Adjectives and Prefix

Choose the correct prefix to make negative forms of the adjectives

1. It was  im possible to sleep because of the noise.

2. Mary is un certain whether to go to Sweden or not.

3. It's totally  ir rational but I'm afraid of spiders.

4. I like my teacher but she is a bit  im patient with slow learners.

5. Bob has been  dis honest in his dealings with us.

6. It's  il legal to drive through a red light.

7. Administration should be an a  political tool of the government.

8. This new house is not  dis similar to our old one except that it's a bit bigger.

9. Stop Stewart ! It is  im polite to point at people.

10. Why did you write this sentence ? It's completely il logical.

Adjectives and substantives

1) It's difficult for a young teacher to have a whole class of fifteen-year-olds, because at that age, young people are quite restless ...

2) A counsel for the defence must protect and defend the unjustly accused as well as the suspects he knows are guilty ... 

3) As sincere environmentalists, the Greens fight for the protection of our childrens' futures ....

4) We must respect the ideas of the Greens if we want to keep our planet from being destroyed by mankind. 

5) I don't like the theatre of the Absurd at all! In fact, I'm just back from 'The Caretaker' by Pinter and I hated it! ...

6) Recently, in 2010, the unthinkable happened in Haïti : An earthquake destroyed a vast majority of the island.

Adjectives and Comparison

John is 178 centimeters. David is 180. Smith is 195.

 John is tall. David is taller than John. Smith is the tallest of all.

The red car next to the tree is $50,000. The blue car in front of the house is $80,000. The black car over there is $150,000.

The red car is expensive. The blue car is more expensive than the red car. The black car is the most expensive of all.

1. My elder brother is three years older (old) than I am.

2. When I was a kid I always wanted to be  taller (tall) than he was.

3. Now I am the tallest (tall) in my family.

4. But my younger brother is  more intelligent (intelligent) than I am.

5. My elder brother played volleyball much better (good) than I did.

6. My younger brother drives more carefully (careful) than I do.

7. I am the  fastest (fast) driver in my family but the least careful.

8. Unfortunately, I have the  highest (high) number of speeding tickets.

9. I have the most expensive (expensive) but the least economical car.

10. All in all, I think I am the  smartest (smart) of all. What do you think? I am kidding.

Comparative of superiority

Comparative of superiority (+)

Examples:

My car is bigger than your car.

Sarah is more intelligent than Peter.

How to use:

I) Short adjectives

1 syllable

old - small - fast - short - hot

2 syllables ending in -y

happy - easy - funny

Add: -er

long > longer  

deep > deeper

Caution:

Fat -> Fatter  (1 syllable ending in: consonant-vowel-consonant)

Happy - Happier

(2 syllables, ending in: consonant + -y)

II) Long adjectives

2 syllables not ending in -y

pleasant - modern

3+ syllables

beautiful - intelligent - expensive

Use:

more + adjective

(MORE is the irregular comparative form of much/many)

Example: Interesting -> more  interesting

III) Irregular

Good - better     -   Bad- worse

Far -  farther/  further

Adjectives Order

Sometimes we use two or more adjectives together :

- My parents live in a nice new house

- A dirty old black cat is wandering the streets

A / 'OPINION' ADJECTIVES  

    Adjectives like nice and dirty are opinion adjectives.They tell us what you think about somebody or something.

    Opinion adjectives usually go before fact adjectives

B /   'FACT' ADJECTIVES

      Adjectives like new, old, black are fact adjectives. They give us factual information about, age and colour.

