Adjectives

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What Are Adjectives?

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Adjectives are words used to describe or modify a noun or a pronoun. They give extra information to make sentences more precise and interesting.

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Adjectives do not have a plural or singular form: they always stay the same.

Only adjectives used as determiners have plural forms. They are the:

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Using Adjectives

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Adjective Placement

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Order of Adjectives

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Overused Adjectives — Using Richer Adjectives

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Comparative & Superlative Adjectives

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Possessive Adjectives

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Demonstrative Adjectives

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Adjective Placement

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Adjectives can be placed:

Before a noun
After a verb

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Adjective placed before the noun and adjective placed after the verb.

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Advanced Users: Adjectives after a Noun or a Pronoun

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In some cases adjectives can be placed after a noun or a pronoun.

In fixed expressions like:	With indefinite pronouns:	For poetic/dramatic effect:
president elect	something great	colours unrefined
attorney general	nothing new	precision attainable
court martial	anyone skilled	result outstanding
words unspoken	nowhere specific	difficulties inconceivable

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Adjective Placement—Exercise

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Adjective Placement—Exercise

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Adjective Placement—Exercise

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720

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720

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Order of Adjectives

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When using more than one adjective to describe a noun or a pronoun, use the following order:

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Order of Adjectives—Exercise

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Order of Adejctives—Exercise

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Order of Adjectives—Exercise

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720

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720

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Overused Adjectives—Using Richer Adjectives

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Some adjectives get overused.
Here are some alternatives:

Another way to say…

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nice	good	bad	great	best	more
kind friendly sweet lovely pleasant likeable	excellent terrific amazing marvellous sensational fantastic	awful unpleasant dreadful nasty wicked poor	exceptional wonderful tremendous first-class first-rate absolute surpassing	first finest leading highest principal foremost prime	additional extra new other added increased beyond

small	big	easy	difficult	cool	funny
little tiny miniature puny microscopic meagre	huge massive enormous colossal gigantic substantial	simple effortless smooth straightforward painless basic accessible obvious uncomplicated	tough hard complex complicated troublesome arduous challenging demanding strenuous	relaxed quiet assured composed self-controlled collected calm	amusing entertaining hilarious playful silly whimsical humourous

happy	sad	angry	new	young	old
glad joyful cheerful delighted thrilled ecstatic lively merry upbeat	unhappy depressed gloomy miserable grieved regrettable tragic grieved sorrowful	mad furious outraged displeased annoyed touchy infuriated heated exasperated	recent current late modern advanced fresh original	blooming blossoming youthful green juvenile childish childlike	aged ancient decrepit elderly mature venerable senior

Titre (niveau 2)

Comparative & Superlative Adjectives

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Comparative and superlative adjectives are used to compare things or people.

Comparative adjectives compare two things or people.

For example comparing two people’s age:

Person 1	Age comparison	Person 2
Yayoi is	older than	Ushio.

Superlative adjectives compare more than two things or people.

For example comparing one person’s age to several other people’s ages:

Person 1	Age comparison	All other people
Yayoi is	the oldest	artist in the group.

Visit the Comparative & Superlative Adjectives concept sheet to learn more about them.

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Possessive Adjectives

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Possessive adjectives are used to indicate ownership of a noun, who it belongs to.

The possessive adjectives are:

my

your

his
her
its

our

your

their

Visit the Possessive Adjectives concept sheet to learn more about them.

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Demonstrative Adjectives

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Demonstrative adjectives are used to:

point something out
indicate the position of an object
indicate singular and plural

The demonstrative adjectives are:

this

that

these

those

Visit the Demonstrative Adjectives concept sheet to learn more about them.

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Adjectives for Advanced Users

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Titre (niveau 3)

For Advanced Users: Interrogative Adjectives

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For Advanced Users: Interrogative Adjectives

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Interrogative adjectives are used to modify a noun in information questions.

Interrogative Adjective	Used to ask about:	Example
What	unknown options unlimited number of answers	Question What brush are you looking for?
		Possible answer: Any existing brush.
Which	known options limited number of answers clear choice to make	Question: Which brush will you use?
		Possible Answer: 1 of the 5 brushes available.
Whose	ownership	Question: Whose brush is this?
		Possible answer: The owner of the brush.

