ADJECTIVES IN ENGLISH

ADJECTIVES
BY : TRUNG TRUC
POSITIONS OF ADJECTIVES
Adjectives are used to describe people and things.
1. Adj. + N
Mary is a beautiful and intelligent girl.
They picked some small violet flowers.
A new modern hotel is being built near my house.
2. V + adj.
Be – remain – stay
Become – get – turn – change
Look – smell – taste – sound – feel
Seem – appear
Sit – lie – stand – go - walk
She stays young as before.
Leaves turn yellow and fall down in Autumn.
You look tired today.
This colour seems darker than that one.
The valley lies peaceful in the sun.
V + O + adj.
keep – hold - make – find – paint - prove
A fridge keeps food and fruit fresh.
Hold your mouth wide , please.
Your words made me sad.
I find it difficult to talk to you.
She painted the room pink.
something/ anything / nothing ( someone / somewhere) + adj.
Have you got anything cheaper ?
I’d like someone interesting to talk to.
Go somewhere cool and quiet.
N + adj. This is an important problem.
( This is a problem important to all of us.)

PRACTICE
Nó không có điều gì mới cả.


2. Cắm hoa vào lọ để giữ nó tươi lâu.


3. Tại sao trông cậu buồn thế?


4. Một người đàn ông cao gầy đang đợi cậu ở đằng kia.


5. Những bức tranh này khác nhau về kích thước, màu sắc và giá trị.



He doesn’t have anything new.
Put the flowers in the vase to keep them long fresh.
Why do you look so sad?
A tall and thin man is waiting for you over there.
These pictures are different in size , colour and value.
adjective form
1/ V -ing & -ed
1.boring-bored 2.interesting- interested 3. disappointing- disappointed 4. fascinating- fascinated
5. exciting-excited 6.amusing -amused 7.amazing-amazed 8.astonishing-astonished
9. shocking-shocked 10.surprising- surprised 11.disgusting-disgusted 12.embarrassing-embarrassed
13.confusing-confused 14.horrifying-horrified 15.terrifying-terrified 16.frightening-frightened
17.depressing-depressed 18.worrying-worried 19.annoying-annoyed 20.exhausting-exhausted
21.satisfying-satisfied
2/ N + FUL
1.beautiful 2.boastful 3. cheerful 4. graceful 5. grateful 6. harmful 7.helpful 8.deceitful
9. delightful 10. dutiful 11. flavourful 12. forceful 13.hopeful 14.joyful 15.merciful 16.painful
17.peaceful 18. playful 19. powerful 20.shameful 21. successful 22.tactful 23.thankful 24. useful
25.youthful
3/ N + LESS
1.airless 2.brainless 3.characterless 4. childless 5. effortless 6. endless 7.harmless 8.heartless 9.helpless
10.hopeless 11.humourless 13.lifeless 14.meaningless 15. motherless 16.motionless 17. nameless
18. powerless 19.restless 20. seedless 21.speechless 22. spotless 23. tactless 23.thoughtless 24. tuneless
25.useless
4/ N + AL
1.accidental 2. additional 3. classical 4. conversational 5.departmental 6. educational 7. emotional
8. environmental 9. experimental 10.geographical 11. global 12. governmental 13. historical 14. logical
15.mechanical 16.musical 17.national 18. original 19. political 20. professional 21.regional 22.sensational 23. traditional 24. cultural 25. industrial
5/ N + IC
1.alcoholic 2. atomic 3. democratic 4. diplomatic 5. enthusiastic 6. heroic 7. linguistic 8.symbolic
9. artistic 10. journalistic 11.optimistic 12. pessimistic 13. economic 14. scientific 15. electronic
16. socialistic 17. gymnastic 18. idiotic 19. angelic 20. rhythmic 21. acidic 22. photographic
23. magnetic 24. meteoric 25. mythic
6/ N + OUS
1.advantageous 2.adventurous 3.ambitious 4.anonymous 5.anxious 6.contemptuous 7.conscious
8. continuous 9.courageous 10.dangerous 11.enormous 12.famous 13.marvellous 14.nervous 15.various
16.religious 17.spacous 18. tremendous 19. suspicious 20.superstitious 21.spontaneous 22.cautious
23.previous 24.mysterious 25.righteous
7/ N + y
1.bloody 2. bushy 3. cloudy 4. dirty 5. dusty 6.flowery 7. foggy 8. grassy 9.hairy 10. itchy 11.leafy
12.mighty 13.muddy 14.rainy 15.sexy 16. smoky 17. snowy 18. stoney 19.sunny 20. thirsty 21.rocky
22.windy 23. stormy 24. icy 25. misty

