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Adjective

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Adjective: word that describes the quality, state or action of a noun

Keyword

adjective
order
comparative
superlative
grammar
middle_school high_school college adult

[edit] Introduction

An adjective says something about a noun. It can be put in a sentence in two ways:

Before the noun: a large building, the tired man, three blue dresses, etc.
In a sentence after the verb: That building is large, The man is tired, Three dresses are blue, etc.

Sometimes, the adjective follows the noun. Most of the time, it is in special sayings.

court martial
attorney general

Nouns can also be used as adjectives, but they aren't real adjectives. You can see that when you put them in the sentence after the verb. The noun needs an extra word.

The New York marathon is a big event - The marathon in New York is a big event.
He smashed a beer bottle - He smashed a bottle of beer
She has a Singular cell phone - She has a cell phone from Singular.

An adjective says something about a noun, an adverb says something about an adjective.

a very fast car
his highly surprising victory
the extremely loud music

[edit] Order

If you have more than one adjective to the noun, you can't put them in random order. There are rules as to what type of adjective comes first:
Determiner, Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, and Qualifier.

The determiner is the article or quantity: a, the, one, several, thirty, etc.
Opinion is what the speaker thinks of the noun: annoying, nerve-wrecking, thrilling, etc.
Size: big, huge, enormous, small, tiny, tall, etc.
Age: twenty-four-year old, young, etc.
Shape: square, round, hooked, spiral, etc.
Color: red, green, yellow, blue, black, white, etc.
Origin: French, Greek, African, Chinese, Canadian, etc.
Material: wooden, leather, cotton, steel, etc.
Qualifiers are adjectives that specify the sub-class of the noun: bedroom lamp, beer bottle, lawn chair, library book, etc.

A thrilling, big, two hundred years old, round, white, French, wooden dining table.

Most of the time, you don't need to use that many adjectives, it's even confusing!

[edit] Comparative and superlative

[edit] Introduction

If we see a house, we want to say if it’s big or small, pretty or ugly, cheap or expensive, etc. We use adjectives to describe the house. And we also want to talk about that house in relation to other houses. There are two possible relationships you can express with an adjective:

comparative: making a simple comparison, judging two items with a certain category like height, sadness, goodness, etc.
superlative: saying one thing is the most/best in the category.

Things to watch:

number of syllables (a syllable is a string of sounds that divides the word into one, two, three, or more blocks)
doubling the letter
stress (on the second syllable)
ending (with –le, -er, -ow, -y)
y becomes i

[edit] One syllable

If the adjective has one syllable, the rules are simple: you add –(e)r for the comparative and –(e)st for the superlative.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
small	smaller	smallest
wet	wetter	wettest
fine	finer	finest

Note how the “t” in wet doubles. This happens because "weter" sounds different, not like "wet" at all!

[edit] Two or more syllables

For adjectives with two syllables, the picture is more difficult. If the adjective has two syllables AND stress is one the second syllable, the rules are the same as if it had one syllable. If the adjective has two syllables AND ends with –le, -er, -ow, or –y, the rules are the same as if it had one syllable.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
polite	politer	politest
humble	humbler	humblest
clever	cleverer	cleverest
narrow	narrower	narrowest
pretty	prettier	prettiest

Adjectives ending in –y change that letter into “i”, just like "pretty" in the table.
Polite has stress on the second syllable.

All remaining adjectives with two syllables and adjectives with three or more syllables don’t get –(e)r or –(e)st added. Instead, the comparative and superlative are put in front with an extra word: more or most.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
splendid	more splendid	most splendid
terrible	more terrible	most terrible
beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful

Splendid follows this rule, because it has stress on the first syllable, not the second.

[edit] Exceptions

Some adjectives don’t follow the rules, but have special forms. There’s no other way to learn them than to memorize them.

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
good/well	better	best
bad/badly/evil/ill	worse	worst
little (height)	smaller/littler	smallest/littlest
little (amount)	less	least
less	lesser	least
much/many	more	most
late	later	latest/last
far (distance)	farther	farthest
far (extent)	further	furthest

[edit] Adverbs

Adverbs are similar to adjectives. Adjectives say something about the noun, for example: The house (noun) is big (adjective). Adverbs say something about the verb, for example: Graham helps (verb) his grandmother gladly (adverb).
Most of time, adverbs can be created by adding -ly to an adjective. Those adverbs that end with –ly follow the same rules as described above. The only exception is early: earlier – earliest.