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SOME EASY ADJECTIVES

 

The adjectives marked with an asterisk, in the list below, have the positive, comparative and superlative forms as in the following examples:

 

able                     abler                 ablest

airy                     airier                 airiest

bare                    barer                barest

base                    baser                basest

bold                     bolder               boldest

 

 

able*                              acid

aged                              airy*

anal                               arid

ashy*                             avid

baby                              bald*

bare*                             bent

best                               blue*

bold*                              bony*     bonier   boniest

bulk                               busy*

calm*                             chic

cold*                              cool*

cute*                             daft*

damn                             damp*

dank*                             dark*

dead*                             deaf*

dear*                             deep*

deft*                              dour

dozy*                             drab**

dual                               dull*

dumb*                            edgy*

epic                               even

evil                                fair*

fast*                              fine*

firm*                              flat*

fond*                             foul

free*                              full*

gamy* gamier gamiest    glad*

glib*                               glum*

gory*                             grim**

hale*                              hard*

hazy*                             idle*

inky*                              July

June                               kind*

lacy*                              lame*

lank*                              last

late*                              lazy*

lean*                              left

lewd*                             lone

long*                              lost

loud*                              lush

male                              mass

mild*                              near*

neat*                             nice*

numb                             oily*       oilier     oiliest

open                              oral

oval                               pale*

peak                              poor*

posh*                             puny

pure*                             racy*

rash*                             real

rear                               rosy*

safe*                             side

slow*                             smug*

sole                                sore*

spry sprier  spryest         sure*

tall*                               tame*

 

tart*                               taut*

tidy*                              tiny*

trim**                            true*

ugly*                              warm*

weak*                            wiry*

wise*                             work

worn                              zero

zoom                             

 

ADJECTIVES THAT LOOK LIKE ADVERBS

 

beastly                bubbly               chilly    

costly                  crumbly            daily    

friendly                likely                 lively    

lonely                  saintly               silly
ugly                     hourly               lively

lonely                  lordly                lovely

miserly                niggardly           nightly  

pimply                 sickly                silly

ugly                     unholy               unlikely

weekly                wobbly              woolly

 

She is such a happy and bubbly character.

It was a chilly stare that the general gave me.

That was a costly mistake I never want to     repeat.

God give us our daily bread.

Friendly sales people succeed in their business.

 

Note:

 

You will need to use the following adverbs with adjectives of two and more syllables to form the comparative and superlative forms:-

 

 

good                    better                best

bad                     worse                worst

far                       further               furthest

little                     less                  least

much / many        more                 most

 

ADJECTIVES OF TWO OR MORE SYLLABLES:-

 

amazing                     astonishing           beautiful

boring                        exciting                  expensive

famous                      interesting             passionate

tedious                      terrifying                thankful

unusual                     vital                        wonderful

 

ADJECTIVES THAT HAVE NO COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS:

 

complete                   chief                       endless

eternal                       final                        ideal       

main                           ultimate                  universal

unique      

 

EXERCISE:

 

Complete the following adjectival phrases:

 

black and bl . . .                                  bold and beauti . . .

calm and coll . . .                                 cold and win . . .

dour and gl . . .                                   fair and fo . . .

fine and dan . . .                                  first and fore . . .

frail and ag . . .                                    free and ea . . .

full and fas . . .                                    grim and go . . .

hale and hear . . .                                idle and do . . .

kind and wis . . .                                 lean and me . . .

lost and lon . . .                                   neat and ti . . .

pale and ash . . .                                 prim and pro . . .

safe and sou . . .                      short and swe . . .

sick and tir . . .                         sore and tir . . .

                                                             

 

ADJECTIVES THAT LOOK LIKE             PRONOUNS

Some adjectives look almost like possessive pronouns.  While pronouns stand on their own, adjectives must modify  nouns or pronouns.  

Possessive Adjectives & Possessive Pronouns

 

Possessive Pronoun               Possessive Adjective

 

mine                                                        my

yours                                                      your

his / hers / its                                        his / her / its

ours                                                        our

theirs                                                      their

 

This bat is mine.                                  This is my bat.                                     

This packet is yours.                           This is your packet.

That house is his.                                That is his house.

The camera is hers.                             This is her camera.

The opportunity is ours.                    It is our opportunity.

Give them that which

is theirs.                                                We loved their home.

Demonstrative Adjectives

 

Demonstrative Pronouns       Demonstrative Adjectives

                               

This is your chance.                            This chance will not come again.

That is the problem.                             She solved that problem.

These are our horses.                          These horses need to be stabled.

Give me six of those.                            Those bats are what I bought.

Interrogative Adjectives

 

Interrogative Pronouns          Interrogative Adjectives

 

Which are my books?                         Which books are mine?

What are you sewing?                        Which dress are you sewing?

Indefinite Adjectives

 

Indefinite Pronouns                Indefinite  Adjectives

 

Many were the cats I saw.                  Many cats were seen.

Any will do.                                           Any hat is better than no hat.

Few were the bargains.                        Few bargains were on offer

All are welcome.                   All friends are welcome.

 

Remember the biblical:

 

Many are called but few are chosen.

 

ADJECTIVAL PHRASES FROM VERBS:

 

bombed villages                                                    bonded stock

burned fields                                                         carded lace

cured patients                                                      dropped catches

drugged animal                                                     failed expedition

feared enemy                                                        freed hostage

heated argument                                                   linked accounts

listed shares                                                         loaned books

loved possessions                                                                marked man

noted pianist                                                         packed sandwiches

parked cars                                                           planned meeting

rested horses                                                        stifled cry

tended flock                                                           tested solution

walled gardens                                                     wanted person

warmed food                                                         yoked oxen           

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

ADJECTIVES IN USE

 

1. RIDING WITH HANNIBAL

 

It was such a merry time. The brown squirrels in the dark trees at the sides of the winding road and a black crow passing overhead must have been surprised at the peals of loud laughter. The oxen too twitched back their stolid ears to listen. The merriment was coming from the men who were clearing up the crude log barn. Another group outside was looking up at the bleak sky, wetting their fingers and testing the icy wind. In the meanwhile, the yoking of the oxen went on.

 

Hannibal the little bear clambered into the sleigh by himself and sat among the bright rugs watching everyone with a funny look of pride in his face. Then Sally joined him and in half the usual time they were on the road covered with deep snow.

 

The world seemed beautiful as Sally and Hannibal made their way forward towards the distant house. The road was soft and white as the breasts of pigeons. Here and there a birch was doubled almost into an arch and the thickets were mounded whitenesses.

 

Sally and Hannibal made slow haste through the snow. There was no need to hurry. In any event she hadn’t a care in the world. Soon enough they would be home. Meanwhile she and the little bear slid through the snow on their sleigh. They went up to the brow of the snow-covered hill, round a clump of leafless trees, over the frozen river, across the wide clearing, under the overhanging rocks and finally into the yard of the house.

 

Hannibal had enjoyed the ride so much that he would not get off the sleigh. Sally pulled him and coaxed him but he refused to budge. There she would have had to leave him when he suddenly changed his mind and came into the house with her.

 

Adapted from: Away Goes Sally by Elizabeth Coatsworth.

 

2. THE SPECKLED BAND

 

It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a dark lantern with the shutters half open, throwing a brilliant beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this table, on a wooden chair, sat Dr Roylott, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which he had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upwards, and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful rigid stare at the corner of the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar band, with brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head.

 

‘The band! the speckled band! whispered Holmes.

 

I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat diamond shaped-head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.

 

Adapted from The Adventures of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Cathay Books. London . 1983

 

 

 

 

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Last modified: October 13, 2007