THE CONCEPTS OF

ADJECTIVES
NUR RAHMIANI
Subject Matters
a.Comparative and superlative adjectives
b.Adjectives position
c.Noun positioning as adjectives
d.Participial Adjective
What is an adjective?
Adjective
It refers to a word that describes a noun (Oxford Learner's Pocket Dictionary). For
example: A great experience
It represents a characteristic or a feature of a noun.
For example: She has long black hair.
It clarifies an object's condition.
For example: Some of the glasses are cracked.
Examples:
Beautiful, good, poor, lazy, harmful, clever, etc.
The adjective in nouns:
a beautiful house, a good idea, poor conditions, some harmful materials, two clever
students, etc.
COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE
ADJECTIVES
Comparative adjectives
The adjective supports the condition of nouns in comparing two things. It uses suffix (akhiran) –
er or prefix (awalan) more. Usually, "-er" is for the word that has at least 2 syllables. Meanwhile,
"more" is for the word that has more than 2 syllables.
Examples:
• Examples:
1. Cool (one syllable) > cooler
1. More beautiful
2. Hap-py (two syllable) > happier
2. More effective
3. Lit-tle (two syllables > littler or less
3. More efficient
4. Mad (one syllables) > madder 4. More powerful
5. Ea-sy (two syllables) > easier 5. More energic
Superlative adjectives
The adjective supports the condition of nouns in comparing more than two things. The position
is the super than two things or more. It uses suffix (akhiran) –est or prefix (awalan) most.
Usually, -est is for the word that has at least 2 syllables. Meanwhile, the "most" is for the word
that has more than 2 syllables.

Examples: • Examples:
1.Cool (one syllable) > coolest 1. Most beautiful
2.Hap-py (two syllable) > happiest 2. Most effective
3.Lit-tle (two syllables) > littlest
4.Mad (one syllables) > maddest 3. Most efficient
5.Ea-sy (two syllables) > easiest 4. Most powerful
5. Most energic
ADJECTIVE POSITIONS
Adjective can occur in three positions
1. Before a noun (most common)
Examples:

A long story
The tallest man
A good idea
A lot of foods
2. After certain verbs
Most common after to be (is/am/are) or (was/were)
o The discussion is interesting.
o I knew you were tired.
After Verbs in common
o Meg looks asleep.
o The room feels small.
o The voice sounds loud.
3. After Certain Nouns
Units of Measurements > nouns
1. They have a pool twelve feet deep.
2. The quake caused a crack five inches wide.
3. The building in the city center is one hundred meters high
 READ AND EXPLORE THESE EXAMPLES
• A writer needs a verb to make a complete
sentence.
• A good student finished the take-home from his
lecturer on time.
• I have a new assistant. The table in my room is
for her.
Find the adjective in these sentences.
PRACTICE YOUR PRONUNCIATION BY READING
THE FOLLOWING TABLE
ADDITIONAL EXPLANATIONS ABOUT
ADJECTIVES
Please be careful if you found some
words in the following table
-ist
Journalist, revisionist,
-ible/able
Impossible, considerable
-ic
All words are
Basic, academic adjectives
-ive
Active, conservative
-less
Jobless, helpless
Noun positioning as adjective
The stone wall > Dinding yang terbuat dari batu
The train station > Stasiun yang difungsikan untuk kereta

Dua-duanya adalah kata benda. Namun, kata benda

pertama kedudukannya sebagai kata sifat yang
menerangkan kata benda selanjutnya.
Participial Adjectives
Creeping bugs > serangga yang merayap
Dancing butterflies > kupu-kupu yang menari
Blooming flowers > bunga-buga yang mekar
Shining sun > matahari yang bersinar
The cracked glass > gelas yang retak
The annoyed boy > anak laki-laki yang kesal
The rushed man > pria yang terburu-buru
"-ed" and "–ing" in words before nouns can be used as the suffix for participial adjectives. They
position to describe the condition of nouns.