1. What is an Adjective?

A word that describes a Noun or a Pronoun is called an Adjective. It basically modifies Noun. It can express the speaker’s feelings, attitude and opinions as well. e.g.,

• This is a good website.
• It is obvious that she will join us tomorrow.

2. Placements of Adjectives

Some adjectives are used Predicative only, e.g.,,

Asleep, afraid, alive, aloof, alike, alone, ashamed awake, ready, worth,pleased, glad, content, upset, well, fine, ill, unwell, etc.

Exception : Noun + Adjective +Preposition

• She is a girl suitable for the post.

3. Kinds of Adjectives

I. Descriptive Adjectives: good, big, black, painful, sweet, etc.

II. Determiner Adjectives: This, that, some, few, each, every, running, tired, who, which, whose, what, very, same, my, his, her, its, etc.

III. Articles also use as Adjectives

4. What is a Linking Verb?

There are some verbs, aren’t modified by any adverbs, which are called linking verbs. e.g.,

Appear, be, become, seem, feel, get, grow, keep, look, make, prove, smell, sound, taste, turn, etc.

• The toy is cool.
• She looks pretty.
• Honey tastes sweet.
• The tracks sound satisfying.

5. Order of Adjectives

I. Opinion / Size / Shape / Age / Colour / Nationality / Quality / Material / + Noun

• A big round black battered iron table.
• It is a blue ball pen.
• A spacious dark cell has been found in a recent discovery.

II. Distributive / Possessive / Quality / Participle + Noun

• All my hard earned money was used for a noble cause.
• He is one of those whose all efforts failed. (Incorrect)
• He is one of those all whose efforts failed.

6. Comparison of Adjectives

There are three degrees of comparison- Positive degree, Comparative degree & Superlative degree. e.g.,

• He is a tall boy. (Positive)
• He is taller than his brothers. (Comparative)
• He is the tallest boy of his area. (Superlative)
• She is beautiful. (Positive)
• She is more beautiful than her sisters. (Comparative)
• She is the most beautiful of all. (Superlative)

7. A few adjectives cannot be changed into degree. e.g.,

Unique, eternal, extreme, supreme, entire, impossible, complete, universe, absolute, perfect, chief, etc. or any geometrical shape

• Happiness is the cheapest aim of mankind. (Incorrect)
• Happiness is the chief aim of mankind.
• I have never seen a more complete book on English. (Incorrect)
• I have never seen a complete book of English.

8. When two different adjectives are connected by ‘and’ and denote the same person in a sentence, both of the adjectives should be joined with the same degree individually.

• Kishore is the best and famous singer of our country. (Incorrect)
• Kishore is the best and most famous singer of our country.
• He is the most active and energetic social worker in our club. (Incorrect)
• He is the most active and most energetic social worker in our club.

9. Comparison : Same person & his different qualities

• He is more clever than intelligent.

10. Comparison : Different Persons & their same quality

• He is cleverer than his brother.

11. Among vs. Amongst

Among + consonant sound word

Amongst + vowel sound word; e.g.,

• The sweets were distributed among the boys.
• The sweets were distributed amongst all.

12. Use of ‘to’ with a few adjectives (Latin Adjectives)

‘to’ should be used with adjectives like,

Senior, junior, superior, inferior, elder, posterior, prior and preferable

ONLY FOR THESE EIGHT WORDS OBJECTIVE CASE OF PRONOUN IS USED

These ‘-ior’ Adjectives are also called Latin adjectives.

• He is senior to me.
• I prefer coffee to tea.
• Coffee is preferable to tea.

Remember! The following adjectives require neither ‘than‘ nor ‘to‘

major, nimor, ulterior, interior

13. First Ordinal Number, then Cardinal Number

Ordinal Number – First, Second, Third, …

Cardinal Number – One, Two, Three, …

I have to read the first two chapters of the book.

14. A few Adjectives be followed by only Singular Noun & Verb

Here is a list of such adjectives below

‘a certain’, ‘many a’, ‘many an’, 'such a’, ‘such an’, this, that, etc.

• The house has a certain charm.
• It is such a useful lesson.
• Many a politician has promised to make changes.

15. A few Adjectives be followed by only Plural Noun & Verb

Here is a list of such adjectives below

 ‘a great many’, ‘a good many’, ‘a number of’, certain, etc. 

• There were a great many jokes about the disaster, naturally.
• I am staying there for a good many reasons.
• There are a number of different options to choose from.

