Questões

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

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

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]

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]