8/ V + able
1.acceptable 2.admirable 3. enjoyable 4.imaginable 5.peelable 6.predictable 7. remarkable 8. recognizable
9.tolerable 10. comfortable 11. fashionable 12.considerable 13. hospitable 14.memorable 15.knowledgeable
16.valuable 17.miserable 18. reasonable 19.sociable 20.suitable 21.reliable 22. drinkable 23.available
24. capable 25.irritable
9/ N + ary
1. cautionary 2.complementary 3.complimentary 4.customary 5. dietary 6. disciplinary 7.military
8.extraordinary 9.literary 10.imaginary 11.inflationary 12.legendary 13.momentary 14. monetary 15. contemporary 16. planetary 17. precautionary 18. probationary 19.residuary 20.rudimentary
21.salutary 22.secondary 23. supplementary 24. voluntary 25.ordinary
10/ ent ( N + CE => N + T)
1. different 2. patient 3. intelligent 4. excellent 5.confident 6. violent 7. impatient 8. important
9. dependent 10. independent 11. silent 12.prominent 13. absent 14. present 15. obedient 16.innocent
17.indifferent 18.convenient 19 . different 20. competent (skilled) 21. diligent ( hard working) 22. disobedient
11/ V + ible
1. credible 2. edible 3.fallible 4. flexible 5. horrible 6. legible 7. possible 8. responsible 9. sensible
10. terrible 11. visible 12. accessible 13. collapsible 14. comprehensible 15. digestible 16.permissible
17. convertible 18. corruptible 19. deductible 20. defensible
12/ N / adj. + ish
1.boyish 2.childish 3. foolish 4.girlish 5. hellish 6. mannish 7. reddish 8. slavish 9. British 10. snobbish
11. womanish 12. devilish 13. selfish 14. bookish 15.stylish 16. biggish 17. blackish 18. darkish 19. fattish
20. lowish 21. plumpish 22. thinnish 23. warmish 24. wettish 25. dullish
13/ V + ive
1. creative 2. excessive 3. active 4. aggressive 5.alternative 6. sensitive 7.attractive 8. competitive
9. constructive 10. decisive 11. defensive 12. destructive 13. effective 14. expensive 15. extensive ( large in area/ wide-ranging)
16.imaginative 17. intensive 18. lucrative ( profitable) 19. massive 20. negative 21. offensive 22. productive
23. protective 24. passive 25. positive
14/ N +like
1. animal-like 2. baby-like 3. bird-like 4. cat-like 5. child-like 6. claw-like 7. clock-like 8. clown-like
9. cow-like 10. dagger-like 11. daisy-like 12. desert-like 13. dog-like 14. doll-like 15. dreamlike
16. flower-like 17. fox-like 18. honey-like 19. hook-like 20. lady-like 21. owl-like 22. pillar- like
23. prison-like 24. kinglike 25. bullet-like
15/ N + ly
1. fatherly 2. motherly 3. brotherly 4. sisterly 5. manly 6. womanly 7. friendly 8. lively 9. lonely 10. lovely 11. shapely 12. daily 13. weekly 14. monthly 15. yearly 16. heavenly 17. costly 18. likely 19. leisurely 20. neibourghly
The order of adjectives
When two or more adjectives come before a noun, there is usually a fairly fixed order.
beautiful golden sands a nice new blue coat
The order depends mainly on the meaning. Look at these groups of adjectives and other modifiers.
Opinion: nice, wonderful, excellent, lovely, terrible, awful, etc
Size: large, small, long, short, tall, etc
Quality: clear, busy, famous, important, quiet, etc
Age : old, new
Shape: round, square, fat, thin, wide, narrow, etc
Colour: red, white, blue, green, etc
participle forms: covered, furnished, broken, running, missing,etc
Origin: British, Italian, American, etc
Material: brick, paper, plastic, wooden, etc
Type: human, chemical, domestic, electronic, money (problems), Purpose: alarm (clock), tennis (court), walking (boots), etc

Words from these groups usually come in this order
opinion + size + quality + age + shape + colour + participle forms + origin + material + type + purpose
an old cardboard box (age + material)
a German industrial company (origin + type)
two small round green discs (size + shape + colou)
a large informative street plan (size + quality + type)
a hard wooden seat (quality + material)
a new improved formula (age + participle form)
increasing financial difficulties (participle form + type)
two excellent city tennis courts (opinion + type + purpose)

