PARTS OF SPEECH - ADJECTIVES by Samson Mwita

ADJECTIVES

This is a word that is used to express the quality, quantity, number and to point out the person or thing. In other words an adjective is a word used to modify or describe a noun or pronoun. It tells us what something or someone is or seems like. Adjectives have two uses namely;

a)    Attributive use

This is when they are used with nouns. For example;

Beautiful girl, long speech, smart student

b)   Predicative use

This is when they are used with verbs. For example;

She is beautiful,

The speech was long

The student appeared smart

Kinds of adjectives.

v  Adjective of quality

v  Adjective of quantity/ number

v  Demonstrative adjective

v  Distributive adjective

v  Interrogative adjective

v  Possessive adjective

v  Emphasizing adjective

v  Exclamatory adjective

v  Proper adjective

1.    Adjective of Quality/Descriptive Adjective.

This is an adjective that is used to talk about the kind or quality of a person or thing. For example Wealthy, regional, industrial, fundamental, elementary, pretty, good, funny, white, 

ü  Dar-es-Salaam is an industrial city.

ü  Reginald Mengi is a wealthy person.

ü  Good student

ü  Large room

2.    Adjective of Quantity/Number

This is an adjective that is used to show “how many” or “how much” of a noun. For example one, all, many, fifty, double, few, much, little, few, any, several, seventh, tenth, enough, no, whole, some, half

I met two students in the eighth room.

I need many books and few pens 

I have a first class degree

3.    Demonstrative Adjective

This is an adjective that is used to point out the thing or person we are talking about. They help to tell which one? For example; this, that, these, those, such.

‘This and these’ point out people, places, or things that are nearby. ‘That and those’ point out people, places or things that are farther away.

This book, that boy, such colours, these leaders, those flowers

4.    Distributive Adjective

This is an adjective that is used to refer to each and every person separately. For example, each, every, either, neither, any, none, both.

Each student was given a book

Every citizen must obey the laws of the country.

Neither member accepted the proposal.

5.    Interrogative Adjective

This is an adjective that is used to ask a question.

For example; what, which, whose

What language do you like?

Which book did you read?

Whose car are you using?

6.    Possessive Adjective

This is an adjective used to talk about ownership or possession. For example; my, our, your, his, her, their, its.

My students are intelligent.

Our team has won again.

Your book is so nice.

His brother died yesterday.

Her mother is a doctor.

Their family is living in Musoma.

The dog swayed its tail.

7.    Emphasizing Adjective

This is an adjective that is used to emphasize a noun. For example own, very.

I left him in my own house.

I took it with my own hands.

This is the very day I was waiting for.

She is the very woman I wished to marry.

8.    Exclamatory Adjective

This is an adjective that is used when making an exclamation. The word “what” is known as an exclamatory adjective.

What a beauty!

What an accident!

What a child I bore.

9.    Proper Adjective

This is an adjective that is made/derived from a proper noun. Proper adjective are capitalised as we do to proper nouns. The endings most often used to change proper nouns into proper adjectives are –(i)an, -ish, and -ese. For example; Tanzanian, American, African, Brazilian, Congolese, Portuguese, Irish, Danish, Scottish, etc. Others are, Greek, Iraqi, Israeli, Swiss, Dutch, Thai,

This is a Tanzanian flag.

He is speaking with British accent

Have you ever seen a Chinese bamboo?

His Australian hat is made of leather.

He is a French citizen.

10. Articles

The words ‘a, an and the’ are special adjectives called articles. An article can come before a noun or before another adjective. For example;

The ball hit an old woman

A girl narrated an interesting story in the church.

There are two types of articles;

1.    Indefinite articles

2.    Definite article.

Indefinite Articles

This is an article which does not refer to any particular person or thing. These are ‘a’ and ‘an’

Definite Article.

This is an article which is used to refer to a particular person or thing. This is article ‘the’

Uses of indefinite articles (a and an).

a)      Indefinite article “a” is used before countable singular nouns beginning with a consonant sound. (Not a consonant letter).

For example; a boy, a house, a European fashion, a one way ticket, a Ugandan athlete.

b)      Indefinite article “an” is used before countable singular nouns beginning with a vowel sound. (not a vowel letter)

An hour, an honour, an honest man, an orange, an umbrella, an heir

c)      a/an is used when mentioning something or a person for the first time. The assumption is that the listener/reader is not yet aware of whom/what we are referring to. After the first mention we use ‘the’.

I saw a car moving toward the restaurant. Then a man got out of the car. The man was my uncle.

d)      a/an is used to refer to things that are not clear or not known to us. This is where the concept of indefinite comes in.

A boy is calling you (who?)

A book is lost. (Which book?)

e)      a/an is used when describing somebody’s nationality.

He is a Ugandan.

She is Japanese.

Nataraj is an Indian.

f)       a/an can also be used before some abbreviations.

