2.

ADJECTIVES

Dr. Ho Ngoc Trung

hongoctrung74@gmail.com
0913.306.484
 I. DEFINITION

An adjective gives information about quality,

size, age, temperature, shape, colour, origin.

intelligent, small, old, hot, square, red,

Vietnamese
 II. COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
- with past participle: a self-employed writer
a candle-lit party
a tree-lined road
- with present participle:
long-suffering parents
a long-playing record
a time-consuming hobby
- with noun and adjective:
class-conscious, vacuum-sealed, tax-free, car-sick,
water- proof
- with well and badly: -behaved, -built, -paid
 III. COMPOUND ADJECTIVES
- adjective phrases:

age: a twenty-year-old girl

(a girl who is twenty years old)
area/volume: a four-litre can
duration: a two-hour lecture
length/depth: a three-metre rope
price: a $100 dress
weight: a five-kilo bag of flour
ordinal number: a second-hand car
 IV. PARTICIPLES AS ADJECTIVES
Verb + ed/ing
interested / interesting
The book is interesting. I’m interested in reading it.
shocked /shocking
The sex scenes in the book were considered very shocking at the time when it was
published.
We were shocked by the sex scenes
surprised /surprising
bored / boring
amused / amusing
amazed / amazing
tired / tiring
embarrassed / embarrassing
terrified / terrifying
excited / exciting
moved / moving (a moving sight)
When she told me about her daughter's death, I was too moved even to speak.
 V. NOUNS AS ADJECTIVES
+ nouns of materials and time
gold a gold watch/medal
silk  a silk shirt
cotton  cotton dress
Tuesday night
Sunday newspaper
COMPARE:
gold – golden (chance)
silk – silky (hair)
stone – stony (look): showing no sympathy or kindness
glass – glassy (sea /lake): smooth and shiny
silver – silvery (The grass was silvery with frost): like silver (colour)
leather – leathery (beef)
wood – wooden (fence): made of wood
+ classification:
baby wear
History book
 VI. ADJECTIVE ORDER
“OpSACOMP”
Opinion -  beautiful, wonderful, terrible…
Size - big, small, long, short, tall…
Age - old, young, old, new…
Color -  orange, yellow, light blue, dark brown ….
Origin –Japanese,American, British,Vietnamese…
Material – stone, plastic, leather, steel, silk…
Purpose –
a /leather/ handbag/ black
• Shopping bag
• Plastic
• Hand-made
• Chinese
• Black
• Very cheap
• Quite big
A very cheap quite big black hand-made Chinese
plastic shopping bag
• a long sharp knife
• a small round bath
• an old plastic bucket
• blue velvet curtains
• an elegant French clock
 VII. COMPARISON

• There are three degrees of comparison:

Positive  Comparative  Superlative

dark darker darkest
tall taller tallest
useful more useful most useful
 COMPARATIVE
• short adjs: one-syllable adjs
short, tall, wide, nice

• adjs ending in –y: happy, lucky, easy, busy, dirty

• long adjs: adjs of two or more syllables:

ancient, stupid, beautiful, comfortable
Comparative: short adj + er (than)
adj-y : y i + er (than)
long adj: more + long adj (than)

Today is hotter than yesterday.

She is a little more beautiful than my wife (is).
She is a little/rather/much happier than she was/she used to be.

Equality: as adj as
not as/so + adj + as
She is as tall as me/I am.
Your coffee is not as / so good as the coffee my mother makes.
half/twice/three times + as adj as

She is as tall as me/I am

This table is twice as long as that one.
I wish I were half as beautiful as you.
 SUPERLATIVE

the short adj + est

the adj (-y  i + est)
the most + long adj

She is the tallest in the class.

He is the happiest of us.
She is the most beautiful in the class.
Adjectives with two comparative / superlative
forms:
• old: older/elder brother/sister
oldest/eldest sister/brother
• far: farther - farthest
further - furthest
He is farther/further from school than me.
You need further study on this subject matter.
• late: later - latest
latter - last
He’s later than me/ He is the latest in the class.
His latest novel is best-selling.
the former - the latter
I hate both cats and dogs. The former are dirty, and the latter are noisy.
• little: lesser / less – least
A lesser man than Churchill might have given up.
She complains at the least thing.
Irregular comparative forms:

• good – better – best

• well (adj/adv) – better – best
He can sing well.  He can sing better than me.
• bad – worse – worst
• badly – worse – worst
He is my worst friend.
• much / many – more – most
She has more books than I do.
 COMPARISON OF COMPOUND ADJECTIVES

good-looking – better-looking – best-looking

She is better-looking than my wife.

well-off – better-off – best-off

He’s better-off than his father.
He’s the best-off in his family.

long-legged – more long-legged – most long-legged

This girl is more long-legged than that one.
THE END