Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun, giving extra information about it. For example:
- a sweet taste
- a red apple
- a technical problem
- an Italian woman
Attributive and predicative
Most adjectives can be used in two positions. When they are used before the noun they describe, they are called attributive:
- a black cat
- a gloomy outlook
- a slow journey
- a large suitcase
When they are used after a verb such as be, become, grow, look, or seem, they’re called predicative:
- The cat was black.
- The future looks gloomy.
- The journey seemed slow.
- They were growing tired.
There are some adjectives that can only be used in one position or the other. For example,
these two sentences are grammatically correct:
√ She was alone that evening. [‘alone’ = predicative ]
√ It was a mere scratch. [‘mere’ = attributive]
These sentences, on the other hand, are not correct:
X I saw an alone woman. [‘alone’ cannot be used in the attributive position]
X The scratch was mere. [‘mere’ cannot be used in the predicative position]
Comparing adjectives
Most adjectives have three different forms, the absolute (also known as the positive), the comparative, and the superlative:
|
absolute
|
comparative
|
superlative
|
|
sad
|
sadder
|
saddest
|
|
happy
|
happier
|
happiest
|
|
unusual
|
more unusual
|
most unusual
|
The comparative form is used for comparing two people or things, while the superlative is used for comparing one person or thing with every other member of their group:
He is taller than me. [comparative]
He was the tallest boy in the class. [superlative]
The book was more interesting than the film. [comparative]
It’s the most interesting book I’ve ever read. [superlative]
As you can see, some adjectives change their spelling when forming their comparative and superlative forms. For more information about this, see Spelling rules and tips.
You’ll find that most dictionaries will show you the spellings of adjectives that change their form. For example, if you look up 'happy' in the Oxford Dictionaries Online, you’ll see that the comparative and superlative forms are given in brackets directly after the part of speech:
happy ► adjective (happier, happiest)
Always look up an adjective if you are unsure about how to spell its comparative or superlative form.
Back to word classes (or parts of speech).
You may also be interested in