Adjectives

Adjectives

Adjectives are words we use to describe a noun. They usually come before it:

a big, red, boring book

The noun in this phrase is book and the adjectives tell us what size it is (big), what colour it is (red) and what we think of it (boring).

Adjectives never change their form; they are always the same:

the ugly woman and the ugly man

the ugly football team and the ugly goalkeeper

the ugly dog and the ugly scenery

Adjective Order

1) When we use more than one adjective in a phrase, they usually follow this order:

age      colour    origin           material          purpose

a          new     red      Swiss  plastic army    knife

We can have other types of adjectives which we put before the age. These are general adjectives about the size, the shape and our opinion of the noun. Often we can change the order of these adjectives but we usually put the most important first. Here we are concerned with taste:

opinion size

a          tasty    big       sandwich

But if we think the most important thing about the sandwich is its size, we can say:

size    opinion

a          big       tasty    sandwich

2) When you write, it is best not to use too many adjectives. Certainly, never more than two or, at most, three in a phrase:

the sharp, Swiss army knife

a big, thick sandwich

Adjective Position #1

1) When we put adjectives with nouns, they usually come before the noun:

{adjective(s)} + {noun}

a dirty, old man

some large blue whales

2) When the adjective is a subject complement, we put it after the verb:

{verb} + {adjective(s)}

The Atlantic Ocean is big.

The man seemed old, infirm and drunk.

3) When the adjective is an object complement, we put it after the noun phrase:

{noun phrase} + {adjective(s)}

They called him fat.

I painted the old car yellow and purple.

4) When we use compound pronouns ending with -body, -one, -thing and -where, the adjective follows:

{compound pronoun} + {adjective(s)}

Give me something cool and strong to drink.

Anybody brave can do it.

Adjective Position #2

1) Some adjectives can only come before a noun. These are called attributive adjectives:

{attributive adjective} + {noun}

Other adjectives can only come after a verb. These are called predicative adjectives:

{verb} + {predicative adjective}

For example, alone is a predicative adjective; it can only follow:

I feel alone.

He is an alone man.

In the second example, we can use instead an attributive adjective and say:

He is a lonely man.

2) When we use a noun as an adjective, it is usually attributive only:

{noun as attributive adjective} + {noun}

a table leg

football hooligans

Common attributive-only adjectives include:

attributive only            predicative

elder                               older

live                                  alive

sheer                                -

mere                                 -

sure                                   -

plain                                 -

Notes

a) live is attributive only when it means not dead; it can be predicative when it has other meanings.

b) Intensifying adjectives such as sheer and sure are usually attributive only.

3) Common predicative-only adjectives include:

attributive       predicative only

floating                        afloat

frightened                   afraid

-                             alight

Similar                        alike

live – living                 alive

lonely                         alone

sleeping                     asleep

-                                 awake

-                                    lit

elder – older              older

-                               present

Notes

a) Many words in this list begin with a-

b) present is attributive only when it means in this or that place

Adjectives as Nouns; Nouns as Adjectives

1) We can use an adjective as a noun by using this pattern:

{the} + {adjective}

We use this to talk about a group of people:

The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

We can also use it to talk about an abstract idea:

the new, the old, the infinite

2) We can also put two nouns together. When we do this, the first noun acts like an adjective and gives us more information about the second noun:

[determiner] + {noun} + {noun}

computer programs

some record players

Participles as Adjectives

We can often make an adjective from a verb. We do this by using the -ing and -ed participles:

verb     -   ed participle          -ing participle

interest           interested       interesting

We use the -ed participle as a subject adjective; it describes how the subject of a sentence feels:

She was interested in the programme.

The disappointed candidate felt cheated by the result.

We use the -ing participle as an object adjective; it describes the object of the sentence:

The programme was interesting (for her).

The candidate objected to the disappointing result.

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©  S.J.Sutton, Lingua Systems, 1996