What an adjective is and what it does

An adjective describes the person, thing, etc which a noun refers to We use adjectives to say what a person, etc is like or seems like For example, adjectives can give us information about

Quality a beautiful dress a nice day

Size a big car a small coin a tall man

Age a new handbag a young man

Temperature a cool evening a hot day

Shape a round table a square box

Colour blue eyes grey hair a white horse

Origin a Japanese camera a Swiss watch

An adjective can also describe the idea(s) contained in a whole group

of words, as in

Professor Roberts lecture on magnetism was fascinating To maintain that we can survive a nuclear war is absurd

Many adjectives can answer the question What like? and, depending

on context, can give general or precise information

What's Tom like (to look at)? - He's dark/short/tall
What's Pam like (as a person)? - She's clever/kind/witty
What's the car like? - It's new/old/red/rusty

What's the car like to drive? - I t ' s difficult/fast/slow

The suffixes and prefixes of one-word adjectives

Some words function only as adjectives (tall) Others function as adjectives or nouns (cold) Many adjectives which are related to verbs or nouns have a characteristic ending (or suffix) For example, able added to a verb like en\oy gives us the adjective enjoyable, ful added to a noun like truth gives us the adjective truthful For further examples [> App 8.1]

Present participle ing forms often function as adjectives (running water [> 2.7, 16.38, 16.39.3]) Many of these ing forms have ed adjectival past participle equivalents (interesting interested) [> 6.15] Some irregular past participles function as adjectives (broken) [> 6.14] Prefixes added to adjectives generally have a negative effect For example, dis- added to agreeable gives us disagreeable, un added to interesting gives us uninteresting For further examples [> App 8.2] Not every 'positive' adjective can be turned into a negative one by the addition of a prefix Sometimes we have to use not (not taxable) Similarly, not every 'negative' adjective (especially those formed with past participles) has a positive equivalent (discontinued mistaken)