adjectives and adverbs

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INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

ADJECTIVES give more information about NOUNS.

examples:

a white lamb (ADJECTIVE GOES FIRST)

a little white lamb

a white and black lamb ( WE USE AND BETWEEN ADJECTIVES ONLY IF THEY BOTH DESCRIBE THE SAME QUALITY E.G. COLOUR)

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We can use ADJS after the VERBS:

BE, APPEAR, BECOME, GET, FEEL, LOOK, SEEM, TASTE

e.g. They look cute.

She seems nice.

I'm getting tired.

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The adjectives ALIVE, AFRAID, ALONE, ASLEEP, AWAKE are always used after the verb an we cannot use them in front of the noun.

e.g. They are asleep children. WRONG

The children are asleep. GOOD

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We can use verbs ending in - ed or - ing as adjectives.

I like smoked meat.

They're looking for a missing person.

He invented the first flying machine.

BE CAREFUL!!!

I am confused. (-ed adjectives describe how we feel)

It is confusing. (-ing adjectives describes what something is like)

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ADJS order

OPINION-SIZE-SHAPE-AGE-COLOUR-ORIGIN-MATERIAL-TYPE/PURPOSE

We don't usually use more than three or four adjectives in front of the noun. If we want to give more information we use another clause or sentence.

Mu uncle has a really valuable large old black Italian sports car. WRONG

My uncle has a large black Italian sports car, which is old and really valuable. GOOD

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We can use adverbs of degree to make most adjectives stronger or weaker.

e.g. I think it is beautiful. -> I think it is really beautiful. (stronger meaning)

WEAKER STRONGER

a little/a bit/slightly fairly quite rather / pretty very really extremely

we don't use 'a bit / a little' with adjectives which come before a noun: I bought a bit expensive car. WRONG The watch I bought was a bit expensive. GOOD

we often use 'rather' with negative adjectives: She's rather bossy.

when we use 'quite' or 'rather' with positive adjectives it often means something which is surprising: That lesson was rather ineteresting. (more than I expected)

when a noun follows 'quite/rather + adj' we add a/an: He was quite nice. He was quite a nice person. That's rather expensive. That's rather an expensive hotel.

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Comparison of ADJS

adjs with one syllable: - er / - est

adsj with two or more syllable: more/less and the most/least

irregular adj

bad - worse - the worst

good - better - the best

far - farther/further - the farthest/furthest

well (=healthy) - better

adj with two syllables when the 2nd syllable is unstressed (often ending in -y,-ly,-ow,-or,-l) can sometimes form the comparative and superlative in the same way as one-syllable adj: friendly-friendlier-the friendliest; funny; gentle

Comparative ADJ

He is taller than Mike.

We use object pronouns (me, her, etc.), not subject pronouns (I, she, etc.) after than:

He is taller than he. WRONG

He is taller than him. GOOD

We don't use more or less with an adj which is already comparative:

Kevin is more taller than Mike. WRONG

We can use two comparatives to show that something is changing:

The weather is getting hotter and hotter.

Food is becoming more and more expensive.

Superlative ADJ

We use the or possessive adj (my, your, etc.) before the superlative form:

What was your best subject at school?

The blue whale is the largest creature in the world.

After superlative 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 creature of the whales.

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COMPARATIVE STRUCTURES

The blue car is as expensive as the red one.

I'm not nearly as clever as my brother. (=He's much cleverer than me.) BIG DIFFERENCE

My house is almost as big as yours. = My house isn't quite as big as yours. (=My house is slightly smaller.) SMALL DIFFERENCE

Mikal's motorbike is the same as mine. EQUAL

Tigers are different from/to/than leopards. NOT EQUAL (from/to - BrE; than - AmE)

Indian elephants are similar to African elephants. NEARLY THE SAME

We use nouns and pronouns after the same as, similar to, different from, not adjectives:

They are the same expensive. WRONG

They are the same price. GOOD

MAKING COMPARISONS STRONGER OR WEAKER

Comparisons:

- stronger: much, a lot, and far

New York is a lot bigger than Paris.

- weaker: a bit, slightly, a little

My sister is slightly taller than me.

Superlatives:

- stronger: by far (it means there is a big difference)

He's by far the tallest student in our class. (=He's much taller than all the others.)

- weaker: one of, among

Julie is among the cleverest of our students.

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ADVANCED LEVEL

Most adjectives can be used before nouns (attributive position), or after a linking verb (predicative position):

ATTRIBUTIVE We've just seen an exciting movie.

PREDICATIVE Tha film was exciting.

But classifying adjectives (describe what type of thing something is) and emphasising adjectives are normally only used BEFORE a noun:

The plant they're building here is chemical. WRONG

They're building a chemical plant here. GOOD

adjectives