PRACTICE
Put the adjectives in brackets in the right places
1. He lives in a town. (small)
2. whales are because they are. (blue, famous, big)
3. An elephant is a animal with a trunk. (big, long)
4. Thanks very much for your letter. (lovely)
5. You`ll need a coat and boots. (warm, strong)
6. I`d like to work for a company. (international)
7. Cigarettes are so in our country. (expensive)
8. She told me some news. (awful)
9. You`ll be to hear that our teacher retired month. (sad, old, last)
10. She suffers from vision and hearing. (poor)
Put the words in the right order to make a complete sentence.
1. is / cold / it / getting
2. grew / and / tired / hungry / he
3. got / little / the / ready / girl
4. promised / she / be / careful / to
5. are / their / friendly / neighbours /very
6. mountain / lovely / we / driving / along / a / road / were
7. was / too / we / go / further / couldn`t / because / snow /deep / any / the
8. to / naughty / the / short / child / decided / a / take / a / cut / wood / through
9. narrow / was / along /a/a/she/ path / she / heard / noise / walking / when / loud
Make sentences using the suggested words.
1. That dress / look / expensive
2. It / get / dark / early / winter
3. .My parents / getting / old
4. The teacher / seem / happy / because / the pupils / good
5. I / want / become / rich / famous
6. The plan / sound / interesting
7. My memory / getting / bad
8. The little girl / walking / through / a dark forest
9. She/feel/ill
10. Kate/ nice/ but/ lazy/ girl
ADVERBS
1. Function : V + ADV.
He drives slowly.
Adverbs of frequency : ADV. + V ( except BE)
He always comes on time.
He is always on time.
2. Form : ADJ. + LY ( except irregular adj.)
My brother did his work successfully.
3. Comparison : the same as ADJ.


PRACTICE
Form adverbs from these adjectives
1. usual 2. nice 3. cold 4.comfortable 5. wrong 6. loud 7. hungry 8. angry 9. final 10. probable
11. sincere 12. happy 13. dramatic 14. successful 15. attractive
He behaves to everyone nicely.
He treats everyone nicely.
Why are you shouting so loudly?
He has probably forgotten me.
Choose the suitable words
1. The (main/ mainly) street is in the centre of the city.
2. She seems very (angrily/ angry).
3. Could you talk more (quiet/ quietly)
4. He talked very (interesting/ interestingly) about his work.
5. You can try some of the (local/locally) restaurants:
6. The staff are always (helpful/ helpfully).
7. I sing very (bad/ badly).
8. I will give you an (easy/ easily) assignment.
9. They have been (happy/happily) married.
10. Tom is (amazing/amazingly) good at mathematics.
11. Do you think that`s a (real/really) diamond in her ring?
12. He was (wonderful/wonderfully) kind to me.
13. As soon as I saw him I was (sure/surely) he had been drinking
14. I felt her arm (gentle/gently) to see if any bones were broken.
15. The job was (surprising/surprisingly) easy.
Complete the sentences using the adverbs given
slowly easily here a bit tomorrow clearly happily much a lot automatically
1. You must see the doctor ...........
2. You didn`t write the address.....
3. The children played...........
4. The train travelled so ...........
5. They won the game ...........
6. The meeting was held...........
7. The machine switches itself off.
8. We don`t go out...........
9. I play the piano ...........
10. I watch TV...........
Put the words in the right order to make a complete sentence.
1. securely / you / all / did / the / lock / doors?
2. a / he / quietly / was / on / sitting / seat.
3. a / my / was / head / aching / lot,
4. the / land / managed / pilot / to / safely,
5. early / I`d / to / like / arrive.
6. the / performed / experiment / they / scientifically,
7. I / these / travel / much / don`t / days
the /we/ to/ had / wait / a / at / bit / station.
Rewrite the sentences
1.The train was slow. (slowly) >The train travelled slowly.
2.The food had a good smell, (smelled)
3.Jenny gave an angry shout, (shouted)
4.The film`s ending is dramatic. (ends)
5.The receptionist was very polite, (spoke)
6.The children wore expensive dollies, (dressed)
7.Everyone discussed the idea with enthusiasm, (enthusiastically)
8.Her toothache was terrible. (ached)
Put the words in the right order
1. a / landscape / Chinese / painting
2. a / three-bedroom / house / country
3. a / leather / brown / smart / briefcase
4. a / recorder / Japanese / video / portable
5. a / shirt / green / cotton
6. a / huge / savage / black / dog
7. a / Toyota / lovely / blue / little / car
1.A Chinese landscape painting
2. A three-bedroom country house
3. A small brown leather briefcase
4. A portable Japanese video recorder
5. A green cotton shirt
6. A savage huge black dog
7. A lovely little blue Toyota car
1.It`s a coat. It is red and is used for winter.
2.It`s a table. It is wooden, and it`s modern,
3.It`s a brand-new TV. It`s portable and has a 12-inch screen.
4.This coat is made from fur, and it`s brown.
5.I`ve got a pair of boots. They are black and size 10.
6.We use a Singer machine- It`s for sewing. It has an electric motor.
It’s a red winter coat.
It’s a modern wooden table.
It’s a 12- inch, potable, brand- new TV
This is a brown fur coat.
I’ve got a pair of size 10 black boots
We use a Singer electric sewing machine
Adjectives used in one position only
Most adjectives can be either in attributive position ( nice weather) or in predicative position (The weather is nice). But a few go in one position but not in the other.
1 Attributive only
That was the main reason. NOT That reason was main.
The story is utter nonsense.
inner ring road
These adjectives are attributive but not predicative: chief, elder (= older),
eldest{= oldest), eventual, former (= earlier), indoor, inner, main.
mere (a mere child = only a child), only, outdoor, outer, principal (= main),
sheer (=complete), sole (=only),upper, utter(=complete).
a Little is mostly attributive.
a little/ small/ cottage The cottage is small.
b Same cannot be predicative except with the

