Chapter 4 – Adjective

ADJECTIVE

A word that qualifies a noun or a pronoun is called an adjective. There are 8 types of adjectives, which are listed below:

• Proper Adjective: Adjective that is formed from a proper noun is called Proper Adjective. 

Eg- Buddhist monastery, British rule, etc.

• Possessive Adjective: Adjectives that show possession is called Possessive Adjectives.

Eg- My car, My house, Our class, etc.

• Interrogative Adjective: If ‘what’, ‘which, ‘whose’ is followed by a noun, these words are Interrogative adjectives and if it is followed by a verb, it is known as Interrogative Pronoun. 

Eg- Which room is yours? 

Eg- Whose pen is this?

• Distributive Adjective: The adjective which refers to each one of the numbers is called the Distributive adjective. 

Eg- Each volunteer is honest.

Eg- Every girl is present today.

• Demonstrative Adjective: The adjective that points out which person or thing is meant is called the Demonstrative adjective.

Eg- This boy, That car, Those boys, These pens.

NOTE: If this, that, these, those are immediately followed by a noun, these words are called Demonstrative adjectives and if these words are immediately followed by a verb, these words are known as Demonstrative pronouns.

• Adjective of Number: An adjective that shows how many persons or things are meant or in what order a person or thing stands. It is of two types: 

Definite– It denotes exact numbers like five boys, seven girls, etc.

Indefinite–  It does not denote exact numbers like few girls, several men, etc.

• Adjective of Quantity: An adjective that shows how much of a thing is meant.

Eg- Some milk, Enough oil, Sufficient sugar, etc.

• Adjective of Quality: Adjectives that show the kind or quality of a person or thing. It is of two types:

Attributive use: When an adjective is used before a noun, it is said to be used attributively.

Eg- Peru was a wise king.

Predicative use: When an adjective is used after a verb, it is said to be used predicatively.

Eg- The weather is pleasant.

DEGREES OF COMPARISON

An Adjective comes in three degrees-

Positive Degree: It is an adjective in its simple form. It tells us the quality of a person or thing without making any comparison.

Eg: This is a small town.

Eg: She is a nice girl.

Comparative Degree: It is used when two things or sets of things are compared. It denotes a higher degree of quality than a positive degree.

Eg: This town is smaller than Agra.

Eg: She is better than you.

Superlative Degree: It denotes the highest degree of quality and is used when more than two things are compared.

Eg: This is the smallest town in the state.

Eg: Rohan is the best student in the class.

IMPORTANT RULES

1- To change an adjective into Comparative degree ‘er’ is added to positive degree and ‘est’ is added to change it into a superlative degree.

Positive          Comparative          Superlative

Thick                Thicker                   Thickest

Bold                  Bolder                     Boldest

Deep                 Deeper                    Deepest

2- If ‘e’ is present at the end of a positive degree, ‘r’ is added to change it into a comparative degree and ‘st’ is added to change it into a superlative degree.

Positive          Comparative          Superlative

Able                 Abler                       Ablest

Fine                  Finer                       Finest

True                  Truer                      Truest

3- If a positive degree ends in a consonant and a short vowel comes before it, the last consonant is doubled and then ‘er’ and ‘est’ are added to change it into comparative and superlative degrees respectively.

Positive          Comparative          Superlative

Hot                  Hotter                      Hottest

Big                   Bigger                       Biggest

Thin                 Thinner                    Thinnest

4- When a positive degree ends in ‘y’ and a consonant is present before ‘y’, the ‘y’ is converted into ‘i’ and ‘er’ and ‘est’ are added respectively.

Positive          Comparative          Superlative

Happy                 Happier                 Happiest

Heavy                  Heavier                 Heaviest

Merry                   Merrier                 Merriest

NOTE: If a vowel is present before ‘y’, only ‘er’ and ‘est’ should be added.

5- Adjectives that are of more than two syllables are changed to comparative and superlative degrees by adding more and most respectively.

Positive            Comparative             Superlative

Beautiful           more beautiful           most beautiful

Pleasant            more pleasant            most pleasant

Intelligent         more intelligent         most intelligent

6- Positive degree of adjective/adverb comes in-between ‘as…as’ and ‘so…as’.

Incorrect: She is as better as her sister.

Correct: She is as good as her sister.

7- ‘Adjective + er…than’ indicates the presence of a comparative degree. The comparative degree comes before ‘than’.

Incorrect: He is good than his brother.

Correct: He is better than his brother.

8- ‘The’ is used before the superlative degree.

Incorrect: She is best player of the team.

Correct: She is the best player of the team.

9- When one is chosen out of two, we use a comparative degree preceded by ‘the’ and followed by ‘of’.

Incorrect: She is the best of two sisters.

Correct: She is the better of two sisters.

10- When one is chosen out of ‘more than two’ or ‘all’, we use a superlative degree preceded by ‘the’ and followed by ‘of’.

Incorrect: He is the better of the five players.

Correct: He is the best of the five players.

11- When two qualities of a noun or a pronoun are compared with each other, more + positive degree is used instead of a comparative degree.

Incorrect: He is wiser than intelligent.

Correct: He is more wise than intelligent.

12- If one is compared with all the others of the same variety, ‘any other’ is used to exclude the former.

Incorrect: Platinum is more precious than any metal.

Correct: Platinum is more precious than any other metal.

13- Two comparative and two superlative degrees never come together.

Incorrect: He is the most smartest of all the officers.

Correct: He is the smartest of all the officers.

Incorrect: This is more better than that.

Correct: This is better than that.

