Unlike in many other languages, adjectives in English do not change (agree) with the noun that they modify:
All newforeign studentsare welcome to join the clubs and societies.
Not:All new foreigns students…
Every room was painted indifferent colours.
Not: …in differents colours.
Identifying adjectives
There is no general rule for making adjectives. We know they are adjectives usually by what they do (their function) in a sentence. However, some word endings (suffixes) are typical of adjectives.
suffix | examples |
-able,-ible | comfortable, readable, incredible, invisible |
-al,-ial | comical, normal, musical, industrial, presidential |
-ful | beautiful, harmful, peaceful, wonderful |
-ic | classic, economic, heroic, romantic |
-ical | aeronautical, alphabetical, political |
-ish | British, childish, Irish, foolish |
-ive, -ative | active, alternative, creative, talkative |
-less | endless, motionless, priceless, timeless |
-eous, -ious, -ous | spontaneous, hideous, ambitious, anxious, dangerous, famous |
-y | angry, busy, wealthy, windy |
Adjectives ending in-icand-icaloften have different meanings:
Theeconomicpolicy of this government has failed.
A diesel car is usually moreeconomicalthan a petrol one.
See also:
Adjectives
Classicorclassical?
Economicoreconomical?
Historicorhistorical?
Forming adjectives from other words
Suffixes
Some adjectives are made from nouns and verbs by adding suffixes.
noun | adjective |
hero | heroic |
wind | windy |
child | childish |
beauty | beautiful |
verb | adjective |
read | readable |
talk | talkative |
use | useful |
like | likeable |
I hatewindydays.
San Francisco is a veryhillyplace.
Some words ending in-lycan be both adjectives and adverbs. These includedaily,early,monthly,weekly,nightly,yearly:
Adjective: She gets aweeklypayment from her parents.(She gets money every week.)
Adverb: I pay my rentweekly.(I pay my rent every week.)
Some words ending in -lyare only adjectives and not adverbs. These include:costly,cowardly,deadly,friendly,likely,lonely,lovely,oily,orderly,scholarly,silly,smelly,timely,ugly,woolly.
We enjoyed the trip to America but it was acostlyholiday.
Oilyfish is very healthy because it contains omega 3.
See also:
Word formation
Adverbs
Prefixes
Suffixes
Prefixes
Prefixes such asun-, in-, im-,il-andir-change the meaning of adjectives.Adding these prefixes makes the meaning negative:
un- | in- | ir- |
fair – unfair | active – inactive | responsible – irresponsible |
happy – unhappy | appropriate – inappropriate | regular – irregular |
sure – unsure | complete – incomplete | reducible – irreducible |
im- | il- |
balance – imbalance | legal – illegal |
polite – impolite | legible – illegible |
possible – impossible | logical – illogical |
See also:
Prefixes
Suffixes
Adjectives: comparative and superlative
Many one-syllable adjectives have endings to show the comparative and superlative.
base form | comparative | superlative |
fine | finer | finest |
young | younger | youngest |
small | smaller | smallest |
Some two-syllable adjectives which end in an unstressed syllable also have these endings.
base form | comparative | superlative |
easy | easier | easiest |
funny | funnier | funniest |
gentle | gentler | gentlest |
However, we do not use these endings with two-syllable adjectives ending in a stressed syllable nor with longer adjectives with more than two syllables. The comparatives and superlatives of these adjectives are formed usingmoreandmost.
base form | comparative | superlative |
complete | morecompleteNot:completer | mostcompleteNot:completest |
interesting | moreinteresting Not:interestinger | mostinteresting Not:interestingest |
See also:
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Adjectives: with -ingand -ed(interesting,interested)
We use the -ingand -edforms of regular and irregular verbs as adjectives:
-ing forms
verb | example |
annoy |
|
amaze |
|
boil |
|
excite |
|
-ed forms
verb | example |
bore |
|
pack |
|
smoke |
|
make |
|
teach |
|
excite |
|
Adjectives with -ingand -edendings have different meanings.
-ingadjectives -ingadjectives describe the effect | -edadjectives -edadjectives describe how a person feels |
|
|
Commonly confused pairs of adjectives ending in -ingand -edare:interesting,interested;boring,bored;exciting,excited;embarrassing,embarrassed.