Yes. I had the same experience./Yes. my experience was the same.
c A noun as modifier can only be attributive.
a tennis club a water pipe afternoon tea
But nouns saying what something is made of can go in either position.
It`s a metal pipe. The pipe is metal.
2 Predicative only
The children were soon asleep. NOT the asleep children
The manager seemed pleased with the sales figures.
One person was ill and couldn`t come.
These adjectives are predicative but not attributive.
Some words with the prefix a: asleep, awake, alive, afraid, ashamed, alone, alike
Some words expressing feelings: pleased, glad, content, upset
Some words to do with health: well, fine, ill, unwell

Comparisons of adjectives
(a) An adjective or an adverb of the positive degree is usually used in the form "as... as". This
shows equality between the two objects or persons compared:
She is as pretty as a flower.
He is as strong as an elephant.
Come here as quickly as you can.
(b) When the sentence is negative, we use "so... as":
She is not as lazy as I am.
He is not so young as you may think.
They are not so studious as we are.
(c) We use "than"after a comparative adjective or adverb
This shows superiority of a person or a thing over another:
She is of higher birth than all of us.
This shop is better than that one.
I can jump higher than my sister

(d) In its negative form, we use "less... than".
I did less work than you did.
He is less fierce than he seems
(e)In some cases,the comparative is used without "than":
I am looking for a better job.
We must wait until the fruit is riper.
He is my elder brother.
The upper windows have not been cleaned yet.
(f) The word "other" must be used with "than"when we compare one person or thing
with a whole class of similar person or things:
That house is bigger than all the other houses there.
He is smarter than all the other students.
(g) If we want to omit the word "other", we have to use the superlative degree to show supremacy
That house is the biggest of all the houses.
He is the smartest of all the students.

(h) The article "the" is usually used before superlatives, but we can omit "the" or use "a" when there is no direct comparison:
The shoes here are most expensive.
She was reading a most exciting book.
(i) The comparative and the superlative can also be used in idiomatic constructions:
The sooner that is done, the better.
The more, the merrier.
If you rest now, you will feel all the better for it.
He drank more and more of it.
(j) The adverb "far"has two comparatives ("farther" and "further") and two superlatives ("farthest" and "furthest"). "Farther" and "farthest" are
used for actual distance, while "further" is used to mean "additional"
They sat in the farthest comer and talked.
My brother ran farther than yours did.
Further investigations will be carried out.
Nothing could be further from the truth.


(k) "Older" and "oldest" are used to denote age between or among people. "Elder" and "eldest"
denote seniority in a family:
She is older than you.
I am the oldest among us.
Did you see my eldest brother anywhere?
My elder sister are going to the party tonight.
(l) Words like "senior", "junior", "superior", "inferior", etc. are always followed by "to" and not
by "than:
He is senior to me.
This model is superior to that one.
That man over there is junior to the chief clerk.

PRACTICE
1. Rose is not so fragrant as lily.
2. Veal is as good as beef.
3. Winter days are shorter than summer days.
4. Nguyen Du is the greatest of the Vietnamese poets.
PRACTICE
1. The………..I learn English the……….. I like it.
2. Vietnam is not…….big……China.
3. What is the most…………..….thing in your life?
4. Which is ………., a Chinese car or a Japanese one?
5. This is the ………friend I’ve ever known.
more
more
as
as
important
better
best