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LEARNING MODULE
ENGLISH 8

ADJECTIVES
DEFINITION  FUNCTIONS  DEGREE  TYPES

Tutor, Risha Vee A.

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OVERVIE
W
Choosing which word is an adjective in a sentence
can be very confusing for some people who fail to grasp how they are used. Adjectives
can be very useful as they can turn an ordinary sentence into an extraordinary one!
When they are used correctly, they can make your conversation or your piece of writing
very interesting. In order to use adjectives effectively, you need to choose them wisely.

While adjectives keep our sentences interesting, they are also very important in
our daily lives. Adjectives help us to explain what we want. For instance, if you wanted
to buy a car, you would need to use adjectives to describe the kind of car you wanted –
you couldn’t go to the car dealer and simply ask for the car of your dreams without
explaining it. You also couldn’t ask for the specific colored ice block at the canteen
without using an adjective! Can you think of any other times when you would need to
use adjectives?

We use adjectives all the time, sometimes without even realizing it!

Adjectives are used much more often than even native speakers think. They are
useful tools for speaking English well, so it’s important to learn how to use them
correctly.

This lesson intends to teach the definition, functions, degree, and types of adjectives
within a three-hour timeframe.

OBJECTIV
ES Upon completion of this lesson:

Students will be able to define an adjective.

Students will be able to explain the functions of adjectives.
Students will be able to identify the different types of adjectives.
Students will be able to write sentences with their own adjectives.
Students will be able to appreciate the importance of adjectives in their daily lives.

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Let’s Practice!

I. Direction: An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun.

Identify and underline the adjectives in the following sentences:

1. Of the four seasons, fall is my favourite; I love the red leaves, the cool weather,
and the brisk wind.
2. My roommate, on the other hand, thinks that summer is the best season.
3. I think she is crazy.
4. Fall is better than summer. Summer is too hot and muggy to be enjoyable.
5. She ate a creamy, soft, and delicious ice cream.

II. Direction: What are the correct comparative and superlative forms for the
adjectives below?

Adjective Comparative Superlative

1. large
2. red
3. shimmery
4. fresh
5. popular

III. Direction: Put the adjectives in the correct order to make sentences.

1. Amina has __________ __________ __________ __________.

beautiful eyes big brown
2. David Beckham is a __________ __________ __________ __________.
footballer rich successful former British
3. Ulrika is a __________ __________ __________ __________ presenter.
Swedish beautiful blonde TV
4. The pop star arrived in a __________ __________ stretch limousine.
black big

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5. Salma finds the __________ __________ __________ weather depressing.

cold English wet

Adjectives
“Adjective is a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of
numerous languages and typically serving as modifier of a noun to denote a quality of
the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from
something else.”

To make it simpler, an adjective adds color and life to a sentence, and it can add
important information, but that’s not all. Adjectives have many other uses. They can tell
you the quantity (how much) and quality (how well) of things, and they can help you
compare two things. In other words, adjectives are wonderful, amazing, and fantastic!

We can use adjectives in a couple of different ways.

1. We can use an adjective at the end of a sentence to describe the subject.

The dog is fast.

The car is red.

Use “and” to connect two adjectives.

The shirt is black and green.

The house is nice and clean.

If there are more than 2 adjectives, then use commas (,) to separate them and use “and”
in between the last two adjectives.

She is funny, nice, and interesting.

The dress was long, elegant, and expensive.

2. We can use adjectives before nouns.

I bought a new phone.

We could smell the delicious cookies.

Note: Articles “a”, “an”, and “the” go before the adjective when adjectives are used
before a noun.

She bought cute a dress.

She bought a cute dress.

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3. We can use adjectives before a noun and after a “be verb” in the same sentence.

The big dog is cute.

The beautiful house is too expensive.

4. We make negative sentences by using the word “not”.

Subject + be verb + not + adjective...

The building isn't old.

The sunset was not gorgeous.

5. Sometimes we can form the opposite adjective by using a prefix. Most common
prefixes for negative adjectives are dis-, im-, in-, im-, and ir-. They mean “not”. So, we
can make negative sentences with adjectives in two ways.

I am not happy. = I am unhappy.

Here are some examples:

Positive Negative
considerate inconsiderate
polite impolite
respectful disrespectful
imaginable unimaginable

6. If we use many adjectives together in a sentence, then we should follow this order.
If one is not used in the sentence, then skip it and go to the next one.

a. Size (small, big, tall, etc.)

b. An opinion or quality (beautiful, good, strange, etc.)
c. Age or temperature (new, hot, ancient, etc.)
d. Shape (round, square, etc.)
e. Color (green, black, red, etc.)
f. Origin (German, Korean, Brazilian, etc.)
g. Material (glass, cotton, silk, etc.)

