8. Adjectives/Adverbs

• Adjectives describe nouns. They say what something is like. Adjectives come before nouns or after the verb to be. They have the same form in the singular and plural. This is a nice book. (What’s the book like? Nice.)

This bus is slow. (What’s the bus like? Slow.)

These buses are slow. (NOT: slows)

Formation of Adjectives

Many adjectives are formed from nouns and verbs by taking the following suffixes.

- ful wonder - wonderful

- ical economy - economical

- ive act-active

- less colour - colourless

- ous adventure – adventurous

- ed crowd-crowded

- ing excite-exciting

Adverbs describe verbs. They say how, where, when or how often someone does something.

He left the class quickly. (How did he leave the class? Quickly.)

She saw Jim yesterday. (When did she see Jim? Yesterday.)

Formation of Adverbs

• We usually form an adverb by adding -ly to an adjective, quiet - quietly

• Adjectives ending in -le, drop -e and take -y.

comfortable - comfortably, simple - simply

• Adjectives ending in consonant + y drop y and take -ily.

happy - happily, easy - easily

Irregular adverbs:

Adjectives	good	fast	hard
Adverb	well	fast	hard

She’s a good cook. She cooks well.

Adjectives/Adverbs - Order of Adjectives

Order of Adjectives

There are opinion adjectives and fact adjectives. Opinion adjectives such as smart, bad, etc show what a person thinks of somebody or something. Fact adjectives such as short, big, old, etc give us factual information about age, size, colour, origin, material, etc.

Opinion adjectives go before fact adjectives, a beautiful young woman

When there are two or more fact adjectives in a sentence, they usually go in the following order:

	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Origin	Material	Noun
a	small	old	round	blue	English	china	plate

• We do not usually use a long list of adjectives before a single noun. We normally use up to three adjectives to describe a noun, a tall handsome man

Claire found an old wooden clock in the attic.

Too - Enough

Too comes before adjectives or adverbs. It has a negative meaning and shows that something is more than enough, more than necessary or more than wanted, too + adjective/adverb ... + to-infinitive

It’s too cold to go to the beach. (It’s so cold that we can’t go to the beach.)

Enough comes before nouns but after adjectives or adverbs. It has a positive meaning and shows that there is as much of something as wanted or needed,

adjective/adverb + enough | ₊ to...infinitive

enough + noun |

She speaks clearly enough for me to understand. (I can understand her.)

I have enough money to buy a computer. (I can buy one.)

not... enough + to-infinitive (negative meaning)

She is not old enough to drive a car. (She isn’t allowed to drive a car.)

too ... (for somebody/something) + to-infinitive

(negative meaning)

The potatoes are too hot for me to eat. (I can’t eat them.)

Comparatives - Superlatives

Use

• We use the comparative form to compare two people, animals, things, places, etc. We use than with comparative adjectives.

A giraffe is taller than an elephant.

• We use the superlative form to compare one person, animal, thing etc with more than one person, animal, thing etc in the same group.

Mike is the fastest runner on the team.

• We use the ... of/in with the superlative form. We use in with the superlative when we talk about places.

She’s the brightest student of all.

It’s the most comfortable chair in the house. (NOT: of the-house).

• We use (not) as + adjective + as to show that two people, things etc are (not) similar. Isabelle is not as tall as Clare.

• We use less + adjective + than to show that two people, things, places etc are not equal in a quality.

The train is less expensive than the plane. (= The plane is more expensive than the train.)

• We use much/a lot/far/a little/a bit/slightly + comparative to show that there is a great or a small difference in a quality between two people, things etc.

He’s much stronger than her.

Our house is a lot smaller than theirs.

• Adverbs formed by adding -ly to the adjective take more in the comparative and most in the superlative form.

quietly - more quietly - most quietly

Form

• With one-syllable and two-syllable adjectives, we form the comparative by adding -er, and the superlative by adding -est.

small - smaller - smallest

• With adjectives of more than two syllables we form the comparative with more and the superlative with the most, interesting - more interesting - the most interesting

• With some two-syllable adjectives, such as friendly, clever, etc, we form the comparative and superlative either with -er/-est or with more/most.

clever - cleverer - cleverest or clever - more clever - most clever

Spelling

• With one-syllable adjectives ending in -e, we add -r in the comparative and -st in the superlative form.

large - larger - largest

• With one-syllable adjectives ending in vowel + consonant, we double the last consonant and add -er/-est.

big - bigger - biggest

• With two-syllable adjectives ending in -ly, -y, we change the -y to i and add -er/-est. busy - busier - busiest

	Adjective	Comparative	Superlative		Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
short adjectives	small tall	smaller taller	the smallest the tallest	Irregular forms	little/many/ much/a lot of	more	the most
-y adjectives	busy lazy	busier lazier	the busiest the laziest		good	better	the best
					bad	worse	the worst
longer adjectives	comfortable	more comfortable	the most comfortable		far	farther/ further	the farthest/ furthest

Read the examples

• very + adjective/adverb

He was very loud./He spoke very' loudly.

• much + comparative form of adjective/ adverb

He was much better this time./He played much better this time.

(not) as + adjective/adverb + as

Tom is as fast as Bill.

She isn’t as tall as him.

a bit + comparative form of adjective/ adverb

She’s a bit better today than she was yesterday.