All about Adjectives -Adjective Word Order, Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

we're going to learn how to use adjectives in  English speaking and writing let's begin what is  

an adjective an adjective is a word that is used  to describe or tell more about nouns and pronouns  

adjectives help us to express our ideas  and opinions with greater complexity  

let's consider two examples here is a  sentence without an adjective I live in  

a house now let's try adding some adjectives to  give us more information about our noun house  

here is the same sentence with one adjective I  live in a small house and with two adjectives  

I live in a small old house and finally with  three adjectives I live in a small Old Blue House  

let's look at one more example here is another  sentence without adjectives I like movies  

okay now I know you like movies but we can be  more specific by adding just a few adjectives  

with one adjective I like new movies with  two adjectives I like new exciting movies end  

with three adjectives I like new exciting action  movies you could even add more adding adjectives  

helps the person you are talking to better  understand you and what you are talking about  

adjectives can be split into many categories  like shape words like square round and circular  

color words like red orange and yellow and h  words like old and new today let's look deeper  

at three categories of adjectives size quantity  and quality there are many many adjectives that  

can be used in each of these categories the ones  we will learn today are some of the most common  

first let's talk about size size is one of  the most commonly used types of adjectives  

these adjectives are mainly useful  for describing physical things  

two of the most well-known size  adjectives are big and small  

but there are many many ways to express  just how big or how small something is  

let's take a look at this chart that shows  size adjectives in order from small to big  

on the left we see a word for something very very  small miniature often in English we shorten this  

word to Mini for example the boy looks like a  miniature version of his father or the boy looks  

like a mini version of his father next is the word  tiny something tiny is very small in a sentence we  

can use the adjective tiny like this look at those  tiny ants or did you see the tiny puppy over there  

the word tiny implies that something is smaller  than usual or expected you're tiny we see the word  

small which can be used in any situation in which  you want to express that something is less than a  

normal size for example she's a small girl or my  phone is so small there are also adjectives we can  

use to express that something is neither bigger  nor smaller than expected but is a normal size  

the adjectives in the middle of the  chart can be used to interchangeably  

normal sized average sized and medium-sized  we'd use these terms in a sentence like this  

I want to buy a normal sized table not too small  or too big I have an average sized apartment  

it's a medium-sized car on the right side of  the table we first have the words big and large  

these two words are very common and can be  used to express that something is greater  

than a normal size for example this is  a big classroom or that's a large tree  

after big and large we have the word huge  this adjective is used to describe something  

very big or bigger than expected for example  that building is huge or this is a huge meal  

even bigger than huge are the adjectives gigantic  and enormous these adjectives are used for things  

that are extremely big here are a few ways we  can use these words Tokyo is a gigantic City  

China has an enormous population quality  means how good or bad something is  

these adjectives are extremely useful and are  used to describe opinions physical things emotions  

and more let's take a look at our third chart  for some of the most common quality adjectives  

on the left we see adjectives used to describe  things that are bad or that we dislike  

let's begin with the adjectives terrible and  horrible these words are used to talk about  

things that are really really bad let's see the  words in a sentence that was a terrible movie  

I had a horrible flight awful is another word  used to describe things that are really bad  

for instance I have an awful headache that song  is awful bad can be used in any situation if you  

want to express dislike or low quality bad can be  used anytime without sounding as serious as words  

like awful and horrible for instance I had a bad  day this is not as serious as I had a horrible day  

still means it was not good in the middle of the  chart we see the neutral adjectives okay fine  

and decent these words mean that something  is not good and not bad just in the middle  

let's see it in context the pizza was okay the  class was fine he's a decent singer next on the  

right we see words to describe things that are  better than okay good great wonderful and amazing  

good is like the word bad it can be used in any  situation and expresses like or good quality  

it is not so serious for example I had a good  day is not as serious as I had an amazing day  

great means something is better than  good for example this is great soup  

words like wonderful and amazing are used to  describe things that are really really good  

for example she is a wonderful teacher or I had  an amazing vacation next let's take a look at  

quantity adjectives these adjectives tell us how  much of something there is it is important to note  

that the quantity adjective we use depends on the  noun if it is a noun or person place or thing that  

can be counted in numbers it is called a countable  noun these are words like car house and Friends  

