Adjectives

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. (By "noun" we

include pronouns and noun phrases.)
An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a noun (a big dog).
Adjectives can be used before a noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain
verbs (It is hard).
We can often use two or more adjectives together
(a beautiful young French lady).
It is sometimes said that the adjective is the enemy of the noun. This is
because, very often, if we use the precise noun we don't need an adjective.
For example, instead of saying "a large, impressive house" (2 adjectives + 1
noun) we could simply say "a mansion" (1 noun).
Determiners
the, a/an, this, some, any
Adjective Order
beautiful, long, dark brown
Comparative Adjectives
richer, more exciting
Superlative Adjectives
the richest, the most exciting
Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives
Noun as Adjective
coffee cup, bus station, research centre
Adjective Order
There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:
1. before the noun
2. after some verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell,
taste)

I have a

adjective
before noun

noun

big

dog.

Snow

verb

adjective
after verb

is

white.

Comparative Adjectives
When we talk about two things, we can "compare" them. We can see if they
are the same or different. Perhaps they are the same in some ways and
different in other ways. We can use comparative adjectives to describe the
differences.
We can use comparative adjectives when talking about two things (not three
or more things).
In the example below, "bigger" is the comparative form of the adjective
"big":
A1 A2
A1 is bigger than A2.
Superlative Adjectives
A superlative adjective expresses the extreme or highest degree of a quality.
We use a superlative adjective to describe the extreme quality of one thing
in a group of things.
In the example below, "biggest" is the superlative form of the adjective "big":
ABC
A is the biggest.

Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives

Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns.

Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot,
hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest).
The adjective hot is gradable.

Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are:

a. extremes (for example: freezing)
b. absolutes (for example: dead)

c. classifying (for example: nuclear)

The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable.
Gradable Adjectives
A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the
adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples:
grading adverbs
a little, dreadfully, extremely,
fairly, hugely, immensely,
intensely, rather, reasonably,
slightly, unusually, very

+ gradable adjectives
angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep,
fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot,
important, long, popular, rich, strong,
tall, warm, weak, young

A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:

EC Tip: "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives".
"Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers".

big, bigger, the biggest

hot, hotter, the hottest

important, more important, the most important

Look at these example sentences:

My teacher was very happy with my homework.

That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular.

He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold.
But Sweden was the coldest.

EC Tip: The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is anabsolute. Dead

is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader"
than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfect
Non-gradable Adjectives
A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:

It was rather freezing outside.

The dog was very dead.

He is investing in slightly nuclear energy.

Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative

forms:

freezing, more freezing, the most freezing

dead, deader, the deadest

nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear

Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone:

EC Tip: Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's
better to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable. This
is a matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have never
heard of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it
doesn't make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably
have the same idea in your language.

It was freezing outside.

The dog was dead.

He is investing in nuclear energy.

However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs"

(which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example:
non-grading adverbs

non-gradable adjectives

absolutely

awful

utterly

excellent

completely

terrified

totally

dead

extreme

absolute

nearly

impossible

virtually

unique

essentially

chemical

mainly

digital

almost

domestic

classifying

Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives:

Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the
exam again.

Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique.

It starts an essentially chemical reaction.

Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable

Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for
the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with
another sense. For example:
adjective

common
=

He's got a very old car.

gradable

not young

I saw my old boyfriend yesterday.

nongradable

former, ex-

He has some dreadfully common habits.

gradable

vulgar

"The" is a very common word in English.

gradable

prevalent

The two countries' common border poses

problems.

nongradable

shared

Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a
significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and
non-gradable adjectives:
gradable

non-gradable

Please don't forget! It's really

important.

He was really terrified.

He's a fairly rich man.

It's a fairly impossible job.

He's pretty tall.

It's pretty ridiculous when you think

about it.

"Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of
adjective we use it with:
adjective

quite =

It's quite warm today.

gradable

fairly, rather

Are you quite certain?

non-gradable

completely, absolutely

Reference
Non-gradable adjectives
Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable
adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself
whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying.
alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous,
environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately,
impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal,
ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole

Non-grading adverbs
Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many
more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all nongradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't.
absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely, mainly,
nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually

Noun as Adjective
As you know, a noun is a person, place or thing, and an adjective is a word
that describes a noun:
adjective

noun

clever

teacher

small

office

black

horse

Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first
noun "acts as" an adjective.
noun
as adjective

noun

history

teacher

ticket

office

race

horse

The "noun as adjective" always comes first

If you remember this it will help you to understand what is being talked
about:

a race horse is a horse that runs in races

a horse race is a race for horses

a boat race is a race for boats

a love story is a story about love

a war story is a story about war

a tennis ball is a ball for playing tennis

tennis shoes are shoes for playing tennis

a computer exhibition is an exhibition of computers

a bicycle shop is a shop that sells bicycles

The "noun as adjective" is singular

Just like a real adjective, the "noun as adjective" is invariable. It is usually in
the singular form.
Right

Wrong

boat race

boat races

NOT boats race, boats races

toothbrush

toothbrushes

NOT teethbrush, teethbrushes

shoe-lace

shoe-laces

NOT shoes-lace, shoes-laces

cigarette packet cigarette packets NOT cigarettes packet, cigarettes packets

In other words, if there is a plural it is on the real noun only.
A few nouns look plural but we usually treat them as singular (for example
news, billiards, athletics). When we use these nouns "as adjectives" they are
unchanged:

a news reporter, three news reporters

one billiards table, four billiards tables

an athletics trainer, fifty athletics trainers

Exceptions:
When we use certain nouns "as adjectives" (clothes, sports, customs,
accounts, arms), we use them in the plural form:

clothes shop, clothes shops

sports club, sports clubs

customs duty, customs duties

accounts department, accounts departments

arms production

How do we write the "noun as adjective"?

We write the "noun as adjective" and the real noun in several different ways:

two separate words (car door)

two hyphenated words (book-case)

one word (bathroom)

There are no easy rules for this. We even write some combinations in two or
all three different ways: (head master, head-master, headmaster)
How do we say the "noun as adjective"?
For pronunciation, we usually stress the first word:

shoe shop

boat-race

bathroom

Can we have more than one "noun as adjective"?

Yes. Just like adjectives, we often use more than one "noun as adjective"
together. Look at these examples:
car production costs: we are talking about the costs of producing cars
noun as
adjective

noun as
adjective

noun
costs
production

costs

car

production

costs

England football team coach: we are talking about the coach who trains
the team that plays football for England
noun as
adjective

noun as
adjective

noun as
adjective

noun
coach

England

team

coach

football

team

coach

football

team

coach

Note: in England football team coach can you see a "hidden" "noun as
adjective"? Look at the word "football" (foot-ball). These two nouns
(foot+ball) have developed into a single noun (football). This is one way that
words evolve. Many word combinations that use a "noun as adjective" are
regarded as nouns in their own right, with their own dictionary definition. But
not all dictionaries agree with each other. For example, some dictionaries list
"tennis ball" as a noun and other dictionaries do not.
government road accident research centre: we are talking about a
centre that researches into accidents on the road for the government
noun as
adjective

noun as
adjective

noun as
adjective

noun as
adjective

noun
centre

government

research

centre

accident

research

centre

road

accident

research

centre

road

accident

research

centre

Newspapers often use many nouns together in headlines to save space. Look
at this example:
BIRD HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE MURDER MYSTERY

To understand headlines like these, try reading them backwards. The above
headline is about a MYSTERY concerning a MURDER in a CENTRE for
RESEARCH into the HEALTH of BIRDS.
Note, too, that we can still use a real adjective to qualify a "noun as
adjective" structure:

empty coffee jar

honest car salesman

delicious dog food

rising car production costs

famous England football team coach