Adjectives and adverbs C1

Adjectives:
Adjectives give more information about a noun. Their form does not
change for singular and plural nouns, or for male and female.
A young girl and two young boys came to the party

Position:

Adjectives in English usually come before the noun (a big town,

a blue car) attributive position
When there are two or more adjectives before a noun they are
usually not separated by and, except when the last two are
adjectives of colour (a big square box, a tall young man / a
black and white cap).
We can use adjectives after the verbs: to be, appear, become,
get, fell, look, seem and taste (linking verbs) predicative
position.
The lambs are lovely
When we put more than one adjective after a verb we separate
the last two with and.
The fight was long and tiring
Adjectives always come after indefinite pronouns (Indefinite
pronouns are words which replace nouns without specifying
which noun they replace. Singular: another, anybody, anyone,
anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little,
much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody,
someone, something)

Comparison:
There are 3 degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and
superlative:

Positive: dark, tall, useful

Comparative: darker, taller, more useful
Superlative. The darkest, the tallest, the most useful

One-syllable regular adjectives form their comparatives and

superlative adding er and est to the positive form:
bright, brighter, brightest
new, newer, newest
*If the adjective ends in vowel + consonant the final letter is

doubled:
slim, slimmer, slimmest
Other common examples are: sad, big, thin, fat, hot, wet.
*If the adjective ends in e, add r and st
late, later, latest

3 or more syllable adjectives form their comparative adding

more and (the) most.
Interesting, more interesting, the most interesting
Most adjectives of 2 syllables form their comparative and
superlative adding more and (the) most.
careful, more careful, the most careful
casual, more casual, the most casual
*2 syllable adjectives ending in consonant+y are formed like
this:
dirty, dirtier, dirtiest
Other common ones are: angry, busy, easy, funny, happy,
heavy, silly, tiny
Some common adjectives have both forms
simple, simpler/more simple, simplest/the most simple

Irregular comparisons
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Good, better, the best

Bad, worse, the worst
Little, less, the least
Many, more, the most
Much, more, the most
Far, further/farther, the furthest/farthest
Old, older/elder, oldest/eldest

COMPARISONS OF ADJECTIVES
1. Comparative adjectives
We use them to compare 2 things. When we use a comparative
adjective in front of a noun or a pronoun we add than.
The new blocks are much higherthanthe old buildings
He makes fewer mistakes thanyou
Our prices are betterthanhis
2. Superlative adjectives
a. We use superlative adjectives to compare more than 2 things.
We use the, or a possessive adjective (my, your, his) before
the superlative form.
Blue whales are the largest whales.
b. After superlatives we use in before singular nouns and of before
plural nouns
The blue whale is the largest creature in the world
The blue whale is the largest of the whales
3. To say thigs are equal:
As. As(tan.como)
Not as. As(no tancomo)
Used to compare two things or people. For the second one we
can also use not so. As
As soon as, as much as, as long as, as many as, as well
as
A boy of 16 is often as tall as his father
Your coffee is not as good as the coffee my mother makes or
Your coffee is not so good as my mothers
We make the comparison more emphatic with just
This caf is just as bad as the last one
We can modify this type of comparison with nearly or
quite
Motor bikes arent nearly so expensive as cars
My phone isnt quite as good as yours.
4. Thins which occur together
the..the => to express that one thing is consequence of the
other
the more you study, the better grades you will obtain
5. Progressive comparison
We can describe how something increases or decreases in
intensity by repeating more or the same comparative
adjective, with and in between both forms.
He became more and more daring
Her visits became rarer and rarer
6. no + comparativeadjective:

Running is no better for you than walking fast.

7. To say things are more
We can make comparisons stronger with more, much, a lot
and far, by far
We have a more exciting range of games
New York is a lot bigger than Paris
8. To say things are less
We can make comparisons weaker with less, a bit, slightly, or
a little
The games in the sale are less expensive

p. 70-71. My grammar lab for exercises

Gradable and ungradable adjectives

Gradable adjectives represent a point on a scale; if an adjective is
gradable we can say that a person or thing can have more or less of
the quality referred to. E.g. cheap and expensive.
Ungradable adjectives represent the limits of the scale; we dont
imagine degrees of the quality referred to. E.g. free.

Most English adjectives are gradable.

We can make comparative and superlative forms from all gradable
adjectives, but we dont usually make comparisons with ungradable
adjectives.

We can make adjectives stronger or weaker with

INTENSIFYING AND WEAKENING ADVERBS
Intensifying adjectives:
We can make gradable adjectives stronger with very but not with the
adverb absolutely.
-

That new jacket looks very expensive.

