Transilvania University of Brasov

Faculty of Product Design and Environment

Seminar 2: The adjective

1. Classification

♦word-formation

– simple: old, warm, empty

– derived: beautiful, unhappy, black-haired, harmless

– compound: homesick, self-taught, well-meaning

♦syntactic function

– attributive (comes before a noun): wooden, total, mere

e.g. He built a wooden house. He is a mere farmer.

– predicative (comes after a verb): alive, awake, asleep, ablaze

e.g. When I walked into his room, he was awake.

– both attributive and predicative: good, tall, black

e.g. I’m reading a good novel. The novel is good.

2. Position/order

When adjectives are attributes, they are placed:

a) before the noun, from the most general (subjective) to the most
particular (objective), as in the table below:

general (subjective) particular (objective)

opinion size/weight age shape colour pattern origin material NOUN

nice huge young round blue checked English wooden

ugly heavy ancient square green striped Italian woollen

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 e.g. a short, purple, velvet dress, a precious, blue, Venetian, glass lamp, etc.

b) after the noun, as in the following examples:

e.g. court martial, somebody important, a carpet two metres long,

a man difficult to please, all the people present/concerned/involved etc.

3. Degrees of comparison

Adjectives have the following degrees of comparison:

a) positive: tall, good, interesting

b) comparative

– of superiority: taller, better, more interesting (than)

– of equality: as tall as, as good as, as interesting as

– of inferiority: not so tall as, not so good as, less

interesting than c) superlative

– relative: the tallest, the best, the most interesting

– absolute: very tall, extremely good, highly interesting

With the comparative of superiority and the relative superlative,

comparison observes the following rule:
No. of syllables Adjective Comparative Superlative

-er the … -est

1 sweet, fine, dry, big sweeter, finer, the sweetest, the finest,
drier, bigger the driest, the biggest

-er the … -est

2 (ending in: easy, narrow, clever,
easier, narrower, the easiest, the narrowest,
-y, -ow, -er, -le) simple
cleverer, simpler the cleverest, the simplest

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 more … the most …
≥2 rapid, beautiful more rapid, the most rapid,
more beautiful the most beautiful

● Irregular comparison

Positive Comparative Superlative

good better the best

bad/ill worse the worst

old older/elder the oldest/eldest

far farther/further the farthest/furthest

little less/lesser the least

much/many more the most

late later/latter the latest/last

near nearer the nearest/next

Notes:

• elder/the eldest refer to family members: my elder brother

• further means ‘additional’, ‘more’: further information

• lesser means ‘smaller’, ‘not so important’: the writer’s lesser works

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 • latter means ‘the second of two’: I like Tom and Jerry; the former is a cat, the latter
is a mouse.

• the latest means ‘the most recent’, the last means ‘final’: the latest fashion, the last
chance

• the nearest refers to distance, the next refers to order: Where is the nearest bank?
The next train is at seven.

● Special constructions with the comparative

a) comparative and comparative (din ce în ce mai, tot mai)

e.g. He is getting better and better. His answers are more and more correct.

b) the comparative … the comparative (cu cât mai... cu atât mai...) e.g.
The more we are, the merrier we’ll be.

c) the comparative (when two things/people are compared)

e.g. Mary is the prettier of the two sisters.

Grammar practice

1. Put the adjectives in parentheses in the correct order:

1. For Christmas Granny has knitted two (woolen, bright, red) gloves.

2. It was easy for Jack to spot her out because of her (pink, Dutch, plastic) skis.

3. Nina bought a set of (green, splendid, clay) pots in the bazaar.

4. Although it was quite dark, she immediately noticed the (big, oval, clean, kitchen)
table and the four (little, wooden, round) stools she's known since she was a child.

5. She loved the (bright, gold, Italian) necklace Terry had brought her.

6. The visitors admired the (late-medieval, magnificent, stone) architecture of the

monastery.

7. The two travellers followed the (coastal, long, old) road.

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8. It was very hot and the glass of (fresh, cold, grapefruit) juice that Thomas brought
was delightful.

9. One of the most precious gifts I have ever received is a (Venetian, beautiful,
ceramic) mask my best friend gave me.

10. When he saw her, she was running across the (wide, green, sparkling, grass) lawn in
her (white, long, summer, Tunisian, cotton) dress.

2. Choose the correct word or phrase from the ones underlined:

1. This food is hotter/the hottest than I can bear.

2. When the weather becomes less warmer/less warm we’ll be able to start.

3. Lena was the more/the most graceful ballet dancer I’ve ever seen.

4. I must admit that he is as/so stubborn as/like a mule.

5. The fact that Peter didn’t help us is of less/lesser significance now.

6. The business he is involved in is most and most/more and more dangerous.

7. Leopold was the more/the most talented of the two brothers.

8. He is the lazier/the laziest student in the class.

9. She was able to get farther/further information at the station.

10. Her older/elder sister is five years older/elder than you.

11. ‘The Tempest’ is Shakespeare’s latest/last play.

3. Use the correct form of the adjectives in the letter below:

Dear Sir,

We all realize that unfortunately our products have been (1) __ (reliable) lately. What is
even (2) __ (disappointing) is that we still have the highest prices on the market. But

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 being your (3) __ (old) suppliers, we would ask you to be (4) __ (patient) you proved to
be for just a little longer and we promise to do our best in order to become (5) __
(efficient) company on the market again. One reason for our (6) __ (low) sales figures
this year is our (7) __ and __ (little) competitive technology due to the equipment that
has worn out along the years.
This will be changed starting with the month of September. Once the new machines
have been installed, people will work for lower costs and (8) __ (high) wages.
We are bound to re-establish (9) __ (high) reputation in the business. It's just a
question of a few months.
Thank you for your understanding.

Faithfully yours,

Alec Newton, Vice President