comparing things
2.17 When you want to compare the amount of a quality that two or more people or things have, you can use comparative and superlative adjectives. There are also some other ways of comparing things.
Comparatives are explained in paragraphs 2.103 to 2.111, and superlatives are explained in paragraphs 2.112 to 2.122. Other ways of comparing things are explained in paragraphs 2.123 to 2.139.
talking about the amount of a quality
2.18 You can also talk about the amount of a quality that something or someone has by using an adverb like totally or mildly with an adjective.
This is explained in paragraphs 2.141 to 2.168.
Adjective structures
2.19 Adjectives are used in two main structures. One of them involves adjectives coming before the noun phrase. If you say Julia was carrying an old suitcase, your main purpose is to say that Julia was carrying a suitcase. The adjective old gives more information about what kind of suitcase it was.
He was wearing a white t-shirt.
…a technical term.
…a pretty little star-shaped flower bed.
Most adjectives can be used in this way.
2.20 The other main structure involves adjectives being used after linking verbs such as be and become. Putting an adjective after a linking verb has the effect of focusing attention on the adjective. If you say The suitcase she was carrying was old, your main purpose is to describe the suitcase, so the focus is on the adjective old.
The roads are busy.
The house was quiet.
He became angry.
I feel cold.
Nobody seemed amused.
The use of adjectives after linking verbs is explained in paragraphs 3.132 to 3.137.
Most adjectives can be used in this way.
2.21 In the following examples, the first example in each pair shows an adjective being used before the noun, while the second example shows it being used with a linking verb.
There was no clear evidence.
‘That’s very clear,’ I said.
It had been a pleasant evening.
It’s not a big stream, but it’s very pleasant.
She bought a loaf of white bread.
The walls were white.
Identifying qualities: a sad story, a pretty girl
2.22 There are two main types of adjective, qualitative and classifying. Adjectives that describe a quality that someone or something has, such as sad, pretty, small, happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise, are called qualitative adjectives.
…a sad story.
…a pretty girl.
…a small child.
…a happy mother with a healthy baby.
…wealthy bankers.
I think it would be wise to give up.
gradability: very sad, rather funny
2.23 Adjectives that describe qualities are gradable, which means that the person or thing referred to can have more or less of the quality mentioned.
2.24 The usual way in which you show the amount of a quality that something or someone has is by using adverbs like very and rather in front of qualitative adjectives. This is explained in paragraphs 2.140 to 2.156.
2.25 The other way in which you can talk about the amount of a quality that something or someone has is by using a comparative, such as bigger and more interesting, or a superlative, such as the biggest and the most interesting. Comparatives and superlatives are explained in paragraphs 2.103 to 2.122.
Here is a list of qualitative adjectives:
active
angry
anxious
appropriate
attractive
bad
beautiful
big
brief
bright
broad
busy
calm
careful
cheap
clean
clear
close
cold
comfortable
common
complex
cool
curious
dangerous
dark
dear
deep
determined
different
difficult
dirty
dry
easy
effective
efficient
expensive
fair
familiar
famous
fast
fat
fine
firm
flat
frank
free
fresh
friendly
frightened
funny
good
great
happy
hard
heavy
high
hot
important
interesting
kind
large
late
light
likely
long
loose
loud
lovely
low
lucky
narrow
nervous
new
nice
obvious
odd
old
pale
patient
plain
pleasant
poor
popular
powerful
pretty
proud
quick
quiet
rare
reasonable
rich
rough
sad
safe
sensible
serious
sharp
shocked
short
sick
significant
silly
simple
slow
small
soft
special
steady
strange
strong
stupid
successful
suitable
sure
surprised
sweet
tall
terrible
thick
thin
tight
tiny
tired
typical
understanding
useful
violent
warm
weak
wet
wide
wild
worried
young
Identifying type: financial help, abdominal pains
2.26 The other main type of adjective consists of adjectives that you use to identify the type or class that something belongs to. For example, if you say financial help, you are using the adjective financial to describe what type of help you are talking about (that is, to classify help). Adjectives that are used in this way are called classifying adjectives.
…financial help.
…abdominal pains.
…a medieval manuscript.
…my daily shower.
…an equal partnership.
…a sufficient amount of milk.
Note that noun modifiers (see paragraphs 2.169 to 2.174) are used in a similar way to classifying adjectives. For example, financial matters and money matters are similar in both structure and meaning.