FORM AND FUNCTION OF ADJECTIVES

Form of Adjectives

Rules

1. Adjectives are invariable:
They do not change their form depending on the gender or number of the noun.

A hot potato

Some hot potatoes

2. To emphasise or strengthen the meaning of an adjective use 'very' or 'really':

A very hot potato

Some really hot potatoes.

(BUT see also Modifiers/Adverbs)

Position of adjectives

a) Usually in front of a noun: A beautiful girl.

b) After verbs like "to be", "to seem" , "to look", "to taste":

Examples

• The girl is beautiful
• You look tired
• This meat tastes funny.

c) After the noun: in some fixed expressions:

Examples

• The Princess Royal
• The President elect
• a court martial

d) After the noun with the adjectives involved, present, concerned:

Examples

1. I want to see the people involved/concerned (= the people who have something to do with the matter)
2. Here is a list of the people present (= the people who were in the building or at the meeting)

Be careful! When these adjectives are used before the noun they have a different meaning:

• An involved discussion = detailed, complex
• A concerned father = worried, anxious
• The present situation = current, happening now

 FORM AND FUNCTION OF ADJECTIVES

Function of Adjectives

Adjectives can:

Describe feelings or qualities:

Examples

• He is a lonely man
• They are honest people

Give nationality or origin:

Examples

• Pierre is French
• This clock is German
• Our house is Victorian

Tell more about a thing's characteristics:

Examples

• A wooden table.
• The knife is sharp.

Tell us about age:

Examples

• He's young man
• My coat is very old

Tell us about size and measurement:

Examples

• John tall man.
• This is a very long film.

Tell us about colour:

Examples

• Paul wore a red shirt.
• The sunset was crimson and gold.

Tell us about material/what something is made of:

Examples

• It was a wooden table
• She wore a cotton dress

Tell us about shape:

Examples

• A rectangular box
• A square envelope

Express a judgement or a value:

Examples

• A fantastic film
• Grammar is boring.

THE POSSESSIVE FORM OF NOUNS

Forming the possessive

The possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries, and animals. 'Belonging to' or 'ownership' is one of the relationships it expresses :

• John owns a car. ('John' is the possessor or owner)
• It is John's car.

• America has some gold reserves. ('America' is the owner)
• They are America's gold reserves.

It can also express other relationships, for example:

where someone works or studies or spends time:

• John goes to this school. This is John's school.
• John sleeps in this room. This is John's room.

a family relationship:

• John's mother
• The Queen's daughter

qualities:

• John's patience.
• The politician's hypocrisy.

Form

To form the possessive, add 's ('apostrophe -s') to the noun.
If the noun is plural, or already ends in -s, just add:' (an apostrophe).

For names ending in -s:

In speaking we add the sound /z/ to the name, but in writing it is possible to use either 's or just '. The 's form is more common. e.g. Thomas's book, James's shop.

Examples

• The car of John = John's car.
• The room of the girls = The girls' room.
• Clothes for men = Men's clothes.
• The sister of Charles = Charles' sister.
• The boat of the sailors = The sailors' boat.

There are also some fixed expressions where the possessive form is used:

Time expressions	Other expressions
a day's work	For God's sake!
a fortnight's holiday	a pound's worth of apples.
a month's pay	the water's edge
today's newspaper	a stone's throw away (= very near)
in a year's time	at death's door (= very ill)
	in my mind's eye (= in my imagination)

The possessive is also used to refer to shops, restaurants, churches and colleges, using the name or job title of the owner.

Examples

the grocer's	the doctor's	the vet's
the newsagent's	the chemist's	Smith's
the dentist's	Tommy Tucker's	Luigi's
Saint Mary's	Saint James's

1. Shall we go to Luigi's for lunch?
2. I've got an appointment at the dentist's at eleven o'clock.
3. Is Saint Mary's an all-girls school?

USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS WITH NOUNS

Capital letters are used with:

Names and titles of people

• Winston Churchill
• Marilyn Monroe
• the Queen of England
• the President of the United States
• the Headmaster of Eton
• Doctor Mathews
• Professor Samuels.

Note: The personal pronoun 'I' is always written with a capital letter.

