A. Position of Adjectives
Attributive use = adjective before the noun (a big house). Predicative use = adjective after a link verb (Your house is big).
We make predicative use after link verbs like be, become, seem, look, appear, get (= become), stay (= remain), feel, taste, smell and sound.
Adjectives fixed in one position
- Only after a link verb (not before a noun): afraid, asleep, alike, alive, alone, ashamed, aware, awake, content, pleased, (un)well, (un)sure, ready, sorry, unable. — The baby is asleep (not ‘asleep baby’).
- Only before a noun (not after a link verb): chief, principal, only, inner, outer, upper, indoor, former, elder, existing, mere, utter, little, main. — This is the main building (not ‘this building is main’).
Post-positioned adjectives
An adjective comes after words like something, everything, nobody, no one: something terrible, everything necessary, nobody important.
Same adjective, different meaning
| Before the noun | After the noun / verb |
|---|
| the concerned mother (= worried) | the doctor concerned (= attending) |
| a responsible person (= reliable) | the person responsible (= the cause) |
| the present situation (= now) | the members present (= attending) |
B. Nouns used as Adjectives (Classifiers)
A noun placed before another noun works like an adjective: a cinema hall, a library book, a science college, a steel chair, an apple tree.
- -ed / -en adjective → how a person feels / the condition of a thing: an excited audience, a frightened baby, a broken glass.
- -ing adjective → a continuing action / the cause of a feeling: a running train, a rising price, a boring speech.
amused vs amusing: use -ed for the person who feels it (I am amused), and -ing for the thing that causes it (an amusing story).
C. Order of Adjectives
When more than one adjective comes before a noun, we put them in a set order:
Opinion → Size → Physical quality → Age → Shape → Colour → Origin → Material → Purpose → Noun
a nice (opinion) little (size) home · an old (age) Indian (origin) wooden (material) chair.
Comma or ‘and’ between adjectives
- Before a noun: no comma / ‘and’ between ordered adjectives (an old wooden dining table). But two colour adjectives are joined by ‘and’ — a black and white photograph.
- After a link verb: put ‘and’ before the last adjective and a comma between the others — The man was tall, dark and handsome.
D. Degrees of Comparison
Comparative compares two → add -er + than (Lata is taller than Sita). Superlative compares a group → the + -est (Lata is the tallest of all).
| Adjective type | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|
| Short (tall, cheap) | add -er (taller, cheaper) | add -est (the tallest) |
| Long (famous, beautiful) | more + adjective (more famous) | most + adjective (the most famous) |
| Ending in consonant + y (heavy, easy) | drop y, add -ier (heavier, easier) | drop y, add -iest (the heaviest) |
| Irregular (good, bad, far) | better, worse, farther/further | the best, the worst, the farthest |
Do not: use ‘very’ before a comparative (use much / far older, not ‘very older’); use a double comparative/superlative (✘ more stronger, ✘ most strongest).
Comparing Equals & Double Comparatives
- Equals: as + adjective + as → Bibhu is as fat as Sudhir. Negative → not as/so … as (Subodh is not so tall as Raja).
- Double comparatives (change in progress): repeat the comparative — fatter and fatter; more and more beautiful.
- Parallel comparatives: The older I get, the wiser I become.
💡 Quick Recap
① Attributive = before the noun; predicative = after a link verb. ② Some adjectives are fixed in one position (afraid, main). ③ -ed = how a person feels; -ing = the cause / continuing action. ④ Order: opinion → size → age → colour → origin → material → noun. ⑤ Comparative = -er + than; superlative = the + -est; long adjectives use more/most.