There are 9 parts of speech or word classes in English language:
– nouns
– pronouns
– determiners
– verbs
– prepositions
– adjectives
– adverbs
– conjunctions
– interjections

We use adjectives to express:
– conditions,
– quality,
– characteristics,
– feelings/emotions
of someone or something.

John is sick.
Sick is a condition for someone.
Sick is an adjective.

That car is new.
New is a condition for something.
New is an adjective.

Jane is smart.
Smart is a quality for someone.
Smart is an adjective.

That movie is awesome.
Awesome is a quality for something.
Awesome is an adjective.

John is tall.
Tall is a physical characteristic for someone.
Tall is an adjective.

That car is red.
Red is a physical characteristic for something.
Red is an adjective.

Jane is brave.
Brave is a non-physical characteristic of someone.
Brave is an adjective.

That lesson is boring.
Boring is a non-physical characteristic of something.
Boring is an adjective.

James is happy.
Happy is a feeling.
Happy is an adjective.

How to Use Adjectives

(1) We can use adjectives after linking verbs

linking verb + adjective

Linking verbs:
am
is
are
was
were
feel
seem
look
sound
taste

– That house is big.
– Jane was worried.
– John looked happy.

(2) We can use adjectives in front of nouns:

adjective + noun

– That is a big house.
– John is a smart student.
– Those are expensive shoes.

(3) We can use adjective to describe pronouns.
Jane is beautiful.
She is beautiful.

Those students looked happy.
They looked happy.

We use comparative adjectives to compare two things.

Jack is taller than John.
– taller = comparative adjective
– Comparative adjective ‘taller’ compares Jack and John.

French is more difficult than English.
– more difficult = comparative adjective
– Comparative adjective ‘more difficult’ compares French and English.

How to Form Comparative Adjectives

(1) one-syllable adjectives:

adjective + er

old -> older
fast -> faster
warm -> warmer
quick -> quicker
tall -> taller

(2) one-syllable adjectives ending with ‘e’:

adjective + r

nice -> nicer
large -> larger
brave -> braver

(3) one-syllable adjectives ending with consonant + vocal + consonant:

adjective + last consonant + er

big -> bigger
sad -> sadder
fat -> fatter
wet -> wetter

(4) two-syllable adjectives ending with ‘y’:

adjective -y + ier

busy -> busier
happy -> happier
lazy -> lazier
easy -> easier
cozy -> cozier

(5) two-syllable adjectives NOT ending with ‘y’:

more + adjective

modern -> more modern
pleasant -> more pleasant
nervous -> more nervous
perfect -> more perfect
awful -> more awful

(6) adjectives with 3 syllables or more:

more + adjective

complicated -> more complicated
comfortable -> more comfortable
difficult -> more difficult
expensive -> more expensive
beautiful -> more beautiful

(7) Exceptions:

There are some adjectives that can use BOTH -er from dan more form:

clever
– cleverer (correct)
– more clever (correct)

simple
– simpler (correct)
– more simple (correct)

common
– commoner (correct)
– more common (correct)

Irregular Comparative Adjectives

There are some adjectives with irregular comparative forms.

good -> better
well -> better
bad -> worse
far -> farther/further

Additional Notes

1. We use comparative adjectives to compare 2 things only, not 3, 10 or 100 etc.

Jack is taller than John.
We are comparing 2 people: Jack and John.

His car is more expensive than my car.
We are comparing 2 things: his car and my car.

2. We can use comparative adjectives to compare 1 thing with a group of other things.

Mount Everest is higher than all other mountains.
We are comparing 1 thing (Mount Everest) and a group of other things (all other mountains).

3. If we are comparing 2 people or things in a sentence, we use ‘than’ after comparative adjectives.

Chris is taller than John.
Chris is taller John. (wrong)

Is French more difficult than English?
Is French more difficult English? (wrong)

4. If the 2 things that we are comparing are not in the same sentence or clause, we can use comparative adjectives without ‘than.’

America is big, but Russia is bigger.
America is big. However, Russia is bigger.
We need a more modern computer.