these are all things we can count for instance  I can count five cards four houses ten friends  

and so on if it is a noun that cannot be  counted it is called an uncountable noun  

these are words like stress and ring I cannot  count rain or stress I cannot say there are  

ten Reigns or I have 35 stresses therefore these  words are uncountable nouns let's take a look at  

the following chart of quantity adjectives blue  words should only be used with uncountable nouns  

red words should only be used with countable  nouns and black words can be used with any  

noun as you'll see in the top right corner of the  chart first we see the adjective phrase a little  

just like the word little means small a little  means there is a small amount of something  

a little can be used with uncountable nouns for  example I'm a little stressed and I have a little  

water in my shoes next we see the terms few and  a few it is important to note that few and a few  

can only be used with countable nouns a few  implies that there is not much of something  

for example there are few cars on the  road today and we only have a few carrots  

in the middle is the adjective sum this is an  adjective that implies that there is a medium  

or average amount of something some can also be  used with any type of noun here are some examples  

will you get some snacks from the store  let's listen to some music while we study  

many is the next adjective and like few and a  few many can only be used with countable nouns  

remember countable nouns are things you can  count with numbers let's look at a few examples  

I don't have many books at home  she has many classes this semester  

the final quantity adjective we'll talk about  today is a lot of or lots of these terms can  

be used with any type of noun and in many  different ways let's consider three examples  

she has a lot of shoes there are  lots of restaurants near my house  

there's a lot of snow on the sidewalk how to  put adjectives in the correct order let's get  

started have you ever been confused about how  to describe something using several adjectives  

when multiple adjectives come before a noun they  have to be put in a particular order for instance  

we say a fat old lady not an old fat lady and a  small shiny black leather bag not a leather black  

shiny small bag the rules for adjective word order  are complicated but today we'll talk about some of  

the most important rules first adjectives of color  origin or where something is from Material or what  

something is made of and purpose or what something  is used for usually go in that order color origin  

material and purpose let's take a look at some  examples black Spanish Leather hiking boots  

a silver German beer mug a red silk scarf an  Italian glass flower vase an oak dinner table  

next other adjectives usually go before  words of color origin material and purpose  

adjectives of size shape length height and age  often come first let's look at some examples  

the round glass table here we see the shape  round comes before the material number two  

a big modern Brick House here we see the  size and Age come before the material  

number three a tall ancient Cambodian  Temple height and a come before the origin  

number four a long Old English book here  we see the length and age before origin  

tips which express judgments or attitudes  usually come before other adjectives  

examples are lovely definite pure absolute  extreme perfect wonderful and silly here are  

some examples number one a lovely Long Cool Drink  number two who's that silly young man over there  

number three what a perfect long warm summer day  finally let's consider numbers usually go before  

all other adjectives for example we would  say six large eggs and the second big storm  

first next and last most often go before one two  three and so on for example the first three days  

and my last two jobs okay let's get some practice  I'm going to put three sentences with mistakes in  

them up on the screen pause the video and  try to fix the mistakes number one I have  

the French black perfect dress number two have  you seen those red Old Brick lovely three houses  

number three the three last weeks were cold

did you figure it out now let's look at  the correct sentences number one I have  

the perfect black French dress number two have  you seen those three lovely old red brick houses  

and number three the last three weeks were cold  in number one the word perfect is a judgment  

which means it comes before all other gnats  we also list color black before origin French  

and number two we see the number three which comes  first we also see the Judgment word lovely which  

needs to come before other nouns age old  comes before color red which comes before  

material brick and number three remember that  we use words like first next and last before  

numbers and today we're going to learn more  about using adjectives to express yourself  

last time we learned how to use more adjectives  in our English speaking and writing to help others  

better understand what we think and mean today  we're going to talk about a very helpful thing  

called comparative adjectives okay everyone let's  talk about how to compare things using adjectives  

first what does it mean to compare  

to compare means to talk about what is the same  and what is different between two or more things  

every word has a certain number of syllables  syllables are the number of vowel sounds you hear  

in a word in English vowels are the letters a e i  o and you but this idea can be a little confusing  

so let's make it even easier with something  called the clap test here are some adjectives  

let's see if we can hear how many syllables  there are in each of the following adjectives  

half happy there are two vowel sounds A  and E and two class so two syllables cute

