Adjectives
What is an adjective?
Definition
An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun.
Order
In the English language when you use more than one adjective to describe a noun or pronoun, they are put in a specific order.
- Opinion
- Size
- Age
- Shape
- Colour
- Origin
- Material
- Purpose
= OSASCOMP
Exercises
Degrees of comparison (comparing people and things)
The comparative degree of an adjective is used when two things are compared.
What is it?
When adjectives change in form to show comparison, they are called the degrees of comparison. Those degrees are classified into positive, comparative and superlative degrees of comparison.
1. Positive degree of comparison
The positive degree of an adjective is the adjective in its simple form.
- He is as tall as his father.
In this sentence, the adjective is 'tall', the form 'tall' is in the positive degree of comparison.
2. Comparative degree of comparison
The comparative degree of an adjective is used when two things are compared.
- Sam is taller than his father.
In this sentence, the form 'taller' is in the comparative degree of comparison as we are comparing Sam's height to his father's height.
2.1 Formation of the comparative degree of comparison - by adding -ER
You can form the comparative degree by adding -er to the adjective in the positive form.
Let's look at a few examples to understand how it's done:
Positive - sweet; Comparative - sweeter
Positive - kind; Comparative - kinder
Positive - great; Comparative - greater
Let's look at a few examples to understand how it's done:
Positive - sweet; Comparative - sweeter
Positive - kind; Comparative - kinder
Positive - great; Comparative - greater
3. Superlative degree of comparison
The superlative degree of an adjective denotes the highest degree of the quality. It is used when more than two things are compared.
- Sam is the tallest in the class.
In this sentence, the adjective, 'tallest' is in the superlative degree as Sam's height is being compared to everyone's height in the class.
3.1 Formation of the superlative degree of comparison - by adding -EST
The superlative degree of an adjective may be formed by adding -est to the end of the positive form of the adjective.
Positive - sweet; Comparative - sweeter; Superlative - sweetest
Positive - kind; Comparative - kinder; Superlative - kindest
Positive - great; Comparative - greater; Superlative - greatest