Adjectives: forms
Unlike in many other languages, adjectives in English do not change (agree) with the noun that they modify:
All new foreign students are welcome to join the clubs and societies.
Not: All new foreigns students …
Every room was painted in different colours.
Not: … in differents colours.
Identifying adjectives
There is no general rule for making adjectives. We know they are adjectives usually by what they do (their function) in a sentence. However, some word endings (suffixes) are typical of adjectives.
suffix | examples |
-able, -ible | comfortable, readable, incredible, invisible |
-al, -ial | comical, normal, musical, industrial, presidential |
-ful | beautiful, harmful, peaceful, wonderful |
-ic | classic, economic, heroic, romantic |
-ical | aeronautical, alphabetical, political |
-ish | British, childish, Irish, foolish |
-ive, -ative | active, alternative, creative, talkative |
-less | endless, motionless, priceless, timeless |
-eous, -ious, -ous | spontaneous, hideous, ambitious, anxious, dangerous, famous |
-y | angry, busy, wealthy, windy |
Adjectives ending in -ic and -ical often have different meanings:
The economic policy of this government has failed.
A diesel car is usually more economical than a petrol one.
Forming adjectives from other words
Suffixes
Some adjectives are made from nouns and verbs by adding suffixes.
noun | adjective |
hero | heroic |
wind | windy |
child | childish |
beauty | beautiful |
verb | adjective |
read | readable |
talk | talkative |
use | useful |
like | likeable |
I hate windy days.
San Francisco is a very hilly place.
Some words ending in -ly can be both adjectives and adverbs. These include daily, early, monthly, weekly, nightly, yearly:
Adjective: She gets a weekly payment from her parents. (She gets money every week.)
Adverb: I pay my rent weekly. (I pay my rent every week.)
Some words ending in -ly are only adjectives and not adverbs. These include: costly, cowardly, deadly, friendly, likely, lonely, lovely, oily, orderly, scholarly, silly, smelly, timely, ugly, woolly.
We enjoyed the trip to America but it was a costly holiday.
Oily fish is very healthy because it contains omega 3.
Prefixes
Prefixes such as un-, in-, im-, il- and ir- change the meaning of adjectives. Adding these prefixes makes the meaning negative:
un- | in- | ir- |
fair – unfair | active – inactive | responsible – irresponsible |
happy – unhappy | appropriate – inappropriate | regular – irregular |
sure – unsure | complete – incomplete | reducible – irreducible |
im- | il- |
balance – imbalance | legal – illegal |
polite – impolite | legible – illegible |
possible – impossible | logical – illogical |
Adjectives: comparative and superlative
Many one-syllable adjectives have endings to show the comparative and superlative.
base form | comparative | superlative |
fine | finer | finest |
young | younger | youngest |
small | smaller | smallest |
Some two-syllable adjectives which end in an unstressed syllable also have these endings.
base form | comparative | superlative |
easy | easier | easiest |
funny | funnier | funniest |
gentle | gentler | gentlest |
However, we do not use these endings with two-syllable adjectives ending in a stressed syllable nor with longer adjectives with more than two syllables. The comparatives and superlatives of these adjectives are formed using more and most.
base form | comparative | superlative |
complete | more complete Not: | most complete Not: |
interesting | more interesting Not: | most interesting Not: |
Adjectives: with -ing and -ed (interesting, interested)
We use the -ing and -ed forms of regular and irregular verbs as adjectives:
-ing forms
verb | example |
annoy | My brother is five and he’s so annoying. |
amaze | The Grand Canyon is an amazing place. |
boil | Be careful! That’s boiling water! |
excite | This film is not very exciting, is it? |
-ed forms
verb | example |
bore | Why do teenagers always look bored? |
pack | James Bond movies are always action-packed. |
smoke | Not everyone likes smoked salmon. |
make | My dress is hand-made. I really like it. |
teach | My Master’s degree was a taught course. |
excite | I feel excited about my new job. |
Adjectives with -ing and -ed endings have different meanings.
-ing adjectives -ing adjectives describe the effect | -ed adjectives -ed adjectives describe how a person feels |
The meeting was very boring. That was an exciting game. It was shocking to see what the storm had done to the house. | I felt bored at the meeting. We were really excited about the game. We were shocked to see what the storm had done to the house. |
Commonly confused pairs of adjectives ending in -ing and -ed are: interesting, interested; boring, bored; exciting, excited; embarrassing, embarrassed.
