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.

Intensifiers are adverbs that make adjectives stronger, more intense or extreme.

It’s a very interesting story.
very = intensifier

Pattern: intensifier + adjective

Everyone was very happy.
It’s a really interesting story.
Everyone was extremely happy.
The food was amazingly good.
The restaurant is particularly popular with young people.
Prague is remarkably beautiful.
He was unusually polite yesterday.

– enough
Pattern: adjective + enough

He is not old enough to drive a car.
He is not enough old to drive a car. (wrong)

These shoes are not big enough for me.
These shoes are not enough big for me. (wrong)

Intensifiers – strong adjectives

very big – enormous, huge
very small – tiny
very clever – brilliant
very bad – awful, terrible, disgusting, dreadful
very sure – certain
very good – excellent, perfect, ideal, wonderful, splendid
very tasty – delicious

Strong adjectives already contain ‘very’ in their meanings and are NOT used with ‘very.’

Their garden is very big. (correct)
Their garden is enormous. (correct)
Their garden is very enormous. (wrong)

Strong adjectives are usually used with intensifiers.

intensifier + strong adjective

The film was absolutely awful.
I’m not completely sure.
The smell is really disgusting.
She is totally gorgeous.
He looked utterly miserable.
That’s quite impossible.

We can use intensifiers in comparative adjectives.

He is much older than me.
He is a far better player than me.
New York is a lot bigger than Boston.

Mitigators are adverbs that make adjectives weaker, less intense or extreme.

Mitigators are the opposite of intensifiers.

By the end of the day, we were very tired.
– very = intensifiers

By the end of the day, we were rather tired.
– rather = mitigators

Pattern: mitigator + adjective

The instructions were rather complicated.
My nephew is quite clever.
The game was pretty good.

quite + normal adjective = mitigators
quite = rather
My nephew is quite clever.

quite + strong adjective = intensifiers
quite = very
The movie was quite awful.

pretty + normal adjective = mitigators
pretty = rather (informal)
The game was pretty good.

pretty + strong adjective = intensifiers
pretty = very (informal)
The idea sounds pretty cool.

We can use mitigators in comparative adjectives.

She’s a bit younger than I am.
Today’s test was a little more difficult.
This model is slightly more expensive.

Noun modifiers are nouns that are in front of other nouns and explain/describe those nouns.

the village church
– church = noun
– village = noun modifier

the car door
– door = noun
– car = noun modifier

the kitchen window
– window = noun
– kitchen = noun modifier

the chair leg
– leg = noun
– chair = noun modifier

my coat pocket
– pocket = noun
– coat = noun modifier

We DO NOT use noun modifiers to form possessive ‘s.

the car door (correct)
the car’s door (wrong)

the kitchen window (correct)
the kitchen’s window (wrong)

the chair leg (correct)
the chair’s leg (wrong)

We can use noun modifiers to show what something is made from.

a gold watch
– watch = noun
– gold = noun modifier
– a gold watch = a watch made from gold

a leather purse
– purse = noun
– leather = noun modifier
– a leather purse = a purse made from leather

a metal box
– box = noun
– metal = noun modifier
– a metal box = a box made from metal

Noun modifiers are usually used with nouns ending with -er.

an office worker
– worker = noun
– office = noun modifier

a jewelry maker
– maker = noun
– jewelry = noun modifier

a potato peeler
– peeler = noun
– potato = noun modifier

Noun modifiers are usually used with nouns ending with -ing.

a shopping list
– list = noun
– shopping = noun modifier

a swimming lesson
– lesson = noun
– swimming = noun modifier

a washing machine
– machine = noun
– washing = noun modifier

We can use weight, duration, age, distance and value as noun modifiers.

a thirty-kilogram suitcase
– suitcase = noun
– thirty-kilogram = noun modifier

a two-minute rest
– rest = noun
– two-minute = noun modifier

a fifty-kilometre journey
– journey = noun
– fifty-kilometre = noun modifier

a five-thousand-euro watch
– watch = noun
– five-thousand-euro = noun modifier

When used as noun modifiers, these forms are using singular forms.

a thirty-kilogram suitcase (correct)
a thirty-kilograms suitcase (wrong)

a two-minute rest (correct)
a two-minutes rest (wrong)

a 30-day program (correct)
a 30-days program (wrong)