16. ‘These’ and ‘Those’ should not be used with the singular nouns ‘kind’ ‘type’ and ‘sort’

• This type of pens is not used with rough papers.
• This kind of people was targeted by the advertising company.
• This sort of cloths is easy to wash.

16. Little vs. Few

UNCOUNTABLE DENOTES QUALITY	COUNTABLE DENOTES NUMBER
Little → Less → Least	Few → Fewer → Fewest
‘Little’ means almost nil. (negative sense)	‘Few’ means almost none / no one. (negative sense)
‘A little’ means some. (affirmative sense)	‘A few’ means some. (affirmative sense)
‘The little’ means all that is left.	‘The few’ means all that is present.

17. Adjectives or. Adverbs

Adjectives qualify nouns and pronouns but Adverbs modify the action of a verb, an adjective, an adverb, a part of a sentence or the whole sentence at a time. e.g.,

• The man looks suspicious.
• The man looks suspiciously.

18. Some vs. Any vs. Somewhat

We use Some in affirmative and request making scenarios and it can also be used as an adjective.

We use Any in negative and make interrogative sentences express the vibe of ‘Every‘

Somewhat is used as an Adverb; e.g.,

• Some problems are yet to be solved by scientists.
• Is there any problem left?
• The problem can not be solved by any one.
• Her mother was somewhat angry

19. Farther vs. Further

Farther denotes a physical distance

Further denotes metaphorical, figurative sense; adding distance; e.g.,

• Kolkata is farther from Delhi than Patna.
• The instructor advised to go further from the point I have reached.

20. Later vs. Latter

Later denotes time (Late-Later-Latest) (Latest denotes recent till now)

Latter denotes position, order or sequence (Late-latter-Last); e.g.,

• Please reach there latest by 7.30 or you will be the last to enter the museum.
• He entered the museum later than his friend.
• He entered the museum latter than his friend.
• The hero dies at the latter part of the film.

21. Elder vs. Older

Elder denotes blood relation or is used in case of expressing only age (used only for persons)

Older denotes outside blood relation or in case of age and time or age difference; (used for both persons and things) e.g.,

• One of my brothers is elder to me.
• One of his brothers is older to me.
• My eldest brother gifted me Gitanjali on my latest birthday.

22. Usages of All, Both & Whole

All + The + Plural Noun (after ‘All’ we should use the possessive case of pronoun)

Both + The + Plural Noun ( after ‘Both’ we should use the possessive case of pronoun )

The + Whole

• All the men were travelling from Germany to Israel.
• Both the girls took the same path to reach their school.
• The whole nation is ready to uproot the king from the throne.
• All his efforts ended in smoke because both his friends are lazy.

23. Use ‘Time’ in a sentence in case of comparison to left it in positive degree (in comparison of quantity, weight and number)

But without ‘Time’ we are permitted to apply comparative degree. e.g.,

• His car is ten times as cheap as mine.
• The tail of his kite is two times as long as than his brother’s.
• The tail of his kite is two feet longer than his brother’s.

24. Sometimes vs. Some times vs. Sometime

Sometimes denotes occasionally

Some times (Adj.) denotes a period of time

Sometime denotes unspecified or unknown time / as per your free time; (used as both Adj. & Adv.)e.g.,

He sometimes visits here.

Being visited can sometimes be expensive. (Adv.)

Meet me sometime next week.

25. Round vs. Around

Round denotes rotation + revolution

Around denotes only revolution

26. Use of Vey & Much

Use Very with Present Participle; for an event.

Use Much with Past Participle; for the result

Use Very + { satisfying, pleasing, overwhelming, tiring, etc. }

Use much + { satisfied, pleased, overwhelmed, tired, etc. }. e.g.,

• The movie is very boring.
• I am much bored.

27. Use of Too Much & Much Too

Too much is used before a noun. and Much too is used before an adjective. e.g.,

• Your word gave me too much pain.
• Your word was much too painful.

28. Use of The + Adjective

We use The before an adjective to express: Social groups and Abstract qualities

Social groups: the rich, the poor, the downtrodden, the strong, the weak, the (il)literate, the hungry, the (under)privileged, the disadvantaged, the unemployed, the homeless, the blind, the bald, the deaf, the lame, the sick, the disabled, the handicapped, the living, the dead, the young, the middle-aged, the elderly, the old, etc.

Abstract qualities: the forbidden, the supernatural, the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplained, the absurd, the ordinary, the old, the new, etc.