He is a CCM member.

I lost an ATM card.

I have a B.A (ed)

g)      a/an can be used to change a proper noun into a common noun.

Magufuli is a Nyerere of our time.

Arusha is a Geneva of Africa.

Uses of a definite article (the)

1.     Unique reference.

‘The’ is used with things that are unique in nature; something that is the only one in the world or in a certain place. For example;

The sun, the moon, the president, the kitchen, the earth, the manager, the office, the library, the washroom, the church, the chapel.

The earth revolves around the sun

The headmaster is in the office

2.     Generic reference

‘The’ is used for singular nouns representing the whole class.

For example;

We must educate the girl of this nation [all/every girl]

The elephant is a beautiful animal. [all/every elephant]

The teacher should be respected by the society.[all/every teacher]

3.     Backward reference

‘The’ is used when mentioning something you have mentioned earlier. It is used to talk about things/persons mentioned for the second time. For example;

I bought a book. The book was written by sir Mwita.

She came with a man. The man was wearing an expensive suit.

4.     Forward reference

‘The’ is used with nouns that are clarified later in the sentence. Something mentioned is unknown but it is made known by the words that come after it –the post modifiers. For example;

 The book that you gave me is very nice. [Which book? =the one you gave me]

The school my son is studying is called Heritage. [Which school? =Heritage]

The man you saw at the roadside is my teacher. [Who? =the one you saw]

5.     ‘The’ is used before the Names of rivers, gulfs, sea, group of islands, chains of mountains

The Nile, The Indian ocean, The Appalachian mountains, The Persian gulf, 

6.     ‘The’ is used before the Well known books.

The bible, the Quran, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Oxford Dictionary, The Webster Dictionary.

7.     ‘The’ is used before the Superlatives. For example;

The highest, the most interesting, the best, the largest,

Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa.

Ashura is the most beautiful girl in form three.

8.     ‘The’ is used before the Double comparatives. For example;

The higher you go the cooler it becomes.

The fitter you are the longer you will live.

The more I earn the more I spend.

The more the books you read, the more the knowledge you get and the higher you will achieve in your life.

9.     ‘The’ is used before the Adjectives used as nouns. For example;

The poor, the rich, the weak, the needy,

We must help the poor and the needy.

The young must obey the old.

10.                        ‘The’ is used In compass directions.

The north, the east, the south, the west, the North-east, the south-west.

11.                        ‘The’ is used before the press; Newspapers and magazines

The Citizen, The Daily News, The Guardian,

12.                        ‘The’ is used before the Famous historical events. For example;

The Majimaji War, The MAUMAU Movement, The Great Economic Depression, The Arusha Declaration.

13.                        ‘The’ is used before the Nationalities and communities. For example;

The kuryans, the Indians, the Kenyans, the Khoi-sans,

14.                        ‘The’ is used before the names of some countries and provinces. For example;

The United Republic of Tanzania, The United Kingdom, The Soviet Union, The United Arab, The United States Of America.

COMPARISONS OF ADJECTIVES

An adjective may change form to show how one thing compares with another.

Some adjectives have three degrees of comparison

1.    Positive degree.

This is used to talk about the existence of some quality and there is no comparison. It talks about the quality of a person, place, or thing. For example; good, bad, tall, high, beautiful, large, big, smart, clever, nice, black, interesting, dangerous, poor, rich etc.

Samson is a good author.

Nyerere was a competent public speaker.

Magufuli is a powerful president.

2.    Comparative degree.

This is used to compare the qualities of two persons, places, ideas or things. To compare two things we use the comparative form of adjectives. In comparative form most adjectives especially for one-syllable and some two-syllable adjectives add (-r –er, or –ier) to their positive form followed by ‘than’.

Sometimes the spelling of some adjectives changes when –r, or er is added.  For example;

Rules	Positive degree	Comparative degree
Adjectives ending in ‘e’ only the ‘r’ is added	Large Nice Cute	Larger than Nicer than Cuter than
Most adjectives add –er to the positive form	Deep Clear Old	Deeper than Clearer than Older than
When the positive ends in ‘y’ preceded by a consonant, ‘y’ is changed into ‘i’ then –er is added	Hungry Happy Lazy Heavy	Hungrier than Happier than Lazier than Heavier than
Adjectives ending in a consonant, preceded by a single vowel, the final consonant is doubled the –er is added.	Big Hot Thin Sad Flat	Bigger than Hotter than Thinner than Sadder than Flatter than
Long adjectives especially those with more than one syllable form their comparatives by adding ‘more’ before them.	Beautiful Dangerous Intelligent Faithful	More Beautiful than More Dangerous than More Intelligent than More Faithful than
Some adjectives have irregular forms of comparative degree	Good/well Bad Much Little Many Fore	Better than Worse than More than Less than More than Former than

Examples

Blood is thicker than water.

