Questions tagged [adjectives]
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. In English the adjective usually (but not always) precedes the noun it describes.
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Omitting article 'the' before superlative adjective
Did I make a mistake omitting article 'the' before superlatives in the following sentence?
Life is bitterest when unwanted ones are nearest, hated ones are closest, loved ones are farthest.
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What does the word “chunky” mean here?
What does the word "chunky" mean in the following sentence from the description (not available online) of the game RuneScape:
Jagex is the creator of both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape,...
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Why cant use the term highest popular but highest popularity [closed]
Most popular sport or highest popular ... why cant it be highest popular
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Can relationship nouns be used as adjectives?
We're all familiar with how an appositive functions:
My sister, Mary, came to the party. <--I have one sister.
My sister Mary came to the party. <--I have more than one sister.
My question is, ...
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10-game suspensions or 10 games suspension?
This athlete got a 10 game suspension for kicking an unconscious
athlete in the face.
Is it 10-game or 10 games? I am not sure how to use this compound word adjective correctly.
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How do suffixes -ed & -ing work in adjectives?
I kinda confuse about these suffixes and how they work.
for example: Closed places vs. Close places
"Close" can be adj., v. and I've been taught that when adding -ed to a verb, it'll become ...
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What are these? These are / they are penguins
So, imagine that someone points at some penguins that are close to us and asks me : "What are these?". Should I answer with a "These are penguins" Or "They are penguins". ...
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Can adverb be used after “so” instead of adjective?
Compare these sentences:
The driver in front shouldn't have stopped so sudden.
The driver in front shouldn't have stopped so suddenly.
The second sentence was taken from my book, but that was the ...
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as … as structure is very difficult to understand!
I can't understand as ... as structures in English. According to grammar books between the two as we should place an adjective, but I have seen several cases which there was something else. For ...
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“This computer is for you to attend lectures” instead of “*This computer is to attend lectures.”
I learned that you use "for -ing" and not a 'to' infinitive when you want to say the purpose of a tool, but I am not so sure about it.
People told me I should say:
This computer is for you ...
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Want something adjective vs want something to be adjective
I was wondering if there is any difference between Want something adjective vs want something to be adjective! for example,
"I want him alive" vs "I want him to be alive", Is there ...
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Get something hot
If I say "I want to get my coffee hot", (In the literal sense),
does it mean I want to cause my coffee to be hot? or literally the same as "I want to receive my coffee hot"?
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Do we say “Now the prince is still bewitched” or “Now the prince is under a spell” to express the current state?
We say "The dog scared me 1 hour ago and now I am still scared".
We have the verb "to scare" and the adjective "scared".
But it seems we can not apply that usages for all ...
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what is best to serve
a. What is best to serve at our dinner party?
b. What is the best to serve at our dinner party?
c. Among the dishes on that list, which is best to serve at our dinner party?
d. Among the dishes on ...
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Can I use the combination “multi-adjective+noun”?
I'd like to learn if I can use the combination "multi-adjective+noun" to form an adjective.
Examples;
This is a multi-rigid-body analysis.
(I mean that this analysis has more than one ...
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Had+been+adjective or Had+been+noun
This is the sentence that I've been thinking:
I would have gone had they been ____
a) ignorant
b) ignorance
Notice that the writer (of the question) omitted the "if", so that he could ...
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1answer
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“Sorry person” vs. “Person sorry”
I'm talking about a sorry person about the exam.
I'm talking about a person sorry about the exam.
I intend to mean "a person who is sorry about the exam".
Are these two sentences the same ...
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Is it allowed to use adjective clause inside the other adjective clause?
Original problem:
Understanding and using English Grammar 4th ed. By. B. S. Azar p. 291
Complete the sentences with your own words. Use adjective clauses.
In my apartment building, there are twenty ...
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“got the questions right (or wrong).”
I read a sentence.
I want to know if I got that question right!
I am not sure if the word right is an adjective or an adverb.
And the meaning of get is also unclear to me.
I looked up dictionaries ...
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1answer
41 views
Cancelled cheque or cancel cheque?
If cancelled is not an adjective then why we use the term "cancelled cheque"? What is cancelled here?
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“So as to make difficult the test” or “So as to make the test difficult”
Can one use (a) instead of (b)?
a. We changed the questions so as to make difficult the test.
b. We changed the questions so as to make the test difficult.
Or can one use (c) instead of (d)?
c. We ...
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1answer
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Why doesn't “Kinda good” work as an attributive adjective?
The movie is kinda good. (Predicative - Sounds okay)
It is a kinda good movie. (Attributive - Sounds kinda wrong?)
Why is this so?
There were very few results for "is a kinda good movie" ...
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1answer
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Adjective to describe sadness tinged with despair
What’s an adjective I can use to describe sadness marked by a sense of despair.
She was suddenly hit with a wave of _____ sadness.
Does “despairing” work? If so, what are some other words that can ...
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1answer
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What type of adjective is little? Descriptive or quantitative?
Consider the following sentence.
We should pay little attention to little things in life.
What type of adjective is little in this sentence? I am confused if it is descriptive or quantitative.
What ...
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“Hopeful”, “Promising” and “Hope-giving”
I need an adjective to imply that something is hope-giving.
