8 Favourite English Adjectives | Improve Your Vocabulary | Describing Places & Things

Hello!

This is Emma from mmmEnglish. In this lesson, I want to share some of my

favourite English adjectives with you!

To be expressive, to show emotion and feeling and to sound more interesting in English,

then you need to start pushing your vocabulary further.

Saying something is "nice" or "beautiful" is good…

But adjectives like magnificent, remarkable or inspirational are so much more meaningful!

So let's talk about adjectives. They're a big group of words in English!

And they're used to describe or to give more information about a noun.

Word order is important with adjectives.

When used next to a noun, the adjective comes before the noun!

Like this:

A or an with an adjective plus a noun.

"An incredible story."

This structure is really common too!

A noun plus the be verb plus an adjective.

"Her recommendations were excellent."

So today, I want to share eight of my favourite adjectives with you,

to help you build your vocabulary when you're describing things - or places!

Now I’m including both positive and negative adjectives so

when things are good, when things are bad and also neutral adjectives,

when things are OK, but nothing special.

All of the adjectives that I’m going to talk about can be used to describe people too

but they're commonly used to describe places and things - so that's what we're focusing on today!

Magnificent. Magnificent.

Can you hear where the stress is? Magnificent.

You can use this adjective when something is very impressive or it's very inspiring or very beautiful.

When it's used with people it can also mean that they are very skillful.

Now see how all of those examples use "very" in front of regular adjectives?

That’s because magnificent is an extreme adjective, a really strong adjective.

So you can use it to add emphasis to your emotions.

For example: "That meal was magnificent.

I haven’t eaten that well in a long time!"

"We woke up at sunrise and had a magnificent view over the Indian Ocean."

"You were magnificent!" (That's talking about your performance)

Remarkable.

RemArkable. Hear that stress?

Use this adjective when something surprises you or it impresses you!

And it’s worth commenting on, because it's unique or it's unusual.

For example. "The Guggenheim is a remarkable building."

"It is remarkable that the pyramids in Egypt were built thousands of years ago!"

"After the car accident, he made made a remarkable recovery."

"His presentation was remarkable - it was unlike any of the others at the conference."

Remarkable can also be used to describe a person, when they're unlike anyone else that you've ever met.

Or they've done something really inspiring, they're really clever.

Like "She really is a remarkable woman."

The opposite is unremarkable - and it's used when something is not special or unique at all.

Obvious. Another good one.

Obvious. The stress is always important with adjectives

because pushing down on that stressed syllable helps you to emphasise the word

and to make the meaning stronger. Obvious.

If something is "obvious", it’s really clear and it's easy to understand.

"It’s obvious that he’s in love with you!"

"It was obvious that she didn’t want to be at the party."

(Her behaviour, her body language, her tone of voice.. it was clear that she didn’t want to be there)

"Ooops, that was an obvious mistake!"

Acceptable.

Now this is a very neutral adjective, but it's a useful one!

It’s used when something is reasonable for what most people would think.

You know, it’s generally accepted or allowed.

So for example. "These days, flexible working hours are becoming more acceptable to employers."

"Please let me know if the fees are acceptable. If you're OK with it."

The opposite is unacceptable. So that’s a good way to start building on your vocabulary

- learning the opposites of these adjectives. Unacceptable.

"My hotel room was filthy! It's unacceptable!"

Impossible. Impossible.

If something is impossible, it can’t be done

OR it's extremely difficult to do.

"No, it’s impossible. It can't be done!"

"My boss gave me an impossible task."

"Adam is so badly behaved, it’s impossible to take him anywhere!"

"It’s impossible to become fluent in English, without practising with English speakers!"

Significant. Significant. Now this adjective can be used to say that something

is important or large.

And it’s often used to describe a change that's very noticeable.

For example. "It’s a significant building in the city."

"Significant changes have taken place since you left."

"There has been a significant increase in population over the last 10 years."

Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Hear the stress when I exaggerate?

“That’s ridiculous!” Dic-diculous.

Also notice how this ‘u’ - is pronounced as /j/

NOT ri-di-coo-les but ri-dic-oo-les

Now this is a great adjective - it can be used to describe people too, but you need to be

careful with your facial expression and your tone because it can be a negative thing.

It can mean silly or stupid.

"That’s a ridiculous idea."

"You look ridiculous. Take it off!"

"It’s ridiculous that the shops close at 5pm!"

But it can also mean that something is crazy and it should be laughed at.

Same sentences again. "That’s a ridiculous idea!"

"Pfft! You look ridiculous!"

"It’s ridiculous that the shops close at 5pm!"

Did you pay attention to the difference there?

The tone and facial expression are really important so that the listener can understand what you mean.

Complicated. Complicated. Complicated.

Ooo this is such a good adjective to learn and use well!

You can use it when something is difficult to do, like you know, it’s hard.

Or it’s difficult to understand.

Or it could be difficult to deal with or to manage.

"The directions he gave were really complicated."

"They’ve been going out for years, but they have a complicated relationship."

So, they are my favourite adjectives for describing things in English!

What did you think?

And what are your favourite English adjectives?

Let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear from you!

And that’s it for this lesson!

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Check out these two, right here!

Thanks for watching and I will see you in the next lesson! Bye for now!