Mastering Adjectives in Language Study

1. ADJECTIVES M-DCCESL AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENTPrepared by Jamil Istifan

2. Introduction • Adjective is a word like red, thirsty, incredible, which is used to modify nouns or pronouns. • It usually describes, identifies, or qualifies people, things or events; e.g.: The red car. I am thirsty.This story is incredible. • When a compound adjective (2 or more adjectives that go together to form one thought or image) precedes the noun it modifies, it should be hyphenated; e.g.: Charles Dickens was a nineteenth-century writer. • Some well-known writers… • Loyal, long-time friend…

3. Topics of Discussion • Adjectives ending in –ed; e.g: Aged, beloved, learned, sacred, tired, hunchbacked, undecided… • Adjectives usually come before the noun they modify; e.g.: a good computer. • Adjectives never take an –s; e.g.: These cars are beautifuls. The goods students.

4. Order before nouns • Determiners a, the, this, that, my, Mike’s… • Possessive amplifiers own • Sequence words first, second, next, last… • Quantifiers one, two, few, little, some… • Opinions or qualities pretty, intelligent, bored.. • Size, height, or length big, tall, long… • Age or temperature old, young, hot, cold… • Shapes square, round, oval… • Colors black, blue, pink, red… • Nationalities, social classes, American, Brazilian, eastern or origins lower-class, historic, mythical.. • Materials wood, cotton, silk, glass… • Purpose riding, climbing, beer, flower…

5. Examples • My own second little beautiful big old oval blue Japanese ceramic flower vase. • The solid black Mexican leather riding saddle. • My beautiful old white Arabic galloping horse. • Judgments and attitudes adjectives come before all others; e.g.: A lovely, long, cool drink. • Numbers go before adjectives; e.g.: Six large eggs. • In long sentences, use commas between adjectives and before nouns ; e.g.: A lovely, long, cool, refreshing drink. • Commas can be dropped before short common adjectives; e.g.: A tall(,) dark(,) handsome cowboy.

6. Adjectives after nouns • In older English; e.g.: His palace grand. • In some fixed phrases; e.g.: Secretary General, Poet Laureate, court martial, President elect, Attorney General… • Adjectives with –able/-ible ending; e.g.: It is only solution possible. • Some adverbs; e.g.: The people outside. • Adjectives come after something, nothing, somewhere….; e.g.: Let’s go somewhere quiet.

7. Adjectives with ‘and’ • When two or more adjectives come together, we sometimes put and before the last one and sometimes not. It depends on their position in the sentence. • After a verb (after be, seem and similar); e.g.: • He was tall, dark and handsome. • In a literary style and is left out; e.g.: My soul is exotic, mysterious, incomprehensible. • Before a noun, and is less common; e.g.: A tall, dark, handsome cowboy. A cruel (and) vicious tyrant. • And has to be used when two or more adjectives refer to different parts of something; e.g.: A yellow and black sports car.

8. Adjectives without nouns • We cannot leave out a noun after an adjective; e.g.: The most important thing is to be happy. (not: The most important is to be happy). • Well-known groups; e.g.: The blind, the dead, the deaf, the handicapped, the old, the young, the rich, the poor, the jobless… • A few formal fixed expressions; e.g.: The accused, the undersigned, the former, the latter, the untouchable, the blacks, the savages, males and females… • Choice between two or more kinds of thing; e.g.: Have you got any bread? Do you want white or brown? • Superlatives; e.g.: He is the tallest in his group. • Color adjectives can have plural –s in this situation; e.g.: Wash the reds and blues separately.

9. Adjectives Vs. Adverbs • Some words ending in –ly are adjectives, and not adverbs; e.g.: costly, deadly, friendly, lovely, silly, ugly…, Her singing was lovely. She smiled in a friendly way.(not: She smiled friendly) • Some adjectives are adverbs in the same time; e.g.: A fast car goes fast. If you do a hard work, you work hard. The End