I know two relevant words here, but I have no clue if they can be used interchangeably in this sense! That's why I decided to look for the ...
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1answer
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When should I use next, upcoming and coming?
I'd like to know when should I use "next", "upcoming" and "coming"?
The Associated Press (AP) earlier on Monday reported the doses would
be shared in coming months ...
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1answer
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Why is “escaping” a participle here?
The Cambridge Dictionary says:
In English, many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives. Some of these examples may show the adjective use.
So there is no escaping from it: ...
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1answer
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About the word 'unassisted'
he would go alone to the quarry, collect a load of broken stone and drag it down to the site of the windmill unassisted. (source: Orwell, George. Animal Farm (p. 43). Sanage Publishing House.)
I just ...
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a good improbable story
a. He told me a good improbable story.
b. He told me a good, improbable story.
c. He told me a good and improbable story.
Are all of the above grammatically correct and correctly punctuated?
Is there ...
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1answer
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Bill alone cannot solve this problem
a. Bill alone cannot solve this problem. He needs help.
b. Bill alone cannot solve this problem. Everyone else in the class can.
Are both of the above grammatically correct?
Are they correctly ...
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2answers
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“It makes (economic) sense”, what are other adjective that can be used similarly?
I am used to hearing sentences like:
-It doesn't make much sense.
-It makes little sense.
-It makes
no sense.
-It makes perfect sense.
However, I find it makes economic sense really interesting ...
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Can I use “the ahead vehicle”?
If there are two vehicles on a road, and I want to differentiate them, can I say "the ahead vehicle", using ahead as an adjective?
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Is There A Word For Converger?
It seems that "Converger" is not even a word. However, I cannot express my question in any other way. I looked on the Internet with no luck.
I need a word or an official idiom to express an ...
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1answer
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Use of 'lost' as an Adjective
'Lost' is past and past participle form of verb 'Lose'. It's also a pure adjective as it passes the test of Adjective category. So, we can write
I am lost. (Lost as Predictive Adjective)
I have been ...
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Clearer and beautiful way to express this phrase “quality of life”
I am writing a personal essay and reach writer's block on this part
A simple app that could help save time for my father convinced me of the potential of technology to not only improve the industry's ...
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bit vs a bit, which one to use when?
I've got a slight confusion while using them.
I believe "a bit" is used in the case when we are thinking from an "a little" perspective.
ex- he is a bit too late.
When shall we use ...
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1answer
25 views
“set” as a past participle or an adjective
I wonder if "set" in the sentence below is used as an adjective modifying "patterns" or a past participle as in "have set". Or could it be interpreted in both ways?
We ...
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Little or too little
I wonder if there are any differences between in the following sentences
in terms of meaning.
I have little money to buy a new car.
I have too little money to buy a new car.
As far as I know, both ...
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1answer
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Adjective ‘Half’ & past participle ‘halved’
When is adjective or determiner Half used and, when is past participle modifier halved used attributively?
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Why is “excited” used to describe “anticipation”?
"They set out with an innocent, excited anticipation of the journey to come, but the five men quickly encounter reality in the form of blizzards, lighting, thirst, starvation and snakes" (An ...
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Pejorative vs negative: what's the difference in meaning and usage?
How is one different from the other in the sense of "criticism, bad opinion, disapproval"? Is one more formal, maybe?
I found the following collocations:
pejorative term
pejorative sense
...
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Which form of adjective should be used? [duplicate]
In the following sentence which form of the adjective should be used?
There were three four rooms in the hotel, the smallest/the smaller of which served as the gym.
I think it should be the smallest ...
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stiff set wings
In the dark the old man could feel the morning coming and as he rowed he heard the trembling sound as flying fish left the water and the housing that their stiff set wings made as they soared away in ...
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1answer
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Street smart: modify adjectives with nouns?
I was confused by the roles of nouns in English. It seems that nouns can modify verbs as stated in this qeustion and adjectives in these examples:
Do You Know How to Be Street Smart?
... the prior ...
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2answers
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Does ‘half the half circle’ make sense?
Can ‘half the half circle’ be used instead of 1/4 circle? Or what should I say to express this? I guess a half half circle or half of a half circle?
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The difference between “each”, “both”, either
The issue is confusing to me. That's what I heard from natives.
1 The house has a door at either end.
2 The house has a door at both ends.
Some say that 1 and 2 are correct and mean that there are ...
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2answers
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Doesn’t an adjective describe a meaning of the noun? [closed]
I don’t understand ‘once-young adult’ is a possible phrase. Adjectives should describe a meaning of a noun, but ‘once-young’ does not qualify the noun because ‘adult’ means an old person.
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What is the part of speech of 'up' in the following sentences
He looked up and saw the stars.
The time is up.
The list is full of some ups and downs.
He has just been upped to the position of a president.
My answers are:
Adverb 2. Adjective 3. Noun 4. Verb
...
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0answers
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When MUST we use noun phrase + adjective , not adjective + noun?
I always catch my students using adj + noun even when it's not suitable but I don't know how to explain why we can't always do that and what the rule is.
For example:
Mental health issue people need ...
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2answers
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unbearable discrimination
a. They spoke out against the unbearable discrimination they witnessed there.
b. They spoke out against the insufferable sexism in their workplace.
Do these imply that 'they' consider some amount of ...