one vowel sound you one clap one  syllable tiny tiny two strong one  

beautiful beautiful three expensive  expensive three comfortable comfortable  

four exciting exciting three now you try repeat  after me and clap while you say the words

funny

did you hear it there are two syllables funny big  big there's just one syllable in this word big  

interesting interesting in this word  there are four syllables interesting

knowing how many syllables there are in  an adjective is the trick to knowing which  

comparative form to use if a word has one or  two syllables we use the form ER them these  

are words like big big hot funny happy and easy  here is how we would use these words to compare  

big one bigger than the dog is bigger than the cat

one hotter than summer is hotter than winter  funny two funnier than Dave is funnier than bill  

happy two happier than she is  happier than she was yesterday

two easier than walking is easier than running  when an adjective has three or more syllables  

we use the form more than or less than these  are words like expensive delicious beautiful  

difficult and interesting here is how we would  use words with three or more syllables to compare  

expensive three more expensive than less expensive  than the car is more expensive than the bike  

the bike is less expensive than the  car delicious three more delicious than  

less delicious than pears are more delicious  than Apples apples are less delicious than pears

three more beautiful than less beautiful than  this painting is more beautiful than that one  

that painting is less beautiful than this one  

difficult three more difficult than less  difficult than science is more difficult than math  

math is less difficult than science interesting  four more interesting than less interesting than  

watching a movie is more interesting  than watching TV watching TV is less  

interesting than watching a movie or than and  more than are all useful when comparing things  

but what if we want to talk about the highest  quality or degree of something when we compare  

in this case we would use superlative adjectives  just like comparative adjectives the superlative  

form follows the same clact test rules if an  adjective has one or two syllables we use the is  

if an adjective has three or  more syllables we use the most  

let's look at some pictures for a few examples  here we see a mouse an elephant and a whale  

let's put some adjectives up to describe each  small smart big there we go each word small  

and big have one syllable so we will use the IST  in our sentences let's use superlative adjectives  

to compare them the mouse is the smallest the  elephant is the smartest the whale is the biggest  

let's take a look at another example here we  see a famous actress a huge house and some  

great food let's put up some adjectives to  describe each beautiful expensive delicious  

expensive and delicious have three syllables  so we will use the most in our sentences  

let's give it a try if you ask me she is  the most beautiful actress in Hollywood  

this is the most expensive house in the city these  are the most delicious noodles I have ever had  

as you can see we use superlatives to talk about  when something is the highest quality or degree  

of something let's try making some superlative  sentences with some of the same adjectives from  

earlier in today's lesson happy two syllables  so the happiest she is the happiest student  

cute one syllable so the cutest you have the  cutest pet tiny two syllables so the tiniest  

that's the tiniest phone I've ever seen  comfortable four syllables so the most comfortable  

my bed is the most comfortable exciting  three syllables so the most exciting  

basketball is the most exciting sport to watch  remember one or two syllables means we use the if

if the most uh-oh exceptionalert the Clack  test is a good way to know which comparative  

or superlative form to use when you  compare things but like many rules  

in English there are some exceptions first  let's look at the adjectives good and back  

although these words each have one syllable good  and bad we do not say gooder than or the goodest  

better than or the baddest here's what  we use instead good better the best  

that car is good this car is better than that  car this car is the best bad worse the worst  

this song is bad that song is worse than this one  that song is the worst the words much and many are  

also exceptions to this rule instead of mucher  than or the manyest here is what we would use  

much many more than the most I have many books  you have more books she has the most books  

much and many refer to quantity the word  little can too and is another exception  

here's what we would use little less the least  I have little patience you have less patience  

he has the least patience  finally words that end in ing

ful or l-e-s-s will always use the more or  less than or the most forms no matter how many  

syllables the adjective has here are some examples  boring this word has two syllables but ends in ing  

so we would say this class is more boring than  that class or this class is the most boring  

tired tired has two syllables but ends in Ed  so we would say he is more tired than me or  

he is the most tired useful this word also has two  syllables but ends in ful so we would say this app  

is more useful than that one or this app is the  most useful Fearless this word has two syllables  

but ends in l-e-s-s so we would say she is more  Fearless than you or she is the most Fearless okay  

my wonderful students that concludes our lesson  today on comparative and superlative adjectives