Adjectives

Participle adjectives

Certain participles, among them 'bored' and 'boring', function as adjectives. Their behaviour differs somewhat from that of ordinary adjectives. The past participle, ending in -ed, describes how a person feels:

• I was really bored during the flight (NOT: I was really boring during the flight).
• She's interested in history (NOT: She's really interesting in history).
• Daniel's frightened of spiders (NOT: Daniel's frightening of spiders).

The present participle, ending in -ing, refers to the person, thing or situation responsible for that feeling:

• It was such a long, boring flight (so I was bored).
• I read a really interesting book about history (so I was interested).
• Many people find spiders frightening (so they're frightened when they see spiders).

The distinction matters. "I'm boring" and "I'm bored" say very different things: the first means that I cause boredom in others. The examples below show one person producing a feeling in another:

• I was talking to such a boring guy at the party. He talked about himself for an hour!
• She's a really interesting woman. She's lived all over the world and speaks five languages.
• My maths teacher at school was really frightening! He was always shouting at the students.

Participle adjectives form the comparative with 'more' rather than -er, and the superlative with 'most' rather than -est:

• I was more frightened of dogs than spiders when I was a child.
• That book is more boring than this one.
• I think Dr Ferrand's lesson was more interesting than Dr Kowalski's.

• For 24 hours on the flight to Australia, I was the most bored I've ever been.
• I think this is the most interesting talk we've heard today.
• It was the most frightening film that he'd ever seen.

Common -ed and -ing adjectives

Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns. They may stand before a noun or after a linking verb.

Before the noun:

• He dropped the hot plate.
• I have a black cat.
• The small boy ran down the street.
• What a beautiful view!

After a linking verb:

• He seems tired.
• The view is beautiful.
• The weather became cold.
• My cat is black.

Linking verbs such as 'be', 'become' and 'seem' express no action. They connect the subject to an adjective, noun or phrase that tells us more about that subject.

We make the comparative and superlative of adjectives by adding either '-er / -est' or using 'more / most'.

• She is tall.
• She is taller than her sister.
• She is the tallest person in the class.

Adverbs

Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. They are frequently, though not invariably, formed by adding '-ly' to the adjective.

• I walked slowly ('slowly' tells us about the verb 'walk').
• They worked quickly.

Adverbs form their comparative and superlative with 'more' and 'most'.

• She sang loudly.
• She sang more loudly than her friend.
• She sang most loudly in the class.

Adverb or adjective?

An adjective, not an adverb, follows a linking verb. The difficulty is that several verbs serve both as ordinary verbs and as linking verbs. A reliable test is to substitute the corresponding form of 'be'. If the sentence still makes sense, the verb is functioning as a linking verb and requires an adjective.

• He smells the hot soup carefully. (Here we are talking about the action of smelling and using 'smell' as a normal verb, so we need an adverb.)
• The soup smells good. (Here we are using 'smell' as a linking verb, to describe the soup. We can replace 'smells' with 'is' and the sentence still makes sense. So, we need an adjective.)
• He looked tiredly at the dirty kitchen. (Here we are talking about the action of looking and using 'look' as a normal verb, so we use an adverb to describe the way of looking.)
• You look beautiful. (Here we are using 'look' as a linking verb, to give more information about the person. We can replace 'look' with 'are' and the sentence still makes sense. So we need an adjective.)

Irregular forms

An adverb is normally formed by adding '-ly' to the adjective.

• Careful (adjective): He is always careful.
• Carefully (adverb): She put the glasses down carefully.

• Quiet (adjective): This is a quiet room.
• Quietly (adverb): She spoke quietly.

• Bad (adjective): This coffee is bad!
• Badly (adverb): He sings badly!

An adjective ending in 'y' changes that 'y' to 'i' before '-ly'. An adjective ending in 'le' drops the 'e' and adds 'y'.

• Happy (adjective): She looks very happy.
• Happily (adverb): He sang happily.

• Gentle (adjective): It's a gentle cat.
• Gently (adverb): He stroked the cat gently.

There are, however, exceptions.

• Fast (adjective): That's a fast car.
• Fast (adverb): She walks fast.