Usually, we do not use many adjectives in a row, so this is not very important. However,
if we do not follow this order, then our sentence will sound strange to native speakers.

We do not need commas in between the adjectives if they are from a different category
such as size and origin.

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I have a green beautiful glass old vase.

I have a beautiful old green glass vase.
7. Adjective clauses perform the same function as an adjective. They tell more about a
noun. We use adjective clauses when we need to tell more than an adjective can explain.

I want to go to a place that has a beautiful beach.

“That has a beautiful beach” tells more about “place”. So, it does the same job as an
adjective.

We can always just use an adjective, but an adjective clause lets us be more specific.

I want to eat some spicy food.

I want to eat some food that is so spicy that I will sweat.

Functions

Adjectives describe feelings or Adjectives give nationality or origin:

qualities:

He is a lonely man Pierre is French

They are honest people Our house is Victorian

Adjectives tell more about a thing's Adjectives tell us about age:

characteristics:

A wooden table. He's young man

The knife is sharp. My coat is very old

Adjectives tell us about size and Adjectives tell us about color:

measurement:

This is a very long film. Paul wore a red shirt.

John is a tall man. The sunset was crimson and gold.

Adjectives tell us about shape: Adjectives tell us about material/what

something is made of:

A rectangular box It was a wooden table.

A square envelope She wore a cotton dress.

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Degree

Adjectives are gradable into three form. These forms denote degree of comparison. 

Positive Form
The positive form is used in cases where there are no differences between the two
compared things or persons. To form the positive, we use the word as before and after
the positive form of the adjective. For example:
Danny is as smart as Phillip.
She is as beautiful as her older sister.

Exceptions (irregular forms)

Certain adjectives have irregular forms in the comparative and superlative degrees:

Positive Comparative Superlative

Good Better Best
Bad Worse Worst
Little Less Least
Much/many/some More Most

Comparative Form
When two objects or persons are being compared, the comparative form of the adjective
is used. The comparative adjective can be formed in two ways:
Adding –er to the positive form of the adjective.
Adding the word more before the adjective.

For example:
My essay is longer than yours.
She is more beautiful than her sister.

Superlative Form
The superlative is used to say what thing or person has the most of a particular quality
within a group or of its kind.

The superlative can be formed in two ways:

Adding –est to the Positive form of the adjective.
Adding the word most before the adjective.

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For example:
This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.
The biggest table in the room.

Types
Three main types of adjectives include: Descriptive, Quantitative, and Demonstrative.

Descriptive
Adjectives
The descriptive adjectives can be simply defined as the type
of adjectives that are used to express the size, color, or
shape of a person, a thing, an animal, or a place. They are used to provide more
information to a noun by describing or modifying it.

You should know that descriptive adjectives usually express things that are observable
through the five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, and sound).

Examples:

Fast

Pink

Muscular

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The underlined words in the sample sentences below are some examples of descriptive
adjectives.

She brushed her long brown hair.

The attractive guy fell off his black horse.
The old man asked the pretty girl for food.

Three categories of Descriptive Adjectives include: Simple, Compound, and Proper.

Simple Adjectives
Simple adjectives, as their name suggests, are the most basic kind of descriptive
adjectives. They function to express quality. Aspects such as feelings, time, sound,
quantity, taste, appearance, size, age, color, shape, and material are expressed through
simple adjectives. The following table highlights some common examples:

aggressive alert alive ancient black busy bumpy

crystal clear cold combative cool cotton crazy
dry dull dusty elderly fresh fat fancy
graceful granite green handsome happy hard harsh

Compound Adjectives
Compound adjectives are created when two words are combined to create a descriptive
adjective. The two words are typically connected with a hyphen. The following table
provides some common examples of compound adjectives:

baby-faced bow-legged broken-hearted bull-headed

left-handed life-giving long-legged long-winded
next-door pigeon-toed red-blooded self-centered
short-tempered sure-footed thin-skinned tight-fisted

Other examples:
This is an all-too-common error.
Beware of the green-eyed monster.

Proper Adjectives
Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns, and they are also capitalized. They are
often made from the names of cities, countries, or regions to describe where something

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comes from, but they can also be formed from the names of religions, brands, or even
individuals.
Some examples will make this clear:
Proper Noun Proper Adjective Example Sentence
Italy Italian I love Italian food.
Canon Canon I’m really excited to use my new Canon camera.
Shakespeare Shakespearean He writes in an almost Shakespearean style.
We use proper adjectives to describe something efficiently, directly, and explicitly. We
could manage to avoid them, but it would result in clunky, awkward sentences.
If we want to express the same meaning as the example sentences from the table above,
we could write:

I love food that comes from Italy.

