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Adjectives

Rule 1:

Some adjectives are never used in comparative and superlative degrees.

Universal, unique, perfect, complete, supreme, absolute, chief, ideal, entire, eternal, excellent, etc.

e.g.

Gandhi ji was the most supreme leader. (wrong)

Gandhi ji was a supreme leader. (correct)

Her chiefest aim is to become independent in life. (wrong)

Her chief aim is to become independent in life. (correct)

Rule 2:

Some adjectives use ‘to’ instead of ‘than’ in the case of comparative degree.

Prefer, superior, senior, junior, elder, inferior, prior, etc.

e.g.

He is junior to me.

This shirt is inferior to the one you purchased last month.

Rule 3:

In the case of comparison, if the word ‘time’ is used, the comparative degree of the adjective is not used; instead, the positive degree is used in that time.

Note the difference in the following sentences-

Onion is costlier than potato. (comparative degree)

Onion is four times as costly as potato. (positive degree)

Mala is two times as intelligent as Rama.

Rule 4:

‘more’ is used before the adjective of comparative degree when two different adjectives or quality of the same noun and pronoun are compared.

e.g.

Priya is  more stronger than clever. (Here ‘stronger’ and ‘clever’ both are about the same noun Priya and a comparison between stronger and clever is being made. Therefore, ‘more’ is used here)

Rule 5:

The degree of adjectives will be the same when two different adjectives qualify the same noun or pronoun.

e.g.

Competitive examinations are tougher and more time consuming.

Rohan is the smartest and the most intelligent boy in the class.

Rule 6:

When ‘both’ and ‘all’ are used as adjectives for countable nouns, these words are followed by ‘the’. We use ‘both the’, ‘all the’ in the sentence. Possessive words such as my, our, his, her, etc. are also put after ‘both’ and ‘all’.

e.g.

Both the brothers are coming today.

All the children are happy.

All my money was stolen.

Both my friends are engineers.

Note:  In the case of ‘whole’ as an adjective, ‘the’ is put before it.

e.g. The whole world is concerned with the coronavirus.

Rule 7:

If a sentence is expressed in positive as well as comparative degree, both ‘as’ and ‘than’ are used.

e.g. Raya is as tall as or even taller than her sister.

The words in Italic are expressed in positive degree while the underlined words are expressed in the comparative degree.

Rule 8:

Some verbs are used as connecting words and they do not denote any action; hence no adverb is used for them. In such cases, adjectives are used. Those verbs are-

Seem, look, grow, taste, keep, make, sound, turn, become, get, etc.

e.g.

Orange tastes sour. (Here, ‘taste’ does not denote any action, and therefore ‘sour’ is used instead of ‘sourly’)

You look cheerful.

Rabina seems upset.

Rule 9:

‘kind’, ‘sort’, ‘type’ are singular nouns, and hence ‘this’ and ‘that’ and singular verbs are used.

e.g.

I do not expect this kind of jokes from you.

This sort of dedication we want from an aspirant.

This type of arguments is not tolerated in school.

Rule 10:

The order or rank in a series (ordinal number) is always put before the numeric adjective.

e.g.

The last thirty minutes of the movie was thrilling. 

I could only solve the first five sums in the examination.

Rule 11:

If any preposition is required to be placed after a noun, then an adjective is put after the noun first, and then comes the preposition.

e.g.

He is a man capable of doing this work. (Noun- ‘man’, adjective- ‘capable’, preposition- ‘of’)

Rule 12:

One must be careful in using prepositions when two or more adjectives demand different prepositions.

e.g.

He is taller and stronger than his friend. (Here only ‘than’ is used as both ‘taller’ and ‘stronger’ demand ‘than’)

This dress is inferior to and cheaper than the previous one. (Here ‘to’ and ‘than’ have been used with the adjectives ‘inferior’ and ‘cheaper’ respectively as both the adjectives require different prepositions)

Rule 13:

Some adjectives are never placed before a noun or pronoun.

Adjectives- afraid, sorry, alike, alone, asleep, aware, unable, glad, etc.

e.g.

I am afraid of height.

She is aware of her surroundings.

Rule 14:

The order followed for using adjectives to describe a noun is as follows-

1. Size

2. Shape

3. Age

4. Colour

5. Nationality

6. Material

7. Noun/pronoun

e.g. 

A big square red paper box arrived in the morning.

My twenty year old Japanese friend is coming next month.

Rule 15:

Use of different adjectives and their meaning-

1. Little – used for quantity; degree of little is – little, less, least

                  # Little is also used in a negative sense which means hardly any.

                  # The little – used in the sense ‘not much but all’.

                           e.g. I gave the little money I had to the poor.

                  # A little– used in the sense ‘some’.

                           e.g. Please give me a little water.

2. Few – used for numbers; degree of few is- few, fewer, fewest

                # In a negative sense, few means hardly anything or anyone.

                #  The few- used in the sense ‘not many but all’

                           e.g. The few students are giving examination today.

                #  A few - used in the sense ‘some’

                          e.g. A few chapters are left to be done.

Note: ‘Small’ is used for the words ‘quantity’ and ‘numbers’ instead of ‘little’ and ‘few’.

3. Some- used in case of interrogative request and in the affirmative sense.

Somewhat – used in adverbial sense.

e.g.

Could you please give me some water?

I am somewhat confused.

4. Any - used in case of interrogative and in a negative sense.

Not any is not a correct expression. 

e.g. I did not get any call from you.

Rule 16:

Please take a note on the difference between the following words, we often get confused with the use of them.

1. Other vs. Another

        Other – used to denote the second of the two items/persons.

                    e.g. I will choose the other plan.

        Another – used to denote the addition.

                    e.g. I will have another cup of coffee.

2. Elder vs. Older

         Elder, eldest – used to denote kinship and age.

                    e.g. Rama is elder to Ram.

        Older, oldest – used to denote both age and time; not used for blood relations.

                    e.g. My wife is older than my brother.

3. Farther vs. Further

        Farther – distance

                    e.g. My sister’s house is farther from my office than my house.

        Further – additionally

                    e.g. Avoid further mistake.

4. Latter, Later, Latest

        Latter – used to denote the last one.

                    e.g. I read two books and I liked the latter one.

        Later – relates to time and used as the opposite of ‘earlier’

                    e.g. Later she apologized to her friend.

        Latest – recent

                    e.g. The latest model of the car is attractive.

Rule 17:

The following words are put immediately before the words that they stress on.

Not only, only, but also, even, either, neither, both, etc.

e.g.

She is not only humble but also honest.

Rohan is either playing games or watching movies.

Exercise:  Spot the error

1. Rahul was/ senior than Rohit/ in school. / No error  (refer to Rule 2)               

2. This is the most/ unique presentation /we have ever seen /in the conference. / No error  (refer to Rule 1)               

3. How did you like/the thirty last minutes/ of the film? / No error  (refer to Rule 10)

4. My older brother/ is going to /London for his/ higher studies. / No error  

(refer to Rule 16-2)

5. Rohit looks happily/ after the declaration/ of the result. / No error  (refer to Rule 8)

6. I do not like/ these type of/ silly jokes. / No error  (refer to Rule 9)

7. The seventeen year old/ Swedish activist,/ Greta Thunberg/ is making a difference. / No error  (refer to Rule 14)

8. I found my/ asleep dog /under the table. / No error  (refer to Rule 13)

9. John is five times/ more efficient/ than Charlie. / No error (refer to Rule 3)

10. He is taller/ and older to /his neighbor. / No error  (refer to Rule 12)