Adjectives - English Grammar Basics - General Aptitude for GATE - Mechanical

Adjectives are words that describe or qualify nouns and noun phrases. They answer questions such as which, what kind of, and how many. Adjectives may appear before a noun, after a linking verb, or immediately after the noun they modify. Examples:

The little boy
A new toy
Enough meatloaf

Types of Adjectives

1. Attributive

Attributive adjectives appear directly before the noun (or noun phrase) they modify.

Examples:

• The old man asked a question.
• That is a good book.
• I found an old, black, cotton sweater.

2. Postpositive / Appositive adjectives

Adjectives that come immediately after the noun are called postpositive. Adjective phrases set off by commas after the noun (as in the examples below) are often described informally as appositive adjective phrases; they qualify the noun and are usually separated by commas.

Examples:

• The woman, beautiful and smart, knew what she was doing.
• The winner, tired but happy, waved and smiled.
• Note: In formal grammar, apposition more strictly describes a noun or noun phrase placed next to another noun to rename it. Here the important point for learners is the position: some adjectives follow the noun instead of preceding it.

3. Predicative

Predicative adjectives appear after linking verbs (such as forms of be, seem, feel, look, become) and modify the subject of the sentence.

Examples:

• The tickets are expensive.
• She looked old.
• The oven felt hot.
• He was young and shy.

The Order of Adjectives

When more than one adjective modifies the same noun, English usually follows a preferred sequence. The exact order can vary slightly, but this ordering is natural and widely accepted:

• Opinion / Quality (lovely, beautiful, intelligent, nice, fine...)
• Size (small, big, large, short, tall...)
• Age (young, old...)
• Shape (round, slim, square, flat...)
• Colour (white, green, red...)
• Material (plastic, glass, wooden...)
• Origin / Nationality (German, Russian, American...)

Examples:

• A nice big house.
• A big square table.
• A lovely little town.
• An old plastic pipe.
• An expensive Scotch whiskey.
• A tall young woman.
• Intelligent young Danish scientist.

Present and Past Participles as Adjectives

Verbs can form adjectives by adding -ing (present participle) or -ed (past participle). These adjectives often express a distinction between cause and effect:

• -ing adjectives describe the cause or the quality that produces a feeling: boring (causes boredom), interesting (causes interest).
• -ed adjectives describe the result or how someone feels as a result: bored (feeling bored), interested (feeling interest).

Examples and contrast:

• He is bored with his job. (He feels the result of boredom.)
• His job is boring. (The job causes boredom.)
• He is interested in your offer.
• Your offer is interesting.
• I don't want to be with him because he is boring.

Common verbs that form adjectives with -ed or -ing include: charm, admire, amaze, amuse, depress, worry, thrill, excite, disgust, disappoint, discourage, embarrass, fascinate, frighten, frustrate, horrify, irritate, please, satisfy, shock, startle, stimulate, surprise, terrify, confuse.

Placement note: participle adjectives may appear before a noun (attributive), after a linking verb (predicative), or immediately after the noun (postpositive), depending on meaning and emphasis.

Degrees of Adjectives

1. Positive degree

   The positive degree states a quality without making any comparison.

   Examples:

   • The twins are smart.
   • The tree is tall.
   • The book is old.

2. Comparative degree

   The comparative degree compares two things, persons, or groups. Use -er or more depending on the adjective, and normally follow the comparative with than.

   

   Examples:

   • Fred is taller than Barney.
   • He is the more aggressive of the two.
   • Barney is smarter than Fred.
   • Climbing is more tiring than running.
   • Rules for forming comparatives:
   • One-syllable adjectives: add -er (tall → taller).
   • One-syllable adjectives ending consonant-vowel-consonant: double the final consonant and add -er (big → bigger).
   • Adjectives ending in -y: change y → i and add -er (happy → happier).
   • Two-syllable adjectives: sometimes use -er (clever → cleverer) but many take more (careful → more careful).
   • Adjectives of three or more syllables: use more (interesting → more interesting).
   • Irregular comparatives must be memorised (good → better; bad → worse; far → farther/further).

3. Superlative degree

   The superlative degree expresses the highest or lowest degree among three or more items. Use -est for many short adjectives and most for longer ones; superlatives are normally used with the definite article the.

   Examples:

   • This is the brightest room in the house.
   • Duncan is the tallest player on the team.
   • Britney is the most beautiful girl in the class.
   • Rules for forming superlatives:
   • One-syllable adjectives: add -est (tall → tallest).
   • One-syllable adjectives ending consonant-vowel-consonant: double the final consonant and add -est (big → biggest).
   • Adjectives ending in -y: change y → i and add -est (happy → happiest).
   • Two-syllable adjectives: sometimes use -est (clever → cleverest) but many take most (careful → most careful).
   • Adjectives of three or more syllables: use most (interesting → most interesting).
   • Irregular superlatives: good → best; bad → worst; far → farthest/furthest.

Absolute Adjectives

Absolute adjectives describe qualities that are complete or total; they do not admit comparison in the strict sense because the quality is either present or absent.

Examples: dead, perfect, round, unique, complete.

Strictly speaking, we do not say someone is "more dead" or "most perfect." Informally and metaphorically speakers sometimes use comparative or superlative forms with absolute adjectives for emphasis, but this is non-standard or colloquial.

Additional notes and usage tips

• Use than after comparatives: "A is taller than B."
• Use the definite article the with superlatives: "She is the smartest student."
• When multiple adjectives occur, follow the conventional order (opinion → size → age → shape → colour → material → origin) for natural-sounding phrases.
• Be careful with participles used as adjectives: the difference between -ing and -ed matters for meaning (cause vs result).
• Memorise common irregular adjectives (good/better/best, bad/worse/worst, far/further/furthest) because rules for suffixes do not apply to them.