I’m really excited to use my new camera from the Canon brand.
He writes almost in the style of the writer Shakespeare.

These sentences are lengthy, awkward, and choppy to read. Using the proper adjectives
Italian, Chinese, Christian, Shakespearean, and Canon makes our meaning come across
much more smoothly.

Quantitative
Adjective A word that modifies a noun by indicating a
number/quantity is called a quantitative adjective. It can
be either cardinal or ordinal number. For example:

The forest has 2120 animals.

Ron has many pens in his large bag.
John completed the whole task.
I drank half of my mango drink.
Few actresses are down to earth.
Most people are poor in this world.
He is doing it for 38th times now.
There are 47 boys and 52 girls on this tour.

Demonstrat
ive
The Demonstrative Pronouns can also be used as
Adjectives demonstrative adjectives. When used as an adjective, they

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come just before a noun to express which one specifically. Demonstrative adjectives are:
This and That (singular) and These and Those (plural).
Examples of demonstrative adjectives used in a sentence:

This soup is delicious.

That dress looks good on you.
These puppies are very playful.
Those pants are not very comfortable.
This time I won’t fail you.
I can’t forget that incident.
These pancakes are tasty.
I want those gorgeous marbles.
POST-TEST

I. Answer the following questions.

What is an adjective?

What are the functions of adjectives? Explain at least three.

II. Select and encircle the letter of a word or phrase that would correctly complete
the sentence. (2pts. each)

1. Andrea had a ________ in her hair yesterday.

A. nice yellow bow
B. yellow nice bow
C. bow nice yellow

2. She lost a ________.

A. small white cat
B. cat small white
C. white small cat

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3. I bought ________ oranges.

A. great some big
B. big great some
C. some great big

4. We met ________ people at the conference.

A. very smart two
B. two very smart
C. very two smart

5. The clown was wearing a ________ hat.

A. big green-yellow
B. yellow and green big
C. big green and yellow

6. The cookies that you ________.

A. baked smell delicious
B. delicious smell baked
C. smell delicious baked

7. Is it _____________?
A. cold getting outside
B. getting cold outside
C. getting outside cold

8. The course you are ________.

A. taking sounds interesting
B. sounds interesting taking
C. interesting sounds taking

9. My uncle wore a ________ to the wedding.

A. silk blue tie
B. tie blue silk
C. blue silk tie

10. Have you met that _____ next door?

A. cute boy new
B. cute new boy
C. new boy cute

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III. Write five sentences correctly using adjectives separated by commas. (2pts.
each)
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

IV. Identify the type of adjective used in each sentence. Choose from the box below
and write your answer on the space provided before each number.

Comparative Demonstrative Simple

Descriptive Positive Proper
Quantitative Compound Superlative

___________1. Toby loves Spanish food.

___________2. Those shoes are very expensive.
___________3. Miranda is a kind-hearted girl.
___________4. Elizabeth has four kittens.
___________5. Isabella is the best singer in her class.
___________6. Lexi dreamed of a Hawaiian getaway.
___________7. She is as cute as her sister.
___________8. Yuri can eat a whole box of pizza.
___________9. Felix is a busy person.
___________10. These mangoes are rotting
___________11. Diana is a part-time worker.
___________12. Emmanuel is a cricketer.
___________13. A rose is more beautiful than a daisy.
___________14. Little knowledge is dangerous.

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___________15. Anton is taller than me.

___________16. Elsa is as cheerful as Anna.
___________17. He is a well-known writer.
___________18. Let’s go to a Japanese restaurant.
___________19. Give me that blue water bottle.
___________20. None of the students has done homework today.

FEEDBACK and EVALUATION

PRE-TEST

I. II.
1. four, favorite, red, cool, brisk. 1. larger largest
2. best 2. redder reddest
3. crazy 3. more shimmery most shimmery
4. better, hot, muggy, enjoyable 4. fresher freshest
5. creamy, soft, delicious 5. more popular most popular

III.
1. beautiful big brown eyes
2. rich successful former British footballer
3. beautiful blonde Swedish TV presenter
4. big black
5. cold wet English

POST-TEST

II.
1. A.) nice yellow bow
2. A.) small white cat
3. C.) some great big
4. B.) two very smart
5. C.) big green and yellow
6. A.) baked smell delicious
7. B.) getting cold outside
8. A.) taking sounds interesting
9. C.) blue silk tie
10. B.) cute new boy

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IV. 10. Demonstrative

11. Compound
1. Proper 12. Descriptive
2. Demonstrative 13. Comparative
3. Compound 14. Quantitative
4. Quantitative 15. Comparative
5. Superlative 16. Positive
6. Proper 17. Compound
7. Positive 18. Proper
8. Quantitative 19. Demonstrative
9. Simple 20. Quantitative

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