English-Grammar - Formation of Adjectives


English-Grammar

Formation of Adjectives

 

The words that add a description to a sentence and alter nouns are known as Adjectives. The words that describe a name, place, person, animal, thing or that depicts the number of the noun are known as adjectives.

Adjectives could be any single or compound word that modifies the noun.

Formation of Adjectives

Adjectives can be formed from nouns, verbs, and other adjectives.

 

Formation of Adjectives from Nouns:

Adjectives can be formed from nouns by adding suffixes to a noun.

If the noun has an ‘e’ in the ending, it is removed and -y or -al or -ial is added as a suffix to the noun to form an adjective.

If the noun has a ‘y’ in the ending, it is removed and the suffix -lyor -ish or -ic is added to form an adjective.

Examples:

Luck - Lucky

Hair - Hairy

Storm - Stormy

Length - Lengthy

 

Accident - Accidental

Nature - Natural

Magic - Magical

Commerce - Commercial

Finance - Financial

 

Man - Manly

Human - Humanly

King - Kingly

 

Girl - Girlish

Child - Childish

Book - Bookish

 

Tragedy - Tragic

Artist - Artistic

 

Mystery - Mysterious

Fame - Famous

Miracle - Miraculous

 

Trouble - Troublesome

 

Question - Questionable

Laugh - Laughable

 

Beauty - Beautiful

 

It was very childish of her to behave like that in front of the audience.

My younger brother is the most troublesome of the lot.

 

Formation of Adjectives from Verbs:       

Suffixes like ‘-y’, ‘-able’, ‘-ous’, ‘-al’, ‘-ful’, ‘-ic’, ‘-less’, ‘-ing’ and ‘-ive’ can be added to verbs to form adjectives.

Examples:

Speed - speedy

 

Read - readable

Enjoy - enjoyable

shake - shakable

laugh - laughable

 

continue - continuous

 

judge - judgmental

 

hate - hateful

help - helpful

forget - forgetful

 

see - scenic

 

tire - tireless

 

create - creative

talk - talkative

 

annoy - annoying

amuse - amusing

 

Switzerland is a very scenic place.

Arvind is a very annoying person.

 

Formation of Adjectives from Other Adjectives:

An adjective is formed from another adjective by adding suffix like ‘-ly’, ‘-ive’, ‘-al’, ‘-ish’, ‘-ier’, ‘-est’.

Examples:

Weak - weakly

 

Correct - corrective

 

Comic - comical

 

Green – greenish

Red - reddish

 

Easy - easier

Funny - funnier

 

Fine - finest

 

The sky was reddish in the evening.

My brother is funnier than I expected him to be.

 

Formation of Compound Adjectives:

When two or more adjectives join together to modify the same noun they are known as compound adjectives. They are separated with a hyphen.

The two words used to form a compound adjective can be a combination of:

Number + noun

Adjective + noun

Noun + adjective

Noun + present/past participle

Adjective + past participle

Examples:

Arvind is going on a two-week vacation.

They stay in a twenty-story building.

It was a last-minute plan.

There was a ten-minute delay in the meeting. 

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