A Read the following passage and notice the underlined words.
Mr. Haque is a happy man. He has an intelligent wife. They have three children. All of them are bright students. They are gentle and polite. Their parents are proud of them. They come of a rich family but they are not arrogant in their attitude.
These words describe, qualify or modify a noun or pronoun in the passage. For example, 'happy' describes the man named Mr Haque, 'intelligent' describes his wife. These and other underlined words in the passage are examples of adjectives.
Say what nouns or pronouns the other adjectives in the passage describe.
- 'Bright' describes _______
- 'Gentle' and 'polite' describe_______
- 'Proud' describes________
- 'Rich' describes _______
- 'Arrogant' describes ________
B Look at the following sentences and notice the positions of the adjectives:
I saw a dead cat.
The cat was dead.
I found the cat dead.
In all these sentences the adjective 'dead' describes a cat. But they are used in different positions of the sentences. Now say where the adjective is used in the sentences:
In the 1st sentence the adjective is used before _________
In the 2nd sentence the adjective is used _____________
In the 3rd sentence the adjective is used______________
Thus positions of adjectives in sentences vary.
C Read the following sentences and mark the adjectives in bold:
Mr. Karim is a very rich man. He is richer than his brother. He is the richest man in our village.
These examples show three different uses of adjectives, the first refers to one person, the second refers to comparison between two, and the third refers to one among many. These are known as degrees of an adjective. When it refers to one person only, for example, 'rich' it is called the positive degree, 'but when a comparison between two is involved, for example 'richer", it is known as the comparative degree and when one among many is referred, for example 'the richest', it is known as the superlative degree.
Read these sentences too.
Rina is a beautiful girl. She is more beautiful than Shima. She is the most beautiful girl in our class.
Say which of the three examples of adjectives above refers to which degree.
Note: The positive form of an adjective is used when there is no comparison and it refers to the state or status of a person or thing. The comparative form is used when two persons or things are compared. The superlative form is used when more than two things are compared.
Now complete the following sentences with the appropriate degrees of adjectives:
Samiha is a _____ girl. She is _____ than her sister. In fact, she is the _____ person in her family. But she is not so _____ . Her sister is more_____ than she is.
