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Grammar > Adjectives and adverbs > Adjectives > Adjectives: forms

from English Grammar Today

Unlike in many other languages, adjectives in English do not change (agree) with the noun that
they modify:

All new foreign students are welcome to join the clubs and societies.
Not: All new foreigns students …

Every room was painted in different colours.

Not: … in differents colours.

Identifying adjectives
There is no general rule for making adjectives. We know they are adjectives usually by what they
do (their function) in a sentence. However, some word endings (suffixes) are typical of adjectives.

suffix examples

-able, -ible comfortable, readable, incredible, invisible

-al, -ial comical, normal, musical, industrial, presidential

-ful beautiful, harmful, peaceful, wonderful

-ic classic, economic, heroic, romantic

-ical aeronautical, alphabetical, political

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suffix examples    

-ish British, childish, Irish, foolish

-ive, -ative active, alternative, creative, talkative

-less endless, motionless, priceless, timeless

-eous, -ious, -ous spontaneous, hideous, ambitious, anxious, dangerous, famous

-y angry, busy, wealthy, windy

Warning:
Adjectives ending in -ic and -ical often have different meanings:

The economic policy of this government has failed.

A diesel car is usually more economical than a petrol one.

See also:

Adjectives
Classic or classical?

Economic or economical?
Historic or historical?

Forming adjectives from other words

Suffixes
Some adjectives are made from nouns and verbs by adding suffixes.

noun adjective

hero heroic

wind windy

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noun adjective    

child childish

beauty beautiful

verb adjective

read readable

talk talkative

use useful

like likeable

I hate windy days.

San Francisco is a very hilly place.

Some words ending in -ly can be both adjectives and adverbs. These include daily, early, monthly,
weekly, nightly, yearly:

Adjective: She gets a weekly payment from her parents. (She gets money every week.)

Adverb: I pay my rent weekly. (I pay my rent every week.)

Some words ending in -ly are only adjectives and not adverbs. These include: costly, cowardly,
deadly, friendly, likely, lonely, lovely, oily, orderly, scholarly, silly, smelly, timely, ugly, woolly.

We enjoyed the trip to America but it was a costly holiday.

Oily fish is very healthy because it contains omega 3.

See also:

Word formation

Adverbs

Prefixes

Suffixes

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Prefixes
   

Prefixes such as un-, in-, im-, il- and ir- change the meaning of adjectives. Adding these prefixes
makes the meaning negative:

un- in- ir-

fair – unfair active – inactive responsible – irresponsible

happy – unhappy appropriate – inappropriate regular – irregular

sure – unsure complete – incomplete reducible – irreducible

im- il-

balance – imbalance legal – illegal

polite – impolite legible – illegible

possible – impossible logical – illogical

See also:

Prefixes

Suffixes

Adjectives: comparative and superlative

Many one-syllable adjectives have endings to show the comparative and superlative.

base form comparative superlative

fine finer finest

young younger youngest

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base form comparative superlative    

small smaller smallest

Some two-syllable adjectives which end in an unstressed syllable also have these endings.

base form comparative superlative

easy easier easiest

funny funnier funniest

gentle gentler gentlest

However, we do not use these endings with two-syllable adjectives ending in a stressed syllable
nor with longer adjectives with more than two syllables. The comparatives and superlatives of
these adjectives are formed using more and most.

base form comparative superlative

complete more complete Not: completer most complete Not: completest

more interesting most interesting

interesting
Not: interestinger Not: interestingest

See also:

Comparative and superlative adjectives

Adjectives: with -ing and -ed (interesting, interested)

We use the -ing and -ed forms of regular and irregular verbs as adjectives:

-ing forms

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verb example    

annoy My brother is five and he’s so annoying.

amaze The Grand Canyon is an amazing place.

boil Be careful! That’s boiling water!

excite This film is not very exciting, is it?

-ed forms

verb example

bore Why do teenagers always look bored?

pack James Bond movies are always action-packed.

smoke Not everyone likes smoked salmon.

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verb example    

make My dress is hand-made. I really like it.

teach My Master’s degree was a taught course.

excite I feel excited about my new job.

Adjectives with -ing and -ed endings have different meanings.

-ing adjectives -ed adjectives

-ing adjectives describe the effect -ed adjectives describe how a person feels

The meeting was very boring. I felt bored at the meeting.

That was an exciting game. We were really excited about the game.

It was shocking to see what the storm had We were shocked to see what the storm
done to the house. had done to the house.

Warning:
Commonly confused pairs of adjectives ending in -ing and -ed are: interesting, interested;
boring, bored; exciting, excited; embarrassing, embarrassed.

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UK  /luːt/ US  /luːt/    

(usually of large numbers of people during a violent event) to steal from shops and houses

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