The adjectives (adjectives) make up a category that adds value to nouns (noun) that accompany them. Usually, they have two functions in the sentence: attributive or predicative. Added to this is the idea that adjectives in English can also vary gradually, that is, in the structures comparatives or superlatives. However, the adjectives do not vary in number or gender, unlike what occurs in Portuguese.
Finally, English language learners ask themselves about the adjective order in the nominal group, because the adjective comes before the noun that modifies (qualifies). Consequently, so that there are no more doubts about the use of adjectives in English, we will cover in the following topics the use of adjectives and how to classify them via examples.
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Know more: What is the difference between I'm and for?
How to use adjectives?
To know how to use adjectives in English, it is important to keep in mind two things:
I. If it is an attributive adjective|1|, will come before the noun it modifies.
II. If it is a predicative adjective, it will come after the connecting verb, like verbs well (to be), seem (seem), become (become), get (become) etc.
Look at the examples:
1. THE new Casa, Lar.
A house new.
2. the house is new.
The house is new.
3. It is a new house.
Is new house.
In the third example, the adjective appears after the connecting verb well, but is following the noun Casa, Lar, therefore, it is an attributive adjective.
It is important to emphasize that some adjectives can only occupy the predicative function|2|:
Asleep, awake, alive, afraid, ashamed, alone, alike, pleased, glad, content, upset, well, fine, ill etc. |
For example:
he is not wake up.
he is not awake.
However, if the adjective is modified by aadverb (adverb), may also have the attributive function:
he is even wake up.
He is good awake.
Therefore, most of the predicative adjectives in the previous table can occupy the attributive function, if they are accompanied by an adverb.
In addition, it is important to reinforce that the adjectives are these evaluative words, which add content to the speech and modify the meaning of a given noun, showing certain properties (age, origin, color, size, etc.). For these words modify the noun, in English, must come before the noun (if they are attributive) they modify.
For these reasons, it is important to pay attention to the noun group, because several adjectives can accompany the same noun, and, in English, these different adjectives have a specific order. That's what we'll see in the next topic.
Adjective classification
The adjectives in English language can denote an idea of opinion, shape, objective, material, size, among other aspects that modify the ownership of a person, an object, a place, etc.
So, if we have an attributive adjective that accompanies a noun, it's important to know that this classification — based on meaning — will influence the position of the adjective in the sentence, if the nominal group consists of more than one adjective.
Thus, when we use more than one adjective in a sentence, this use must follow an order according to the idea that such adjectives represent, as we can see in the table below:
idea |
opinion |
Size |
act |
shape |
Color |
Origin |
Material |
purpose use |
Examples |
nice, wonderful, clear, important |
large, big, such, shorts |
old, new |
round, square, thin, wide |
red, purple, black, blue |
British, Brazilian American |
Paper, wooden, plastic, metal |
Sleeping, serving, walking |
Examples:
1) A nice big round red wooden table.
A nice big red round wooden table.
(opinion + size + shape + color + material + noun/substantive)
2) The new Brazilian song.
The new Brazilian music.
(age + origin + noun)
3) My mother bought me a cheap large new woolen sleeping bag.
My mother bought me a new cotton sleeping bag, big and cheap. (opinion + size + age + material + use + noun)
Don't forget that the translation of a nominal group composed of more than one adjective must fit our use of the Portuguese language.
Read too: Phrasalverbs: what they are and how to use them
Adjective degree
Another important aspect of adjectives is that they do not vary in number or in gender, differing from the Portuguese language. We can not talk: two beautifuls skirts (two beautiful skirts). What marks the plural in English, in this case, is the numeral two and the noun itself skirts.
However, adjectives can vary in degree when making comparisons in English. We are talking about comparative and superlative.
In a comparative way, briefly, between two things of the same group, we use the more + adjective + than. If the adjective is short, we add -er. To compare something with the rest of the group (superlative), we use themost + adjective. If the adjective is short, we add -is:
Adjective |
comparative |
superlative |
Examples |
nice |
Nicer |
the nicest |
Laura is cooler than Julio.