The boy is taller than his sister.

This year the weather is worse than last year.

English is more interesting than history.

He gave me less than i expected.

3.    Superlative degree.

This is used to compare the qualities of more than two persons, places, ideas or things. To compare more than two things we use the superlative form of adjectives. This is the form of an adjective that expresses the highest degree of something.

In superlative form the same rules apply as in comparative form except that in superlative degree we add (-st –est, or –iest) to their positive forms preceded by ‘the’ for one-syllable and some two-syllable adjectives and “the most” for the longer ones with more than one syllable.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Large Nice Cute	Larger than Nicer than Cuter than	The Largest The Nicest The Cutest
Deep Clear Old	Deeper than Clearer than older	The Deepest The Clearest The oldest
Hungry Happy Lazy Heavy	Hungrier than Happier than Lazier than Heavier than	The Hungriest The Happiest The Laziest The Heaviest
Big Hot Thin Sad Flat	Bigger than Hotter than Thinner than Sadder than Flatter than	The Biggest The Hottest The Thinnest The Saddest The Flattest
Beautiful Dangerous Intelligent Faithful	More Beautiful than More Dangerous than More Intelligent than More Faithful than	The Most Beautiful The Most Dangerous The Most Intelligent The Most Faithful
Good/well Bad Much Little Many Fore	Better than Worse than More than Less than More than Former than	The best The worst The most The least The most The foremost

More examples

Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa.

Iringa is the coldest region in Tanzania

Rachel is the most intelligent girl in form four.

He is the most handsome man in the whole village.

Magufuli is the most powerful president in Africa

English is the best subject.

	EXERCISES
1	Use the underlined words to form proper adjectives.
	a.       Ruins of Rome.
	b.      Literature from Poland
	c.       Hotels of Europe.
	d.      Imports from Ghana
	e.       Rivers of Sweden.
	f.        Pyramids in Egypt
2	Write the form of the adjective in the parentheses that correctly completes each sentence. 1.      What is ____________________place in the world? (cold) 2.      Is Kiswahili _________for Tanzanians _______ English? (easy). 3.      Which is ________________building in Dar-es-Salaam? (tall) 4.      What is _____________river in North America? (long) 5.      Apples are __________fruits in the market. (expensive) 6.      A plane is a more ______________ means of transport _______ a bus. (comfortable) 7.      Sandra is ______ (experienced) Simon, so I think she'll get the job. 8.      When you go to India, take this guidebook. It's   ____________ (useful) that one. 9.      Timothy's backache was getting  ____________ (bad) so Sally told him to see a doctor. 10.  I have to get up an hour  ____________  (early) tomorrow because I need more time to prepare for a meeting. 11.   It took Larry an hour to put everything away, but now his room looks ____________ (tidy) it's ever been. 12.  A: How are you now you’ve had a rest? 13.  B: I feel ____________ (good), thanks. Can I have a cup of tea? 14.  Mark is a really good driving instructor. I've never met a  ____________ (patient) person in all my life. 15.  I can't understand how to play this computer game. Can I change it for an ____________  (easy) one? 16.  A: I'm exhausted!  Are we ever going to get to the top of this mountain? 17.  B: It's ____________  (far) I thought but we'll be there soon. 18.  The train journey across India was  ____________  (difficult) I had thought.
3	1.      Charlotte is ____________ (young) than her sister Elizabeth. 2.      Sam didn't have much money so he had to buy a ____________ (cheap) CD player than the one he wanted. 3.      By far____________ (easy) way to see a big city is to take a sightseeing bus tour. 4.      Sarah is ____________ (hard-working) person I've ever met. She never seems to take a break. 5.      We took the train because it was____________ (convenient) than travelling by bus. 6.      I went to the beach last year but it rained the whole time. It was  ____________ (bad) holiday I've ever had! 7.      Did you know Chile has ____________ (high) volcano in the world? 8.      When the concert was cancelled Vicky was ____________      (disappointed) than I was. She had really been looking forward to it. 9.      He was ____________ (fast) runner in the world for ten years. 10.  Philip enjoyed the lecture on space travel. He thought it was ____________ (interesting) than the others. 11.  Write the correct degree of comparison from the adjectives given in the brackets. a.       Your ideas are...................................................... (good) mine. b.      Kwembe has married............................ (pretty) girl in the village. c.       The Dodoma train accident is................................. (bad) accident I ever saw in my life. I had ......................results in the Mathematics test but Farida’s results were................. (good) The floods this year are ...............but last year’s were ...........(bad) Mount Meru is not as.....................................as Mount Kilimanjaro which is ............................mountain in Africa (high) An antelope runs .......................................a dog (fast) A bag of cotton is .................................. a bag of beans (light) Most girls wear shirts but Maria’s shirt is .................................of all (clean) j.        The .......................animal in the National Park is the giraffe (tall)