7

Adjectives

Let’s get the stuff you already know out of the way fast. Adjectives describe nouns.

a pretty necklace

a crazy person

a great idea

When adjectives come before the noun, as in the examples above, they’re called attributive adjectives. When they’re linked to the subject by a linking (copular) verb, they’re called predicate adjectives—a name made self-explanatory by their location.

The necklace is pretty.

That person seems crazy.

This idea is great.

A lot of adjectives are also classed as other parts of speech when they perform other functions.

a fast car

(Fast is an adjective because it’s describing the noun car.)

He runs fast.

(Fast is an adverb because it’s describing an action.)

This doesn’t mean that you can class any adjective as an adverb anytime it’s functioning adverbially. Remember that word classes are like clubs whose admission is sanctified by lexicographers when they write dictionaries. Dictionaries list fast as an adverb as well as an adjective. So to use talk fast is to use the word in a way that’s consistent with the dictionary’s word class designations. Compare that to talk pretty. Dictionaries don’t sanction this adverbial use of pretty. (Yes, pretty is listed as an adverb, but only in the sense of quite or fairly, as in They got engaged pretty quickly. The form of pretty that means pleasant to look at hasn’t earned admission into the adverb club according to most dictionaries. Not even the popular expression sitting pretty has earned this adjective a spot in the adverb club.)

Comparatives and Superlatives

Some adjectives have -er and -est forms. Some don’t.

The -er words—taller, faster, slower, tastier, lighter, and on and on—are called comparatives. The -est words—tallest, fastest, slowest, tastiest, lightest, and on and on—are called superlatives. The plain-old adjectives from which comparatives and superlatives spring are sometimes called absolute adjectives, but usually only in contexts where you’re talking about the comparative and superlative forms.

Adjectives that don’t have -er inflections can be made comparative with the word more.

He’s more interesting.

It’s more difficult.

They’re more practical.

Those same adjectives that don’t have -er inflections don’t have -est inflections, either. The superlative of these adjectives is formed with most.

He’s most interesting.

It’s most difficult.

They’re most practical.

Adjectives that end in y often replace that letter with an i in their comparative and superlative forms.

happy	happier	happiest
busy	busier	busiest
pretty	prettier	prettiest

A handful of comparatives and superlatives are irregular:

good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
little	less	least
much	more	most
far	further/farther	furthest/farthest

Like regular comparative and superlatives, these can be found next to the main entry for each word in the dictionary. If there’s no comparative and superlative form listed in the dictionary, that’s your cue that you use more or most instead of the suffixes.

Nominal Adjectives

Sometimes we use adjectives as nouns.

the elderly

the poor

the meek

the brave

the unsuspecting

It’s pretty clear what’s going on here. The adjective is so clearly and directly representative of the people and things it describes that, for purposes of the sentence, they’re one and the same. So elderly people, which uses elderly as an adjective to modify the noun people, can do the job all by itself.

These programs are designed for the elderly.

We must do more for the poor.

The meek shall inherit the earth.

This is a sight suitable only for the brave.

We call these nominal adjectives because they’re functioning nominally, meaning as nouns. Not every adjective is a good fit for the job of nominal adjective. For example, it would be weird to call alert people the alert or petite people the petite. But whenever the choice will be clear and natural to the reader, an adjective can be used nominally this way.