      Sometimes we use two or more fact adjectives. Very often, we put fact adjectives in this order :

1  /   SIZE  :       How big ?         Large, small, tiny, enormous

2 /     AGE   :      How old ?           New, young, old, ancient

3 /    SHAPE :    What shape ?     Square, round, rectangular, flat

4 / COLOUR :    What colour ?      Blue, pink, yellow, crimson

5 /  ORIGIN :    Where from ?      English, American, Chinese,French

6 / MATERIAL: What it is made of ?    Plastic, cardboard, glass, wooden

7 / PURPOSE : What it  is used for ?    Racing car, frying pan, rocking chair 

Examples : 

-  An interesting (opinion ) old (2)  book

-  An ugly (opinion) pink (4 ) plastic (6) ornament 

-  A nice (opinion) small (1) African (5) drum

-  A delicious (opinion) round (3) chocolate (6) cake

-  A pair of smart( opinion) brown  (4) leather (6) boots

-  A beautiful (opinion) small (1) white (4) Chinese (5 ) computer

-  A nice (opinion) big (1) old (2) square (3) white (4) French (5) china (6) plate *

SOME ADJECTIVES + PREPOSITIONS

(be) afraid of

(be) angry at / with someone

(be) angry about something

(be) ashamed of

(be) bad at

(be) bored with

(be) crazy about

(be) different from

(be) famous for

(be) fed up with

(be) good at

(be) interested in

(be) nice to

(be) proud of

(be) sorry about something

(be) sorry for doing something

(be) worried about

Adjectives /Nouns + prepositions

Adjectif + Préposition

   afraid of                   angry with                     bad at                        interested in            married to

   frightened of          crowded with                 good at                     successful in             polite to  

   short of                   pleased with                  brilliant at                                                      similar to

   tired of                    disappointed with  

Adjectives and adverbs

A-   Look at these examples:

• Our holiday was too short - the time went very quickly.

• The driver of the car was seriously injured in the accident.

Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are made from an adjective + -ly:

Adjective	quick	serious	careful	quiet	bad	heavy
Adverb	quickly	seriously	carefully	quietly	badly	heavily

Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in -ly too, for example:

Friendly / lively / elderly / lonely / silly / lovely

B- Adjective or adverb

Adjectives (quick/careful etc.) tell us about a noun. We use adjectives before nouns and after some verbs, especially be:

• Tom is a careful driver, (not 'a carefully driver')

• We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.            

• Please be quiet.

• I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.

We also use adjectives after the verbs look/ feel/ sound etc.

• Why do you always look so serious?

Compare:

She speaks perfect English                 

                Adjective + noun

Compare these sentences with look:

• Tom looked sad when I saw him. (= he seemed sad, his expression was sad)

Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb. An adverb tells us how somebody does something or how something happens:

• Tom drove carefully along the narrow road, (not 'drove careful')

• We didn't go out because it was raining heavily, (not 'raining heavy')

• Please speak quietly, (not 'speak quiet')

• I was disappointed that I did so badly on the exam, (not 'did so bad')

• Why do you never take me seriously?

She speaks English perfectly.

       Verb + object + adverb

Tom looked at me sadly. (= he looked at me in a sad way)

English Lessons and Exercises

1. He has always been very friendly, kind and helpful to me.I like him very much.

2. Don't be so greedy . You really needn't so much money.

3. Judy never does any housework. She only lies in bed all day. I've never seen such a lazy  girl.

4. Ted was very  diligent when he was at school. He studied hard and never forgot to do his homework.

5. I like his sense of humour. I consider him a very clever and  witty young man.

6. You are too skinny . You should eat more.

7. I am sure this girl will never tell you anything about it. She is too  discreet.

8. Don't be friends with Daniel. He's a cruel  person and he likes to inflict pain for the pleasure it brings him.

9. July seemed very morose  over her parents' divorce.

10. Eric never shares his feelings with anybody. He has always been shy and  reserved.

11. A large-handed  man gave all he possessed to the poor.

12. If you hurt him, he'll take revenge on you. He never forgives and never forgets.He is such a   vindictive person.

13. My grandfather Wilhelm was a very  quiet man. He didn't like to say much. He preferred to listen.

14. Don't ask Joan! She's so  unreliable and can't be trusted to do it.

15. Gordon, in opposition to his gloomy brother, is a  convivial boy with charm and a great sense of humour. He enjoys dancing.

16. She is rather a  stingy girl. She doesn't like to spend money and shares her items with others.