Let's do big, beautiful....
Adjectives.
Adjectives are words that are used to tell you more about nouns. Adjectives are of many different kinds. Sometimes they are kinds that we often do not think of as adjectives
For example:
A red house.
One man.
There are two ways to use grammar with adjectives - before a noun or after a verb.
For example:
A big ball
The ball is big
(You will notice from this that the verb "to be" is often found with adjectives, especially adjectives after verbs.)
Sometimes adjectives are made from nouns :
For example:
English from England / Hungry from hunger
Or from verbs
For example:
Slippery from to slip / Shiny from to shine.
Nouns can also be made into adjectives without any change
For example:
Hotel rooms / Computer software / London underground.
Adjectives don't change in English. They don't have plurals, and they don't change if they are describing men or women.
For example:
A happy man. / A happy woman. / Two happy girls. / Two happy boys.
Adjectives have a certain order:
1. number 2. description 3. size, 4. age 5. colour 6. material, 7. nationality 8.noun adjective/participle.
For example:
Two beautiful small new black leather Spanish riding boots.
But we do not normally use more than three adjectives before a noun. Instead we put an extra part (called a clause) afterward.
For example:
The big, old house was dark and empty. / She had two big black dogs which were noisy and friendly.
If we use more than one adjective after a verb, we usually put and between the adjectives:
For example:
The house was old and dark and empty.)
If we are making a list we can put several adjectives after a verb (usually "to be") with only one and
For example:
She is lazy, stupid, slow and rude.
As well as the usual adjectives, there are some special kinds to remember:
Adjectives of number:
For example:
There are two ducks. / There are many people here. / Take the third bus.
Adjectives of feeling. Sometimes you find these where you might expect an adverb
For example:
You sound happy. / I feel bad. / He seems angry.
For example:
It is early. / Yesterday afternoon. He is a frequent visitor.
Some adjectives are small sentences by themselves. These "compound adjectives" are often joined by hyphens ( - )
For example:
A seventeen-year-old boy.
But not always :
For example:
A New Year's Day party.
Still to come ...
There are also adjectives called participles, but we will do them at another time.
We often compare things using adjectives - but that is for another lesson (on comparatives)
So, are adjectives easy, exciting and fun? Ok then - here are some exercises for you!