Titles of works, books etc.

• War and Peace
• The Merchant of Venice
• Crime and Punishment
• Tristan and Isolde

Months of the year

January	July
February	August
March	September
April	October
May	November
June	December

Days of the week

Monday	Friday
Tuesday	Saturday
Wednesday	Sunday
Thursday

Seasons

Seasons

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Holidays

Christmas	Easter	New Year's Day
Boxing Day	May Day	Thanksgiving Day

Geographical names... 
Names of countries and continents

America	England	Scotland
China	Peru	Albania
Africa	Europe	Asia

Names of regions, states, districts etc.

Sussex	California	Queensland
Provence	Tuscany	Vaud
Florida	Costa Brava	Tyrol

Names of cities, towns, villages etc.

London	Cape Town	Rome
Florence	Bath	Wagga Wagga
Vancouver	Wellington	Peking

Names of rivers, oceans, seas, lakes etc.

the Atlantic	the Dead Sea	the Pacific
Lake Leman	Lake Victoria	Lake Michigan
the Rhine	the Thames	the Nile

Names of geographical formations

the Himalayas

the Alps

the Sahara

Adjectives relating to nationality nouns

France - French music

Australia - Australian animals

Germany - German literature

Arabia - Arabic writing

Indonesia - Indonesian poetry

China - Chinese food

Names of streets, buildings, parks etc.

Park Lane	Central Avenue	Pall Mall
George Street	Sydney Opera House	Central Park
Hyde Park	the Empire State Building	Wall Street

NATIONALITIES

NATIONALITIES

1. Country: I live in England.
2. Adjective: He reads English literature.
3. Noun: She is an Englishwoman.

COUNTRY	ADJECTIVE	NOUN
Africa	African	an African
America	American	an American
Argentina	Argentinian	an Argentinian
Austria	Austrian	an Austrian
Autralia	Australian	an Australian
Bangladesh	Bangladesh(i)	a Bangladeshi
Belgium	Belgian	a Belgian
Brazil	Brazilian	a Brazilian
Britain	British	a Briton/Britisher
Cambodia	Cambodian	a Cambodian
Chile	Chilean	a Chilean
China	Chinese	a Chinese
Colombia	Colombian	a Colombian
Croatia	Croatian	a Croat
the Czech Republic	Czech	a Czech
Denmark	Danish	a Dane
England	English	an Englishman/Englishwoman
Finland	Finnish	a Finn
France	French	a Frenchman/Frenchwoman
Germany	German	a German
Greece	Greek	a Greek
Holland	Dutch	a Dutchman/Dutchwoman
Hungary	Hungarian	a Hungarian
Iceland	Icelandic	an Icelander
India	Indian	an Indian
Indonesia	Indonesian	an Indonesian
Iran	Iranian	an Iranian
Iraq	Iraqi	an Iraqi
Ireland	Irish	an Irishman/Irishwoman
Israel	Israeli	an Israeli
Jamaica	Jamaican	a Jamaican
Japan	Japanese	a Japanese
Mexico	Mexican	a Mexican
Morocco	Moroccan	a Moroccan
Norway	Norwegian	a Norwegian
Peru	Peruvian	a Peruvian
the Philippines	Philippine	a Filipino
Poland	Polish	a Pole
Portugal	Portuguese	a Portuguese
Rumania	Rumanian	a Rumanian
Russia	Russian	a Russian
Saudi Arabia	Saudi, Saudi Arabian	a Saudi, a Saudi Arabian
Scotland	Scottish	a Scot
Serbia	Serbian	a Serb
the Slovak Republic	Slovak	a Slovak
Sweden	Swedish	a Swede
Switzerland	Swiss	a Swiss
Thailand	Thai	a Thai
The USA	American	an American
Tunisia	Tunisian	a Tunisian
Turkey	Turkish	a Turk
Vietnam	Vietnamese	a Vietnamese
Wales	Welsh	a Welshman/Welshwoman
Yugoslavia	Yugoslav	a Yugoslav

Note: We use the + nationality adjective ending in -ese or -ish with a plural verb, to refer to all people of that nationality:

The Chinese are very hard-working.
The Spanish often go to sleep in the afternoon.