Other words are extremely, pretty, rather, really, so terribly,

bitterly, painfully, highly...
-

Extremely ambitious
Slightly different
Pretty strong

To emphasise the extreme or absolute nature of ungradable

adjectives we can use adverbs such as absolutely, completely,
utterly, or totally.
-

Absolutely huge

Completely impossible
Totally useless

We do not usually use very with ungradable adjectives

-

Entrance to the museum is very free X

museum is absolutely free

- Entrance to the

Weakening adjectives:
Gradable adjectives can usually be made weaker by the words fairly,
slightly, a little bit, somewhat.
-

Slightly dizzy
A bit upset
Somewhat aggressive

For ungradable adjectives we use almost, nearly, practically or

virtually to indicate a point close to the absolute meaning of these
adjectives.
-

Its practically freezing in there

Hes almost dead
After six months of the disease he was virtually blind

p. 78-79. My grammar lab for exercises

Some adjectives have both gradable and ungradable uses with

different meanings.
-

Bardreth isnt a very common surname (gradable:

common=frequent)
They have certain common characteristics (non-gradable:
common=similar)

Some adjectives have both gradable and ungradable uses with

related meanings.
-

Youre being very diplomatic (gradable because it refers to a

quality a person has)
He worked as the diplomatic correspondent of a national
newspaper (non-gradable because it refers to the type of
correspondent he is)

Adverbs
Adverbs tell us about a noun, a verb, and adjective or another adverb.
Adverbs give us information about time, place, manner, frequency,
certainty, degree
They describe how, how of the, when or where an action happens.

Types of adverbs:

*Most adverbs of manner are formed adding ly to an adjective

(except well)
Sad, sadly
safe, safely
*An adjective that already ends in ly cannot be made into an adverb.
Instead, we use adverbial phrases:
Friendly => She started the interview in a friendly manner
Silly => She laughed in a silly way
*Some words can be used both as adjectives and adverbs
high, low, deep, near, far, fast, hard, early, late, much, little, straight,
pretty, wrong, kindly, enough, daily
He caught the early train / He always arrives early
Shes a hard worker / She works hard
I had enough time / I ran fast enough

Position of adverbs:
*Adverbs generally go after the verb, or after the object of the verb if
there is one.
Sometimes, they may go before the verb or at the beginning of the
sentence for emphasis:
He packed his suitcase carefully
He carefully, packed his suitcase
Carefully, he packed his suitcase
*One word Frequency adverbs (and hardly ever) are usually midposition (but after am/are/is/was/were): before the main verb but
after de auxiliary verb and modal verbs.
I usually travel by train
I am often late

More than one word Frequency adverbs can go at the

beginning or end of the sentence
Occasionally I like to eat really spicy food
I admit we go to fast food places sometimes
*Opinion adverbs usually go in the front position
Luckily, we found the money
Actually, I dont agree with what you say
*Adverbs of place and time usually go at the end of the sentence
Foxes usually hunt at night
Did you go to university here?
We never put them in front of the main verb
*In the end position we put adverbs of place first, then adverbs of
time
I hadnt been to Norway before

Comparison of adverbs
*Single-syllable adverbs (and the adverb early) add er and est
hard, harder, hardest
nice, nicer, nicest
early, earlier, earliest

*With adverbs of 2 or more syllables use more or less to make

comparatives /the most or the least to make superlatives:
My brother speaks Italian more fluently than you
I speak Italian less fluently than him
Of all the students, Maria speaks the most fluently

Adverbs use the same comparative structures as

adjectives
p.81 My grammar lab

Meaning and use of certain adverbs

Fairly and rather
Both can be moderately but fairly is mainly use with favourable
adjectives and adverbs, while rather is chiefly used before
unfavourable adjectives and adverbs.
Tom is fairly clever but tom is rather stupid.
*Rather can also mean quite/very
She is rather clever
Hardly, barely
*Hardly means almost not and it is often used with any or ever
I have hardly any money
I hardly ever go out
She hardly noticed when he came into the room
There was hardly anybody in the cinema
*Barely means no more than/only/just and usually goes with
adjectives such as enough or sufficient
He had barely enough to eat
He was barely 16
Lately
Lately means recently
Youve been going to the dentist a lot lately
Quite
Quite before an adjective means moderately
This suitcase is quite expensive
Quite between a/an and an adjective means completely
This is a quite remarkable story
Already, yet, still
Already can go in either mid or end position
Id already decided / Id decided already

Yet is usually put in end position in negatives, questions and

expressions of uncertainty
I dont know if I can tell you yet
Still usually goes in mid position
Im still waiting for you

Even, only
They usually go in mid-position
He can even/only speak Swedish
Really
Its meaning depends on its position in the sentence:
-

Immediately before an adjective it means very

In other positions it can mean actually or in fact

Adverbial clauses
An adverbial clause must be connected to a main clause; we cannot
use it as a separate sentence. We only use one conjunction to connect
them.
I dont eat much breakfast because Im in a rush / NOT: I dont eat
much breakfast. Because Im in a rush

Time clauses: as/when/while

Contrast and concession clauses
Reason clauses
Purpose and result clauses