Adjectives

1. What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word which describes or modifies another one in the same sentence. We can also find an adjective phrase, which is a full sentence that works as an adjective.

Example: 1. The tall kid is his brother → El niño alto es su hermano.
2. She is cute → Ella es mona.

2. What is its position in the sentence?

Adjectives nearly always appear before what they are modifying. However, there are some exceptions:

* In sentences like “She is cute”, the adj. is located at the end of the sentence.

* With indefinite pronouns (something, someone…), it is located after them.

Example: They want someone responsible to take care of their children.
     Quieren a alguien responsable para que cuide de sus hijos.

3. Order of adjectives in a series.

1. Determiners — articles and other limiters.

2. Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting).

3. Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round).

4. Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient).

5. Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale).

6. Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, Canadian).

7. Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden).

8. Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover).

4. Degrees of an adjective.

The degrees of the adjective are three:

• Positive degree: natural state on the adjective.
• Comparative degree: to compare something or someone to other thing(s) or other people.
• One-syllable adjectives: Add -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative. If the adjective has a consonant + single vowel + consonant spelling, the final consonant must be doubled before adding the ending. Example: taller, bigger, fatter.
• Two syllables: Adjectives with two syllables can form the comparative either by adding -er or by preceeding the adjective with more.  In many cases, both forms are used, although one usage will be more common than the other. For adjectives ending in y, change the y to an i before adding the ending. Example: simpler, happier, more tangled.
• Three syllabes and more: These adjectives form the comparative by putting more before them. Example: more important.Comparative. Key words.
• Positive: Noun + verb + (not) + as + adjective (positive) + as + noun.
  Example: He is as tall as his brother → Es tan alto como su hermano.
• Comparative: Noun + verb + (more) / (less) adjective (-er) + THAN + noun.
  Example:
  She is less important than the boss → Es menos importante que el jefe.
  She is more important than the boss → Es más importante que el jefe.
  She is funnier than the boss. → Es más divertida que el jefe.
  * He is as foolish as he is large → Es tan tonto como grande.
• Superlative degree: to express the highest degree of a quality. An adjective forms this degree by following the same rules of the comparative degree, BUT the suffix is -est instead of -er and it is (the) most instead of more.
  Example: He is the nicest kid in my family.
                The most important thing during an exam is to be calm.
  

• Irregular adjectives: these are adjectives that change their form when it comes to the comparative degree.

ADJECTIVE	COMPARATIVE	SUPERLATIVE
Good	Better	Best
Bad	Worse	Worst
Little	Less	Least
Much	More	Most
Far	Farther / Further	Farthest / Furthest
*Old	Older / Elder	Oldest / Eldest

• Exceptions: There are some adjectives that don’t accept comparative or superlative forms. Among them, we can find:

Complete	Perfect (*)	Final	Adequate	Unique
Principal/ Main	Sufficient	Minor	Absolute	Universal
Ideal	Preferable	Whole	Impossible	Fatal

5. -ed vs -ing.

There’s a difference between those two endings:

-ed is used to express how you feel and -ing is used to express how something makes you feel.

♦ Resources:
  - LOIENGLISH.
- Capital Community College.
- englisch-hilfen.de
   - English club.