Adjetives

EDI 109 GRAMMMAR 1 : ADJECTIVES
Characteristics of Adjectives
Adjectives can take a MODIFYING WORD such as very, extremely, or less, before them:  
  
very cold weather   
extremely large windows   
less violent storms 
 
As well as taking modifying words like very and extremely, adjectives also take different forms to indicate their position on a scaleof comparison:  
   big     bigger     biggest
The lowest point on the scale is known as the ABSOLUTE form, the middle point is known as the COMPARATIVE form, and the highest point is known as the SUPERLATIVE form. Here are some more examples:   
|Absolute |Comparative |Superlative |
|dark |darker |darkest |
|new|newer |newest |
|old |older |oldest |
|young |younger |youngest |

  
In most cases, the comparative is formed by adding -er , and the superlative is formed by adding -est, to the absolute form. However, a number of very common adjectives are IRREGULAR in this respect:   |Absolute  |Comparative  |Superlative |
|good |better |best |
|bad |worse |worst |
|far |farther |farthest |

  

Some adjectives form the COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE using more and most respectively:  
|Absolute |Comparative  |Superlative |
|important |more important |most important |
|miserable |more miserable |most miserable |
|recent |more recent |most recent |

   EXERCISE
In the following sentences, the highlighted words are adjectives. Tick the adjective features (a-c) that eachexhibits

1 His new car was stolen.   
2 Something smells good. 
Their restaurant is very successful.   
4 What an unbelievable story!  
5 My uncle is an atomic scientist. 

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ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS

We have seen that adjectives occur before a noun which they modify, for example, red in red car. We need to distinguish these clearly from nouns which occur in the sameposition, and fulfill the same syntactic function. Consider the following: 
 
rally car  
saloon car  
family car 
Here, the first word modifies the second, that is, it tells us something further about the car. For example, a rally car is a car which is driven in rallies. These modifiers occur in the same position as red in the example above, but they are notadjectives. We can show this by applying our criteria for the adjective class.
Firstly, they do not take very: 
 
*a very rally car  
*a very saloon car  
*a very family car 

Secondly, they do not have comparative or superlative forms: 
 
*rallier *ralliest / *more rally / *most rally  
*salooner *saloonest / *more saloon / *mostsaloon  
*familier *familiest / *more family / *most family 
 
And finally, they cannot occur in predicative position: 
 
*the car is rally  
*the car is saloon  
*the car is family 
So although these words occupy the typical adjective position, they are not adjectives. They are nouns.

EXERCISE
1. In each of the following sentences, indicatewhether the highlighted word is an adjective or a noun. 
1.
Life insurance is not cheap.
2 The Prime Minister is a close friend of mine.
3 The Chinese Embassy is just down the road.
4. Friday is a busy day for me.
5 Our patient records are confidential.
 

THE ORDERING OF ADJECTIVES

Let's say you want to buy a new car.  You could not go to the car dealer and say, "I have been...