/.
1) Comparative form
When the comparison form of adjective involves two persons or objects, we usually add more…
than, as…as or less…than.
More…than is used to show a greater degree of the condition or characteristic expressed in the
sentence, as…as for the same degree, and less…than for a lesser degree. Less…than can be
replaced by not as…as. Example:
 This hall is more spacious than the other hall.
 Mary is as intelligent as Selamawit.
 Yonatan is less active than James.
 Abel is not as active as James.
However, if the adjective is a short word, we usually replace ‘more’ with ‘-er’ at the end of the
adjective.
 Abiy is taller than Hamelmal.
 Maria is older than Lina.
 They shorter than their father.
In Synopsis:
1) If the adjective ends with -e, just add -r.
 Nice-nicer Wide-- wider
 Large-larger
2) If the adjective ends with a consonant which is preceded by a vowel, double the consonant and
add -er.
 Big-bigger hot-hotter
 Fat-fatter sad-sadder
3) If the adjective ends with -y, change -y to -i before adding -er.
 Pretty-prettier Noisy- noisier
 happy-happier Clumsy- clumsier
 Easy- easier Angry-- angrier
1) Sometimes adjectives do not follow the above rules. They are irregular adjectives.
For example:-
 Good- better little –less
 Bad - worse. Far –farther /Further
Much- more
1. If the adjective is more than one syllabus adjective, use more.
Example: strong- more strong, dangerous- more dangerous, beautiful- more beautiful
2) Superlative form
When the comparison involves more than two persons or objects, the superlative form is used. If
the adjective is a short word, the superlative form is usually formed by adding -est to the
adjective and placing “the” before it.
 Melkamu is the tallest boy in our neighborhood. (There are many boys in our neighborhood,
but Melkamu is taller than all the other boys. He is the tallest boy)
 Maramawit is the kindest student in our group.
If the adjective is a long word, the superlative form is usually formed by adding the most or the
least before the adjectives. The most is used to show the highest degree of the condition or
characteristic expressed in the sentence while the least is used to express the lowest degree.
 Preparing the budget is the most tedious job at the moment.
 This is the least expensive gift I have ever seen.
In Synopsis:
1) If the adjective ends with –y, change -y to -i before adding -est.
 She is the friendliest person in our group.
 Kidus is the loveliest baby in this contest.
2) Sometimes adjectives do not follow the above rules. I.e. an irregular adjectives.
For example:-
Good_ better_ best
little –less –least
Far –farther/further__ farthest/furthest
Bad-_ worse__worst.
Much –more-_most
Practice Exercise: 1
I. Fill in the correct form of the words in brackets (comparative or superlative).
1. Dogs are  ______________ (intelligent) than rabbits.
2) Lucy is _____________ (old) than Ellie.
3) Russia is far _____________ (large) than the UK.
4) My Latin class is ______________ (boring) than my English class.
5) In the UK, the streets are generally ____________ (narrow) than in the
USA.
6) London is _________ (busy) than Glasgow.
7) Julie is  ____________ (quiet) than her sister.
8) Amanda is _____________ (ambitious) than her classmates.
9) My garden is a lot ______________ (colorful) than this park.
10) His house is a bit _____________ (comfortable) than a hotel.
11. Jake's room is _____ than Larry's room. (big)12. The blue car is ____ than the black car.
(fast)
13. This exercise is ____________ than that one. (difficult)
14. His pullover is ______________ than his jeans. (good)
15. Susan's hair is ___________ than my hair. (long)
16. George is _______________ than Robert. (intelligent)
17. My result in the test was ____________than Harry's. (low)
18. Gold is _______________than silver. (expensive)
19. Christine is _____________ than Alice. (smart)
20. Football is _____________ than handball. (enjoyable)
21. My house is _______________than yours. (old)
22. This flower is ______________ than that one. (nice)
23. This is the _____________________ book I have ever read. (important)
24. Non-smokers usually live ________________ than smokers. (healthy)
25. Which is the _____________________animal in the world? (dangerous)
26. A holiday by the sea is _______________ than a holiday in the mountains. (preferable)
27. It is strange but often a coke is ______________ than a beer. (tasty)
28. Who is the _______________woman on earth? (tall)
29. The weather this summer is even______________ than last summer. (hot)
30. He was the _______________ thief of all.(astute)
Order of multiple Adjectives in English
When a number of adjectives are used together, the order depends on the function of the
adjective. The usual order is:
Determiner→ Quantity→ Quality/opinion→ Size → Age→ Shape→ Color → Origin and
Material
What the adjective expresses Examples
Quantity four, ten, a few, several
Value/Opinion delicious, charming, beautiful
Size tall, tiny, huge, large, spacious
Temperature hot, cold, windy ,sunny
Age old, young, new, 14-year-old
Shape square, round, oval, rectangular
Color red, purple, green, brown, white, blue
Origin Swedish, Chinese, Ethiopian
Material glass, silver, wooden, metal, gold
Example:-
 They have a lovely old red post-box.
 The playroom has six small round plastic tables.
 I bought some charming Victorian silver ornaments at the supermarket.
 She is selling her flashy three year old Italian car.
 It was a beautiful cold day.
 I love that really big old green antique car that always parked at the end of the street.
 My sister adopted a beautiful big white horse.
When there are two or more adjectives that are from the same group, the word “and” is placed
between the two adjectives:
 The house is green and red.
 The library has old and new books.
When there are three or more adjectives from the same adjective group, place a comma between
each of the coordinate adjectives:
 We live in the big green, white and red house at the end of the street.
 My friend lost red, black and white watches.
A comma is not placed between an adjective and the noun.
More examples:
1. I love that really old big green antique car that always parked at the end of the street.
{quality – age – size – color – proper adjective}
2. My sister has a big, beautiful, coffee and white, purse. {size – quality – color – color}
3. A wonderful old Italian clock. {opinion – age – origin}
4. A big square blue box. {Size – shape – color}
5. A disgusting pink plastic ornament. {opinion – color – material}
6. Some slim new French trousers. {dimension – age – origin}
7. I bought a pair of black leather shoes. {color – material}
Matching
I. Match the words under column ‘A’ which have similar meaning (synonym) under column ‘B’ .
“A” “B”
___ 1.Fast                                                  A. Smart
___ 2. Huge                                                 B. Cheap
____3.Pretty                                                 C. Skinny
____4.Happy                                                D. Fantastic
____ 5. Awful                                               E.Small
____ 6. Inexpensive                                       F.Beautiful
____ 7. Tiny                                                   G. Simple
____8. Thin                                                   H. Quick
____ 9. Lady                                                  I. Delighted
____10. Easy                                                 J. Terrible
____11.Great                                                  K. Large
___ 12. Clever                                               L. Woman