ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are describing words, i.e. words that qualify a noun or a pronoun, e.g. Ria is a beautiful girl.
Here, the word ‘beautiful’ is an adjective that describes the noun ‘girl’.
Kinds of Adjectives
- Adjective of Quality- shows the quality, such as tall, old, large, etc. e.g. He is a tallboy.
- Adjective of Quantity- gives the quantity of a thing, such as some, little, enough, etc. e.g. I have some money.
- Adjective of Number- gives the number of a thing, etc.
(a) Definite Numeral– refers to an exact number, e.g. one, two, second, etc.
(b) Indefinite Numeral– does not refer to the exact number, e.g. all, few, some, etc.
(c) Distributive Numeral– refers to each one of a number, e.g. each, every, both, etc.
4. Demonstrative Adjective– indicates towards the noun that is meant such as this, such, those, etc. e.g. Those books are new
5. Interrogative Adjectives– are used to ask questions such as what, which, whose etc. e.g. Whose bag is this?
6. Possessive Adjectives– show the relation of a thing with someone such as her, my, their, etc. e.g. This is my dress.
7. Proper Adjectives – are formed with Proper Nouns such as Christian, American, Punjabi. etc. e.g. He is an American resident.
Comparison of Adjectives
There are three degrees of Comparison. Study the following table.
Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
| big small sweet | bigger smaller sweeter | biggest smallest sweetest |
Rules to form degrees of comparison:
1. Adjectives of one syllable and some adjectives of two syllables form their comparative and superlative by adding-er and -est to the positive form.
[Words ending in -er, -y, -ly add -er, -est. Note that ‘y’ becomes T.]
Positive Comparative Superlative
clever cleverer cleverest
happy happier happiest
ugly uglier ugliest
2. Adjectives of two syllables ending in did, -less, -able form they are comparative and superlative by adding more and most to the original word.
Positive Comparative Superlative
useful more useful most useful
careless more careless most careless
capable more capable most capable
3. Adjectives of three or more syllables also form they are comparative and superlative by adding more and most to the positive form.
Positive Comparative Superlative
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
interesting more interesting most interesting
courageous more courageous most courageous
4. Irregular Comparisons, e.g.
Positive Comparative Superlative
good better best
bad worse worst
little less least
many more most
much more most