Laura is the coolest student. |
beautiful |
more beautiful |
the most beautiful |
that bike is morepretty than the other.
my bike is the most beautiful of the city. |
Adjectives ending in -ed vs -ing
We must say “disappear surprising news"or"some surprised news?” to express the idea of “some surprising news”?
In order to answer this question, we will point out the difference in meaning between the adjectives that end in -ing is on -ed (boring/bored, amazing/amazed, concerning/concerned etc.). those that end in -ing they convey the idea of the thing and our opinion about it. For adjectives ending in -ed, we express the way we feel about something. Look at the examples:
|
it was an interesting concert. it was a show interesting. |
|
I was not interested in the concert. I was not interested on the show. |
|
they gave us a tire task. they gave us a task tiring. |
|
Claire is tired after the task. Claire is tired after the task. |
Adjective list
A good way to learn adjectives effectively is to create a custom list of adjectives with the translation or examples of their use.
Below is a list of 40 frequently used adjectives in English.
Have fun!
|
Able |
|
Amazing |
|
Bad |
|
Beautiful |
|
Great |
|
Comfortable |
|
Crazy |
|
Different |
|
Difficult |
|
Early |
|
Easy |
|
Little |
|
First |
|
Well |
|
Excellent |
|
hard, hard |
|
High |
|
Important |
|
Interesting |
|
Great |
|
Last |
|
Little |
|
Long |
|
New |
|
Next |
|
Old |
|
Other |
|
Own |
|
Perfect |
|
Poor |
|
Public |
|
Rich |
|
Right |
|
Equal |
|
Short |
|
Little |
|
High |
|
Amazing |
|
Wrong |
|
Young |
Another way to learn adjectives is to recognize them in speech. A tip that can help us in this task is to observe some suffixes that are recurrent for the formation of adjectives|3|:
-ible/-able |
-ic |
-ive |
-full |
-less |
-ou |
-ish |
-al |
|
Understandable Understandable Incredible Incredible |
Economic Economic Academic Academic |
attractive Attractive expensive expensive |
Useful Useful Helpful Helpful |
useless Useless helpless Helpless |
dangerous Dangerous famous Famous |
selfish Selfish childish child |
magic Magic Logical Logical |
See too: Modalverbs: permission, possibility and probability in English
solved exercises
Question 1 (UEMG 2019)
In the excerpt “Founded in 1818, the museum is Brazil's oldest scientific institution and one of the largest and most renowned museums in Latin America” we have 3 (three) occurrences of:
- The superlative of inferiority of adjectives.
- The superlative of superiority of adjectives.
- The comparative of inferiority of adjectives.
- The comparative of superiority of adjectives.
Resolution
The correct answer is the letter b, because we have three adjectives old (the oldest), large (the largest) and renowned (most), indicating the superlative of superiority.
Question 2 (UEMG 2018)
In the excerpt “Recently, a stray bullet killed a Spanish tourist”, the expression “stray bullet” is
- formed by nouns and it means “a decisive shot”.
- formed by an adjective and a noun and it means “a random shot”.
- formed by an adverb and a noun and it means “a sharp shot”.
- formed by a verb and a noun and it means “a lost shot”.
Resolution
The correct answer is the letter b, because stray is the adjective (attributive) that accompanies the noun bullet.
Question 3 (Ufal/adapted)
using e-cigarettes in the office is becoming The burning issue. Some UK employers have already banned 'vapers' from using e-cigs at their desk – but there is no legal reason to do so.
In the text above, the highlighted words are, respectively, categorized:
- verb – verb – verb
- verb – adjective – verb
- verb – verb – adjective
- pronoun – verb – adjective
- pronoun – verb – adverb
Resolution
The correct answer is the letter c, because using and is becoming are verbs (gerund and present continuous), and burning is the adjective that accompanies the noun issue.
Grades
|1| HUDDLESTON, R.; PULLUM, G. K. A Student's Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge, 2005.
|2| EASTWOOD, J. Oxford guide to English grammar. Oxford, 2002.
|3| DECAPUA, A.. grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers. Springer: New York, 2008.
By Patricia Veronica Moreira
English teacher