• Early (adjective): She was early for the meeting.
• Early (adverb): He arrived early.

• Late (adjective): He is always late!
• Late (adverb): He got up late this morning ('lately' is also an adverb but means 'recently').

• Good (adjective): That is a good book.
• Well (adverb): She did well on the exam ('well' can also be an adjective; see below).

• Hard (adjective): Maths is hard!
• Hard (adverb): She tried hard ('hardly' is also an adverb, but means 'almost none'; see below).

A further group of adjectives ends in '-ly' and has no adverb form at all. The phrase 'in a ... way' takes its place. These adjectives are friendly, lovely, lonely, lively and silly.

• He talked to me in a friendly way.

'Good' and 'well'

'Well' presents a difficulty, since it serves both as the adverb corresponding to 'good' and as an adjective meaning 'in good health'.

• My mother is well ('well' is an adjective that means 'healthy and fine').
• He did the work well ('well' is an adverb meaning 'in a good way').

'Good' itself, of course, is an adjective.

• This meal is good!
• He can speak good German.

'Hard' and 'hardly'

'Hard' functions as both adjective and adverb.

• The table is hard (= adjective, meaning 'not soft' or 'difficult').
• She works hard (= adverb, meaning 'with a lot of effort').

'Hardly' is likewise an adverb, but it means 'almost nothing' or 'almost none'.

• She hardly works (= she does almost no work).
• I have hardly any money (= I have almost no money).

'Late' and 'lately'

'Late' serves as both adjective and adverb. There is also the adverb 'lately', meaning 'recently'.

• I'm late (= adjective, meaning 'not on time').
• He came late (= adverb, meaning 'not on time').
• I've been working a lot lately (= an adverb meaning 'recently').

Comparative and superlative adjectives

The comparative form of an adjective ('bigger', 'more expensive') and the superlative ('biggest', 'most expensive') both depend on the number of syllables the adjective contains.

Adjectives with one syllable

A one-syllable adjective normally takes '-er' in the comparative and '-est' in the superlative.

• clean → cleaner / cleanest
• cold → colder / coldest
• small → smaller / smallest
• young → younger / youngest
• tall → taller / tallest

• wet → wetter / wettest
• big → bigger / biggest
• hot → hotter / hottest
• thin → thinner / thinnest

An adjective ending in 'y' usually changes that letter to 'i'.

• dry → drier / driest

An adjective ending in 'e' takes only 'r', with no second 'e'.

• nice → nicer / nicest
• large → larger / largest

'More' and 'most' remain acceptable even with one-syllable adjectives. 'More wet' and 'most tall' are perfectly grammatical.

A few one-syllable adjectives require 'more' or 'most' and cannot take '-er' or '-est' at all.

• fun → more fun / most fun (NOT funner / funnest)
• real → more real / most real (NOT realer / realest)
• right → more right / most right (NOT righter / rightest)
• wrong → more wrong / most wrong (NOT wronger / wrongest)

Adjectives with two syllables

Two-syllable adjectives generally take 'more' and 'most'.

• careful → more careful / most careful
• normal → more normal / most normal

Some two-syllable adjectives do accept '-er' and '-est', though 'more' and 'most' remain equally correct.

• clever → cleverer / cleverest
• simple → simpler / simplest
• narrow → narrower / narrowest
• quiet → quieter / quietest

Two-syllable adjectives ending in 'y' normally accept '-er' and '-est', with the 'y' changing to 'i'. Here too 'more' and 'most' are equally correct.

• dirty → dirtier / dirtiest
• pretty → prettier / prettiest
• happy → happier / happiest
• ugly → uglier / ugliest

Adjectives with more than two syllables

Adjectives of more than two syllables form the comparative with 'more' and the superlative with 'most', and admit no alternative.

• beautiful → more beautiful / most beautiful
• intelligent → more intelligent / most intelligent
• interesting → more interesting / most interesting
• expensive → more expensive / most expensive

Irregular adjectives

A small number of adjectives are irregular, and their forms have to be learned.

• good → better → best
• bad → worse → worst
• far → further → furthest
• little → less → least
• much → more → most