Titre (niveau 3)

Exercises - Interrogative Adjectives

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Interrogative Adjectives—Exercise

Exercice

Interrogative Adjectives—Exercise

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720

Hauteur de l'exercice

720

Titre (niveau 3)

For Advanced Users: Nouns & Verbs as Adjectives

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For Advanced Users: Nouns & Verbs as Adjectives

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Nouns and verbs can also be used to describe or modify other nouns. In these situations, they act just like adjectives.

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Nouns as Adjectives

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When a noun is used to describe or modify another noun, it acts as an adjective.

The noun acting as an adjective is always placed before the noun it modifies or describes. Only the noun being modified or described can take the plural.

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Verbs as Adjectives

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Verbs in the participle form can be used to modify or describe nouns. In these situations, they act just like adjectives.

The verb acting as an adjective is always placed before the noun it modifies or describes.

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Titre (niveau 3)

Exercises - Nouns & Verbs as Adjectives

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Nouns & Verbs As Adjectives—Exercise

Exercice

Nouns & Verbs as Adjectives—Exercise

Largeur de l'exercice

720

Hauteur de l'exercice

720

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For Advanced Users: Proper Adjectives

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For Advanced Users: Proper Adjectives

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A proper adjective is the specific name used for a person, a place or a thing. Proper adjectives are based on proper nouns and also take capital letters.

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Example:	From the proper noun:	Indicates:
Yayoi is a Japanese artist.	Japan	Nationality: She is from Japan.
We’re using a Canadian recipe.	Canada	Country of origin: it is from Canada.
They bought a Victorian house.	Victoria	From the time period when Queen Victoria reigned.
He has Herculean strength.	Hercules	It required great effort and strength. A reference to Hercules in Greek mythology. (Greek → from Greece)

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For Advanced Users: Compound Adjectives

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For Advanced Users: Compound Adjectives

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Compound adjectives are a combination of 2 or more words used to describe or modify the same noun.

Hyphens (-) in compound adjectives:		Examples:
placed before a noun	✔	It is a long-term plan. It was a well-planned project.
placed after a noun	X	The plan is long term. The project was well planned.
formed with an adverb ending in -ly	X	It was an expertly planned project. The project was expertly planned.

Titre (niveau 3)

Compound Adjective Formation

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Formation	Examples
	last-minute large-scale short-hair	There are always last-minute preparations. I love large-scale sculptures. She likes short-hair brushes better.
	white-hot top-right blue-grey	Be careful: The lamp is white-hot. The paper is on the top-right shelf. He took my blue-grey marker.
	good-looking fast-drying soft-shimmering	What a good-looking portrait! Yayoi chose a fast-drying paint. It gives it a soft-shimmering effect.
	old-fashioned best-known long-awaited	Ushio uses old-fashioned canvases. He is best-known for his abstract works. I can’t wait to see his long-awaited show.
	never-ending hard-working rather-interesting	Skill improvement is a never-ending journey. They are hard-working students. Some of them have rather-interesting ideas.
	almost-completed much-needed well-known	I have a few almost-completed pieces. After the show, I’ll take a much-needed vacation. Maybe I’ll become a well-known artist.
	five-star two-month thousand-word	We went to a five-star restaurant. There was a two-month wait before getting a table. I wrote a thousand-word review.
	world-famous jet-black brand-new	They met a world-famous painter. I was surprised by his jet-black moustache. He was also wearing brand-new sunglasses.
	ground-breaking time-consuming Japanese-speaking	The installation uses ground-breaking technology. Building it was a time-consuming process. Hopefully, there was a Japanese-speaking technician to translate the instructions for us.
	water-soaked hand-made creativity-oriented	She tried the water-soaked paper method. The hand-made paper worked well. She loves creativity-oriented experiments.
	part-time cotton-candy cookie-cutter	I have a part-time job in a t-shirt printing shop. We used a lot of cotton-candy pink dye. It isn’t a cookie-cutter production: everything is handmade.

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Compound adjectives using an adverb ending in -ly do not take a hyphen.

Forms	Examples:
	completely new expertly built highly entertaining	Yayoi has a completely new studio. It is an expertly built workshop. She said it is a highly entertaining place.

Titre (niveau 3)

Exercises - Compound Adjectives

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Compound Adjectives—Exercise

Exercice

Compound Adjectives—Exercise

Largeur de l'exercice

720

Hauteur de l'exercice

720

Titre (niveau 2)