14- If different prepositions are needed with different adjectives, suitable prepositions must be used with each of them.

Incorrect: He is senior and more experienced than you.

Correct: He is senior to and more experienced than you.

15- Comparative degree does not come with the word ‘times’

Incorrect: Sheena’s house is three times bigger than yours.

Correct: Sheena’s house is three times as big as yours.

16- If a noun works as an adjective, it cannot be in plural form.

Incorrect: Lasers are indispensable tools for delicate eyes surgery.

Correct: Lasers are indispensable tools for delicate eye surgery.

17- If both positive and comparative degrees of an adjective are used in a single sentence, both ‘as…as’ & ‘than’ will be used.

Incorrect: He is as intelligent as if not more to his brother.

Correct: He is as intelligent as if not more than his brother.

18- Possessive cases come after ‘All’ and ‘Both’ and not before them.

Incorrect: My all friends have got selected.

Correct: All my friends have got selected.

19- Many nouns are a part of hyphenated or compound adjectives. They never come in plural form.

Incorrect: I gave him three hundred-rupees notes.

Correct: I gave him three hundred-rupees notes.

20- If ‘the’ is used before an adjective, the adjective becomes a plural common noun. It will hence take a plural verb.

Eg: rich, poor, blind, meek, wicked, dead, aged, needy, etc.

Incorrect: The rich usually exploits the poor.

Correct: The rich usually exploit the poor.

21- If two adjectives are used for a single noun or pronoun and if both adjectives are connected by a conjunction, both the adjectives must be to the same degree.

Incorrect: Subhash Chandra Bose was noblest and wiser of all the leaders.

Correct: Subhash Chandra Bose was noblest and wisest of all the leaders.

22- Adjective ‘preferable’ is used in only comparative degrees. ‘Preferable’ is followed by ‘to’ and not ‘than’ or ‘more’. ‘Prefer’(verb) is followed by ‘to’ and not ‘than’.

Incorrect: This is more preferable than that.

Correct: This is more preferable to that.

23- Adjectives that end in ‘ior’ are followed by ‘to’ and not ‘than’.

Eg: Superior, Inferior, Senior, Junior, Prior, Anterior, Posterior.

Incorrect: He is junior than me.

Correct: He is junior to me.

24- Adjectives like ‘interior’, ‘exterior’, ‘ulterior’, ‘major’, ‘minor’, ‘empty’, ‘excellent’, ‘circular’, ‘eternal’, ‘round’, ‘square’, ‘ideal’, ‘supreme’, ‘triangular’, ‘complete’, ‘perfect’, ‘chief’, ‘last’, ‘final’, ‘unique’, ‘universal’, ‘impossible’, everlasting’, ‘absolute’, etc are not used in comparative or superlative degrees.

Incorrect: Good deeds are more everlasting.

Correct: Good deeds are everlasting.

25- Some adjectives are used in only positive and superlative degrees and not in comparative degrees of adjective.

Positive Degree                   Superlative Degree

Top                                                Topmost

Eastern                                          Easternmost

Western                                         Westernmost

Northern                                       Northernmost

Southern                                        Southernmost

26-  Verbs of sensation (seem, look, appear, taste, feel, sound and smell) are followed by an adjective and not an adverb.

Incorrect: The soup smells deliciously.

Correct: The soup smells delicious.

27- Apart from the verbs of sensation ‘be’, ‘get’, ‘grow’, ‘become’, ‘’prove’, ‘make’, ‘turn’, etc are also modified by adjectives and nt adverbs.

Incorrect: When he heard the news of his demise, he grew sadly.

Correct: When he heard the news of his demise, he grew sad.

28- If there is a gradual increase, it is generally expressed with two comparatives and not with a positive degree.

Incorrect: It grew hot and hot.

Correct: It grew hotter and hotter.

29- If adjective of size, colour, age, etc. come together in a sentence, they should be used in the order given below:

Opinion> Size> Age> Shape> Colour> Origin> Material> Purpose noun.

Eg- Ram bought a beautiful, tiny, heart-shaped, purple, American, diamond, wedding ring.

NOTE: The order is OSASCOMP

Opinion: beautiful, pretty, ugly, nice, etc.

Size: small, big, tiny, minute, etc.

Age: old, recent, new, etc.

Shape: oval, round, circular, heart-shaped, etc.

Colour: black, purple, brown, white, etc.

Origin: American, Indian, German, Russian, etc.

Material: gold, wooden, leather, etc.

Purpose: dining, wedding, sleeping, dancing, etc.

SOME CONFUSING ADJECTIVES

• Nearest means ‘within a short distance’

Eg: Which is the nearest hospital?

• Next means ‘immediately adjacent’

Eg: The shop is in the next building.

• Later means ‘at some time subsequent to a given time’

Eg: My boss will call you later.

• Latter means ‘second of the two’

Eg: The latter part of the movie was very exciting.

• Last means ‘after all others’

Eg: The last ruler of the Mughal Empire was Bahadur Shah Jafar.

• Latest means ‘recent or newest’

Eg: This is the latest trend on Instagram.

• Farther means ‘at a great distance’

Eg: Rohan lives at the farther end of the lane.

• Further means ‘in addition to’

Eg: She asked me to call her up for any further information.

• Elder means ‘of earlier birth’

Eg: Rohanpreet is her elder brother.

• Older means ‘of earlier time’

Eg: Sohan is older than his brother.

• Less denotes ‘quantity’

Eg: Reema finished the test in less time than her classmates.

• Fewer denotes ‘number’

Eg: No fewer than 40 VIPs were involved in the hawala scam.