| 释义 |
Adjectives: forms
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 | -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 | 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
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 | 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 | morecomplete Not: completer | mostcomplete Not: completest | interesting | moreinteresting Not: interestinger | mostinteresting 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
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?
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-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.
| 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.
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Adjectives with -ing and -ed endings have different meanings.
-ingadjectives -ing adjectives describe the effect | -edadjectives -ed adjectives describe how a person feels | The meeting was very boring.
That was an exciting game.
It was shocking to see what the storm had done to the house.
| I felt bored at the meeting.
We were really excited about the game.
We were shocked to see what the storm had done to the house.
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Warning:
Commonly confused pairs of adjectives ending in -ing and -ed are: interesting, interested; boring, bored; exciting, excited; embarrassing, embarrassed.
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