Adjectives

Adjectives are words that are used to describe or tell us something about nouns. They often appear before the noun. For example:

• The quick, brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The adjectives “quick” and “brown” appear before the noun “fox” and the adjective “lazy” appears before the noun “dog”.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

When comparing things we use the comparative form for two things and the superlative form for three or more things. For example, using the adjectives “high”, “tall” and “beautiful”:

• Mount Snowdon is a high mountain.
  (The simple form is high)
• Mount Snowdon is higher than Scafell Pike.
  (The comparative form is higher)
• Snowdon is thehighest mountain in Wales.
  (The superlative form is the highest)
• The Empire State is a tall building.
  (The simple form is tall)
• The Empire State is taller than the Rockefeller Centre.
  (The comparative form is taller)
• The Empire State is thetallest building in New York.
  (The superlative form is thetallest)
• Jennifer Connelly is a beautiful woman.
  (The simple form is beautiful)
• Jennifer Connelly is more beautiful than Julia Roberts.
  (The comparative form is more beautiful)
• Jennifer Connelly is themost beautiful woman working in Hollywood today.
  (The superlative form is the most beautiful)

We sometimes use comparative and superlative adjectives to make statements that are true and sometimes we use them to state our opinions.

When the comparative adjective has more than two syllables, instead of putting the –er form at the end of the word, we precede it with the word more.

When the superlative adjective has more than two syllables, instead of putting the –est form at the end of the word, we precede it with the word most.

Adjectives, which use the -ed form and the -ing form

Some adjectives use the –ed form e.g. 'annoyed', 'bored' (sometimes called past participle adjectives) and some use the –ing form e.g. 'annoying', 'boring' (sometimes called present participle adjectives).

Many students, even at advanced levels, don't know whether they should use the –ed form or the –ing form of the adjective and can get confused and say things such as: “I am boring” and “The film is bored”. It is often easier for students to understand by explaining that :

~ed is used when the speaker/receiver feels the emotion - it's passive, meaning something has been done to them/it.
e.g. 'I am excited'

~ing is used to describe the emotion produced by the cause or source - it's active.
e.g. 'the film is exciting'