Participles______________________________________________

a) present (staying, leaving, etc.),

b) past (stayed, left, etc.) and

c) perfect (having left, etc.).

♦ Present and past participles can be used as adjectives. The present participle (-ing) describes what somebody or something is (it answers the question What kind?). The past participle (-ed) describes how somebody feels (it answers the question 'How do you feel?').

It was an embarrassing situation.

(What kind of situation? Embarrassing.) He was embarrassed. (How did he feel? Embarrassed.)

Participles:

♦ instead of a relative pronoun and full verb.

The woman waving at me is my aunt. (= The woman who is waving at me is my aunt.)

The new shampoo advertised on TV is very expensive. (= The new shampoo which is advertised on TV is very expensive.)

♦ to express reason.

Feeling shy, Laura didn't talk to Ben. (= Because she was shy, ...) Having seen the film before, I decided to stay at home. (= Because I had seen the film before, I decided to stay at home.)

♦ to express time.

After taking/having taken his Master's degree, he applied for a job. Having taken his Master's degree, he applied for a job. (= After he had taken his Master's degree, he applied for a job.)

We met John while shopping. (= We met John while we were shopping.)

♦ instead of the past simple in narratives when we describe actions happening immediately one after the other.

Hearing the news, she fainted. (= She heard the news and she fainted.)

♦ to avoid repeating the past continuous in the same sentence.

He was walking down the street whistling a tune. (= He was walking down the street and he was whistling a tune.)

Adjectives______________________________________________

- describe nouns. They have the same form in the singular and plural. They go before nouns (e.g. a small house) but after the verbs be, look, smell, sound, feel, taste, seem, appear, become, get, stay, etc.

She is beautiful. They seem unhappy.

There are opinion adjectives and fact adjectives. Opinion adjectives such as boring, exciting, etc. show what a person thinks of somebody or something. Fact adjectives such as tall, thin, new, etc. give us factual information about age, size, colour, origin, material, etc.

There are also compound adjectives which are formed with: a) present participles e.g. a never-ending journey, b) past participles e.g. a broken-down washing machine, c) cardinal numbers + nouns

a three-hour delay (NOT: a throo hourc doioy).

We can also use nouns as adjectives before other nouns. In this case the nouns have no plural form.

morning paper - morning papers, coffee table -coffee tables

The following adjectives have a difference in meaning:

a) He gave her a gold ring. (= ring made of gold) They walked on the golden sand. (= sand the colour of gold)

b) She bought a silk blouse. (= blouse made of silk) This new shampoo promises to give you silky hair. (= hair which feels like silk)

c) They walked up the stone path. (= path made of stone) The man had a stony look on his face. (= cold look - like stone)

Ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, …) go before cardinal numbers (1, 2, …)

the first two weeks (NOT: the two first weeks)

The adjectives afraid, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, asleep, awake, content, glad, ill, pleased, etc. are not followed by nouns.

The man was alive. Karen is ill today.

The adjectives chief, elder, eldest, former, indoor, inner, main, only, outdoor, outer, principal, upper are always followed by nouns.

This is my elder son.

We do not usually use a long list of adjectives before a single noun. A noun is usually described by one, two or three adjectives at the most.

a beautiful blue evening dress

Certain adjectives can be used with 'the' as nouns to refer to groups of people in general. These are: elderly, middle-aged, old, young, blind, dead, deaf, disabled, living, sick, homeless, hungry, poor, rich, strong, unemployed, weak, etc.

The young have a lot of energy. (We refer to young people in general.) but: The young people of our town are organising a charity concert. (We refer to a specific group of young people).

When we talk about one person we say AIThe young man/woman, AIThe blind man/woman, etc.

The young woman who lives next door is a medical student.