Adjective Formation in English Grammar

 

Adjective Formation in English Grammar

Introduction

Adjectives give us more information about people, places, animals and things. Some adjectives can be formed from nouns, verbs and even other adjectives by adding a prefix or a suffix.

Learn about adjective formation with Lingolia’s online lesson. In the exercises, you can practise forming adjectives from nouns and verbs.

Formation

We can use suffixes to change nouns and verbs into adjectives, or to change the meaning of an adjective. Some suffixes have a general meaning whilst others simply transform words into adjectives.

• The suffix -less usually means without something whilst the suffix -ful usually means to have something.
  

  Example:

  (with hope) hopeful ← hope → hopeless (without hope)

• Not all words can be made into adjectives pairs like this. It’s best to check your dictionary.
  

  Example:

  homeless (but not: homefull)

  beautiful (but not: beautyless)

• The suffix -ish changes nouns and adjectives into adjectives that mean like something.
  

  Example:

  Don’t be childish. (like a child)
  The jacket is a bluish colour. (like blue)

• For materials we can add -en to nouns to create adjectives that mean made of.
  

  Example:

  A wooden chair.
  A woolen jumper.

• When added to a verb, -able creates adjectives that express ability.
  

  Example:

  Is the water drinkable?

Spelling Rules

We don’t normally add or take away letters, we simply add the suffix to the end of the word. However, there are some exceptions:

• We double the final consonant in words that have a short stressed vowel before the final consonant.

  Example:

  sun → sunny

• A -y at the end of a word changes to to -i.
  

  Example:

  bounty → bountiful

• An -e at the end of a word is dropped when the suffix begins with a vowel, but -ee, -oe, -ye remain unchanged.
  

  Example:

  fortune → fortunate
  agree → agreeable

• An -l is dropped before adding the suffix -ful to words that end in –ll.
  

  Example:

  skill → skilful

There are many more suffixes that we can use to create adjectives. The tables below provide an overview of adjective formation using verbs and nouns. Unfortunately, there are no rules to follow but we can always use a dictionary.

Table: Adjectives from Nouns

This table shows a list suffixes or adjective endings that can be added to nouns to form adjectives.

suffix	noun	adjective	example
-able	comfort	comfortable	This chair is so comfortable.
-al	brute	brutal	He lifted the car off the ground with brutal strength.
-ate	passion	passionate	Ms Smith is a passionate teacher.
-en	gold	golden	She wears a golden bracelet.
-ful	beauty	beautiful	Look at those beautiful flowers.
-ible	response	responsible	Angela is very responsible.
-ic	history	historic	This town has many historic sites.
-ical	alphabet	alphabetical	The names are in alphabetical order.
-ish	child	childish	Don’t be so childish.
-less	home	homeless	If I don’t find a new flat soon, I’ll be homeless.
-ly	day	daily	Anna goes for a daily run.
-some	trouble	troublesome	She is experiencing a troublesome pregnancy.
-ous	fame	famous	Who is the most famous person in the world?
-y	wind	windy	A windy day.

Table: Adjectives from Verbs

This table shows a list suffixes or adjective endings that can be added to verbs to form adjectives.

suffix	verb	adjective	example
-able	read	readable	The teacher’s handwriting was not very readable.
-ative	inform	informative	The lecture was very informative.
-ed	annoy	annoyed	an annoyed glance
-ing	confusing	confusing	The question is confusing.
-tive	produce	productive	Today has been very productive.

-ing or -ed?

Many adjectives for feelings can end in either -ing and -ed.

• We use adjectives that end in -ing to describe the effect of a noun. In the case, the -ing adjective can also be rewritten as a verb.
  

  Example:

  Erica’s job is boring.

  The job bores Erica.

  Michael thinks grammar is confusing.

  Grammar confuses Michael

  My mother is so embarrassing.

  My mother embarrasses me.

• We use adjectives that end in -ed to describe how a person feels. In this case, the verb be an be replaced by a linking verb (look, seem, feel etc.).
  

  Example:

  Erica is bored with her job.

  Erica seems bored with her job.

  Michael is confused by grammar.

  He looks confused by grammar.

  I was embarrassed about the hole in my trousers.

  I feel embarrassed about the hole.

See participles and confusing words for more information and exercises.

Country Adjectives

Adjectives that describe nationality are always written with capital letters.

• We usually form country adjectives by adding -n to the end of the word.
  

  Example:

  America → American

• But we can also use -ese, -i, -ian and -ish to build country adjectives.
  

  Example:

  Japan → Japanese

The table below provides an overview of country adjectives.

suffix	country	adjective	example
-ese	China Portugal Suda	Chinese Portuguese Sudanese	In China, we met a lot of Chinese people.
-i	Pakistan Yemen Qatar	Pakistani Yemeni Qatari	Pakistani cuisine is often served with rice or bread.
-ian	Canada Italy Palestine	Canadian Italian Palastinian	Canadian people are famous for being very polite.
-ish	Great Britain Spain Turkey	British Spanish Turkish	British weather is not the best.
-n	Austria Jamaica Russia	Austrian Jamaican Russian	Jamaican music is famous all of the world.

• Some countries have irregular forms.
  

  Example:

  Germany → German
  France → French
  Greece → Greek
  Switzerland → Swiss
  Ireland → Irish

For a detailed list of countries, languages and adjectives see: List of Countries and Nationalities

Opposite Adjectives

dis-, in- and un-

Most adjectives in English have an opposite adjective: big/small, hot/cold, tall/short, good/bad etc. However, we can also use prefixes to form the opposites of many adjectives. The most common prefixes for forming opposite adjectives are un-, dis-, and in-. Some examples are listed in the table below.

prefix	adjective	opposite adjective	example
un-	lucky	unlucky	Jerry is a very unlucky person.
	comfortable	uncomfortable	This chair is uncomfortable.
dis-	honest	dishonest	It’s dishonest to lie about something.
	respectful	disrespectful	Janice was disrespectful to the teacher.
in-	correct	incorrect	The answer is incorrect.
	humane	inhumane	Torture is inhumane.

il-, im- and ir-

The prefixes il-, im- and ir- are only used before particular letters. il- comes before words that start with an -l, im- comes before words that start with an -m or a -p and ir- comes before words that start with an -r.

prefix	adjective	opposite adjective	example
il-	legal	illegal	It’s illegal to bring fruit into this country.
	logical	illogical	His thought process was illogical.
im-	patient	impatient	Matthew is an impatient man.
	mature	immature	My little sister is so immature.
ir-	regular	irregular	The verbs be, do and have are irregular.
	responsible	irresponsible	It’s irresponsible to drive if you have been drinking.

 Online exercises to improve your English

Our online exercises for English help you to learn and practice grammar rules in an interactive manner. To make sure that you understand the correct answers, our answer keys offer simple explanations as well as handy tips and tricks.

Making Adjectives – Exercises

• Making Adjectives – mixed exercise

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Making Adjectives - Additional Exercises

  Become a Lingolia Plus member to access these additional exercises.

1. Adjectives from Nouns (1) B1
2. Adjectives from Nouns (2) B1
3. Adjective from Verbs (1) B1
4. Adjectives from Verbs (2) B1
5. Adjectives – -ing and -ed (1) B1
6. Adjectives -ing and -ed (2) B1
7. Adjectives – Nationalities (1) A1
8. Adjectives – Nationalities (2) A1
9. Adjectives – Opposites (1) B2
10. Adjectives – Opposites (2) B2

Source: https://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/adjectives/making-adjectives