Verbal Ability - Adjectives

Introduction

An adjective is a word which describes or modifies a noun or a pronoun. For example, in the sentence, “Sita has bought a red, five-seater car”, the words “red, five-seater” are adjectives as they describe the noun, “car”.

Important Tips

Adjectives needn’t always come before a noun, as in “He is a nice boy”; adjectives may not sometimes need nouns. For example, in the sentence, “He is good”, the adjective “good” doesn’t come before any noun, yet it describes the noun “boy”.

Some more example of adjectives not being used before nouns

• He is intelligent.
• I feel happy.
• She seems unhappy.
• They look fantastic.

Comparatives and Superlatives

Adjectives are not only used in describing nouns, but also used in comparing them. When adjectives are used for comparing people, we call them comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives

The comparative form of adjectives is used when we are comparing one noun with the other samples of the same noun.

For Example

• Rahul is more intelligent than Saurav. (Rahul compared with Saurav)
• Saurav is faster than Rahul. (Saurav compared with Rahul)
• Rahul and Saurav are fitter than the rest of boys in the team. (BothRahul and Saurav compared with the rest of the team)

Superlatives

We use superlatives when we compare a noun with similar nouns on the basis of quality. For example - height, wealth, talent, fitness, etc. We find that one of them has the highest level of a quality.

For Example

• Rajesh is a strong boy.
• Suresh is stronger than Rajesh.
• Ramesh is stronger than both Rajesh and Suresh.
• Ramesh is the strongest of all three boys.

Comparative forms are given to an adjective by using “more” before the adjective.(More talented, more senior, more honest). However, in many cases, the adjectives are not used with “more”, but a different form ending with “-er”.

• He is more hungry than me. (Wrong)
• He is hungrier than me. (Correct)

• He is more tall than me. (Wrong)
• He is taller than me. (Correct)

Adjectives and the Comparison Table

There are many hundreds of adjectives that are used in daily life so it’s not possible to list them all in one place, unless the entire book is dedicated to discuss the adjectives.

The following tables have a list of adjectives that are the most-commonly used the examinations and comprehensions. In addition to that, there is also the technique mentioned on how to convert the adjective to comparative and superlative degrees −

By adding “r” and “st”
Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Brave	Braver	The bravest
Fine	Finer	The finest
Large	Larger	The largest
Nice	Nicer	The nicest
Noble	Nobler	The noblest
Pale	Paler	The palest
Simple	Simpler	The simplest
Wise	Wiser	The wisest
White	Whiter	The whitest
Heavy	Heavier	The heaviest

By deleting the final “y” and adding “ier” and “iest”
Positive	Comparative	Superlative
costly	costlier	The costliest
Dry	Drier	The driest
Easy	Easier	The easiest
Happy	Happier	The happiest

By adding “er” and “est”
Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Bright	Brighter	The brightest
Black	Blacker	The blackest
Bold	Bolder	The boldest
Clever	Cleverer	The cleverest
Cold	Colder	The coldest
Fast	Faster	The fastest
Great	Greater	The greatest
High	Higher	The highest
Kind	Kinder	The kindest
Long	Longer	The longest
Small	Smaller	The smallest
Strong	Stronger	The strongest
Sweet	Sweeter	The sweetest
Tall	Taller	The tallest
Young	Younger	The youngest

By doubling the final consonants
Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Big	Bigger	The biggest
Dim	Dimmer	The dimmest
Fat	Fatter	The fattest
Hot	Hotter	The hottest
Thin	Thinner	The thinnest

By using “more”and “the most”
Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Active	More active	Most active
Attractive	More attractive	Most attractive
Beautiful	More beautiful	Most beautiful
Brilliant	More brilliant	Most brilliant
Careful	More careful	Most careful
Courageous	More courageous	Most courageous
Cunning	More cunning	Most cunning
Difficult	More difficult	Most difficult
Famous	More famous	Most famous
Faithful	More faithful	Most faithful
Proper	More proper	Most proper
Popular	More popular	Most popular
Splendid	More splendid	Most splendid

Irregular Comparisons
Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Bad	Worse	Worst
Evil	Worse	Worst
Good	Better	Best
Ill	Worse	Worst
Far	Farther	Farthest
Well	Better	Best
Late	Later	Latest
Little	Less	Least
Much	More	Most
Many	More	Most
Near	Nearer	Nearest
Old	Older	Oldest
Old	Elder	Eldest

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives describe the ownership of the noun. They describe if something/someone mentioned in the sentence belongs or is related to the noun. Examples include- my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their.

For Example

I’ll get my bag.

Is this your luggage?

Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.

Examples −

Your bike is blue. (“your” is an adjective which modifies bike)

Mine is yellow. (“Mine” is a pronoun which functions as the subject of the verb is)

Examples

Subject Pronouns	I	We	You	He	She	It	They
Object Pronouns	Me	Us	You	Him	Her	It	Them
Possessive Adjectives	My	Our	Your	His	Her	Its	Their
Possessive Pronouns	Mine	Ours	Yours	His	Hers	Its	Their

Difference between Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives are words that describe the nouns, but adverbs describe the action. These two are very commonly misused in place of each other. Let us discuss the following example −

For Example

Rajat is a good chef as he cooks tasty dishes and also manages everything perfectly.

In this example, the words “good” and “tasty” describe the nouns “chef” and “dishes” respectively, hence they are adjectives.

On the other hand, the word “manages” is an action and “perfectly” is used to describe how Rajat manages everything, hence it is an adverb.

We will discuss more in detail on adverbs in later chapters.