Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes a noun. Adjectives can be colors, sizes or any other kinds of descriptive words.

Here are some examples:

green
big
old
honest
busy

We use them with nouns like this:

a green shirt
the shirt is green

a big tent
the tent is big

an old man
the man is old

an honest child
the child is honest

a busy street
the street is busy

 

Adjectives Ending in -ED or -ING (Participle Adjectives)

Some adjectives end in -ED or -ING. This does not refer to the past or present tense - adjectives do not take tenses like verbs do. These words are splled this way because they are formed from verbs.

Some examples are:

bored/boring
excited/exciting
frightened/frightening
amused/amusing

In each case, the -ED forms describe a feeling and the -ING form describes the cause of the feeling.

I felt frightened
The horror movie was frightening.

The frightened boy hid under the bed.
The frightening sound continued through the night.

Some other adjectives are formed from the past participles of verbs, such as broken.

a broken window

In this famous saying, the word unexamined becomes an adjective:

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

 

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

An adjective can have a comparative form, where we add -er or precede it with the word more:

bigger
more comfortable

An adjective can have a superlative form, where we add -est or precede it with the word most:

biggest
most comfortable

 

Adjective Phrases

An adjective phrase is a phrase which acts as an adjective. It begins with a relative pronoun, such as who, which or that. Observe how these work:

a big car
a car that is big
a car that uses too much petrol