IntroductionSome morphologic sentence elements are commonly grouped into:

. The Noun Cluster

. The Verb Cluster

The noun cluster divides into two categories

Principal Secondary

 Nouns

Numerals

 Pronouns

Adjectives

Articles

ADJECTIVES "Adjective" is the sentence element used to

qualify/determine a noun or a noun-equivalent construction.

• It is used to clarify nouns.• It can be one word or a group of words.• It can also be used with certain verbs (such as the verb

"to be"). • It is used to clarify the subject that is doing the action.• It is used to describe color, material, shape, size,

amount, price, quality, origin, personality, weight, temperature, age, direction, etc.

CATEGORIES OF ADJECTIVES

Qualifyingqualifying adjectives are

(generally) employed as:

First of all, adjectives are:

Possessive

Demonstrative

Relative

Interrogative

Indefinite

Predicative Adjectives

 Attributes

Determining The group of determining adjectives

is a bit more complex; it includes:

POSITIONING QUALIFYING ADJECTIVES WITHIN THE SENTENCE

STRUCTURE Position Examples

Before or after the noun they qualifySyntactically, they are Attributes

The new house welcomes us.

The house aflame was a terrible loss.

After particular verbsSyntactically, these are Predicative AdjectivesNote: although they are position near the verb, these adjectives still qualify the noun, only.

The man was alive.

In this case "alive" refers to the noun "man" although it is positioned near the copulative verb "was" .

COMPARING ADJECTIVES

Only Qualifying adjectives may be compared.

The comparison is performed for:A. InferiorityB. EqualityC. Superiority

The points A and C above take three "Degrees of Comparison", as follows:

  POSITIVE SUPERLATIVE COMPARATIVE

POSITIVE

no comparison is performed

Example: The tall man went into the restaurant.The word tall is an adjective. It describes the noun, man.

It is very common to use adjectives with nouns.Adjectives are used to describe the noun.

COMPARATIVE

simple comparison

What are comparative adjectives?Comparative adjectives are used to clarify the difference between 2 objects/nouns.Comparative adjectives are used to compare 2 nouns.To state that one noun has more of something then the 2nd noun.

Examples:The black dog is older than the white dog.My house is bigger than my sister's house.The yellow hat is more expensive than the green hat.

SUPERLATIVE

Relative Absolute

qualities related to others qualities of all

Examples: The summer is the hottest time of the year. Your family is the nicest that I have ever met.

A - Comparison with -er/-est

How to Use Comparative Adjectives and Superlative Adjectives

We use -er/-est with the following adjectives:1- adjectives with one syllable

cleancleanercleanest

newnewernewest

cheapcheapercheapest

2- adjectives with two syllables and the following endings:

2 a- adjectives with two syllables, ending in -y

dirtydirtierdirtiest

easyeasiereasiest

happyhappierhappiest

prettyprettierprettiest

2 b- adjectives with two syllables, ending in –er

clevercleverercleverest

 2 c- adjectives with two syllables, ending in -le

simplesimplersimplest

2 d- adjectives with two syllables, ending in -ow

narrownarrowernarrowest

B - Comparison with more/less – most/least

"more/less- most/least"is used for words that :•have 2 syllables, if the word doesn't end in -y.

* have 3 or more syllables

•difficult- more/less difficult•honest – more/less honest•modern – more/less modern

•expensive – more/less expensive•comfortable - more /less comfortable

•difficult- most/least difficult•honest – most/least honest•modern – most/least modern

•expensive – most/least expensive•comfortable – most/least comfortable

C -Irregular adjectives

goodbetterbest 

badworseworst 

muchmoremostuncountable nouns

manymoremostcountable nouns

littlelessleast 

littlesmallersmallest 

D - Special adjectivesSome adjectives have two possible forms of comparison.

commoncommoner / more commoncommonest / most common

likelylikelier / more likelylikeliest / most likely

pleasantpleasanter / more pleasantpleasantest / most pleasant

politepoliter / more politepolitest / most polite

simplesimpler / more simplesimplest / most simple

stupidstupider / more stupidstupidest / most stupid

subtlesubtler / more subtlesubtlest

suresurer / more suresurest / most sure

Difference in meaning with adjectives:

far

fartherfarthestdistance

furtherfurthestdistance ortime

late

laterlatest 

latterx 

xlast 

oldolderoldestpeople and things

eldereldestpeople (family)

nearnearernearestdistance

xnextorder

Eng 142 / grammar (2)Prepared and presented by:Samah EidReferences :http://www.englisch-hilfen.dehttp://www.corollarytheorems.com/Grammarhttp://www.english-the-easy-way.com/Adjectives/Adjectives_Page.htmThe instructor : Dr. Shadia Banjar