Adjectives are one of the four major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adverbs. It is a
word that describes a noun, giving extra information about it.
Just one alternative about adjective is not right. Mark it.
A
All the adjectives have two different forms: the comparative, and the superlative:
comparative superlative
sad sadder saddest
happy happier happiest
unusual more unusual most unusual
B
Most adjectives are gradable. This means that their meaning can be modified (made stronger,
weaker, or otherwise altered) by placing one or more adverbs in front of them. For example: an
expensive house - a very expensive house - a fairly expensive house - an extremely expensive
house
The adverbs very, fairly , and extremely tell where this particular house belongs on the
scale of 'expensiveness‘. By using them, we can make a significant difference to the meaning
of an adjective.
Non-gradable adjectives are those with meanings which cannot be modified by adverbs.
For example: the western side of the mountain - electronic devices - a nuclear reactor
C
There are some adjectives that can only be used in one position or the other. For example,
these two sentences are grammatically correct:
✓ She was alone that evening. ['alone‘ = predicative ]
✓ It was a mere scratch. ['mere‘ = attributive]
These sentences, on the other hand, are not correct:
✗ I saw an alone woman. ['alone‘ cannot be used in the attributive position]
✗ The scratch was mere . ['mere‘ cannot be used in the predicative position]
D The comparative form is used for comparing two people or things: He is taller than me . The
superlative is used for comparing one person or thing with every other member of their group:
He was the tallest boy in the class.
E
Most adjectives can be used in two positions: attributive adjectives occur before the noun
they describe, while predicative adjectives are used after certain verbs:
a black cat [attributive]
The cat was black . [predicative]