English for Advanced Practice Adjectives – Theory and Practice 1. Adjectives are used to modify nouns or as complements to verbs like be and seem: • A romantic novel • Martin seems happy, and Tracy is cheerful. !!! Notice these similar adjectives: asleep/sleeping, afloat/floating, afraid/frightened, ajar/open, awake/waking, ablaze/blazing, alone/lone, alight/burning, and alive/live. !?! The first one of each pair cannot be used before a noun, and is normally used with the verb be: • He is awake. • The ship was afloat, • The house was ablaze. 2. With certain verbs, like be, seem, sound, *look, *appear, *taste, *feel and *smell, adjectives, not adverbs, are used: • This dish tastes delicious. • The house looks dirty, !!! *These verbs can be used with an adverb when they refer to an action rather than a state: • She tasted the dessert appreciatively. • He looked seriously at me. # Certain other verbs, e.g. sit, lie, stand, fall, become, go, get & turn, can also be followed by adjectives, when the adjective describes the subject: • I went red with embarrassment. • She fell ill and died. • The mountain stood powerful and threatening ahead of me. 3. Adjectives can be used in certain expressions with the, when we are generalizing, to indicate a whole group of people: • the rich, the poor, the old, the disabled, the dead, the unemployed, the blind, the deaf + Some adjectives of nationality can also be used like this, including all nationality adjectives ending in -sh or -ch: • the British, the Spanish, the French !!! Plural nouns with numbers become singular when they are used as adjectives: • a ten-mile walk, a three-hour journey 4. The order of adjectives is important where there is more than one adjective in front of a noun. !!!The following order should generally be observed: Opinion (how good), size (how big), age (how old), shape, color, origin/nationality, material, type (what kind), purpose (what for) + NOUN However, some adjectives and nouns are used so often together that the above rule does not apply: • We drank some delicious Spanish white wine. (NOT * white Spanish wine) By Dao Ngoc Trung English for Advanced Practice Exercise 1: complete each sentence with the correct adjective from the pair in brackets 1 All the guests are fast ____. (asleep/ sleeping) 2 Her mother hated living all_______. (alone/ lone) 3 The firemen had to carry the ____ (afraid/frightened) 4 The salvage teams watched the___ (ablaze/blazing) 5 They can't get to sleep. They're wide________. (awake/ waking) 6 I think I can smell a(n) ______ cigarette in the room, (alight/burning) 7 It's a (n) ______ concert, coming to you via satellite from Rome, (alive/live) 8 Flies buzzed in through the ______ door, (ajar/open) 9 As soon as we're ______, we'll set sail for France, (afloat/ floating) Exercise 2: correct the sentences if necessary. Tick any which are already correct. 1 She turned palely with fear. 2 I felt the bird's wing gently. 3 The boy stood motionless in the corner. 4 This trick seems easy to do, but it isn't. 5 I'm feeling more enthusiastic now you've explained it all to me. 6. He became angrily when he saw what had happened. 7 This pasta tastes garlic 8 Don't look at me so resentfully. It wasn't my fault. 9 Your friend Carrie sounds charming. 10 The patient was lying unconsciously on the bed. Exercise 3: Correct the sentences if necessary. Tick any which are already correct. 1 The new toilets in town are for the disabled people. 2 It will probably be a two-hours lecture. 3 Dominic works at a special school for blind. 4 The eleven year old girl won first prize. 5 In many societies it is true that the rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer. 6 French negotiated with Spanish over the return of the wanted fugitives. Exercise 4: Unscramble the following sentences. 1 saw a I silk sweet green little scarf 2 was huge castle a there mediaeval stone hill the on 3 beautiful ship at quay moored white a sailing was the 4 battered is table leather a there old suitcase the on 5 live ancient cottage the sea by they fisherman's in an 6 was her striped bag shopping carrying she canvas a heavy arm full vegetables of on 7 introduced a handsome executive she to young was remarkably By Dao Ngoc Trung English for Advanced Practice 8 wearing smart business a a jazzy suit grey waistcoat he was with 9 cakes butter the Danish unsalted makes with she only best 10 an oriental extremely carpet exotic he bought just has Exercise 5: Complete the sentences with the correct adjective from the box. Use each word only once. 1 He committed the offence in ________ disregard of the rules. 2 The children have a(n) ______appetite for sweets. 3 The company made a(n) ________ finally had to call in the receivers. 4 Her father's always been a(n) ______ critic of modern art. 5 You can't expect him to know any better - he's a(n) ______ child. 6 Overwork and a(n) ______ reading tour of the USA contributed largely to Charles Dickens' death. 7 Howard Barker is hailed by some as one of our most ______ playwrights. 8 Police consider the murder as one of the most ______ crimes in recent years. 9 The island was quite content with its ______ prosperity. 10 From the moment the boys saw each other, they were _____ enemies. 11 The company is in ______ need of financial assistance. 12 You need to find a(n) _____ market for your products. 13 It is hard for ______ authors to achieve the status of earlier writers who have become household names. 14 Unemployment is the ______ focus of concern in many people's minds. 15 Josephine's actually worked in the diplomatic service, so she has ______ experience . By Dao Ngoc Trung sworn dire(rất cần thiết) grueling(kiet sức) blatant(rành rành) mere burgeoning(đâm chồi) insatiable(tham lam) first-hand innovative primary abortive(non yeu) contemporary fierce lucrative(có lợi) heinous(tàn ác) . they are used as adjectives: • a ten-mile walk, a three-hour journey 4. The order of adjectives is important where there is more than one adjective in front. stand, fall, become, go, get & turn, can also be followed by adjectives, when the adjective describes the subject: • I went red with embarrassment.