Formation of Adjectives

Formation of Adjectives: I remember being in class 8th and loving this chapter, and I will give it all to make you feel so too!

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Adjectives

You must remember from our previous lesson that adjectives add a description to the sentence. An Adjective adds a description to the noun(Adjective means added to). An adjective can describe a person, animal, place, thing or tell the number or quantity of the noun.

An adjective can be a single word (like exciting, amusing) or a compound(hard-working, self-centered) that actually modifies the noun. The different kinds of adjectives define the noun, verb or sometimes even other adjectives.

But how are Adjectives formed? How does beauty(noun) convert to beautiful(adjective)? Is there a thumb rule to work this out without being an english grammar maestro? We are so excited to answer all these in a very refreshing logical way. Let’s get cracking!

Formation of Adjectives

This is the holy grail of formation of Adjectives, some really simple rules to make your life in grammatical terms, easier.

Browse more Topics under Adjectives

• Kinds of Adjectives
• Comparison of Adjectives

Suffix	Rules + Exceptions	Example word	Adjective form
-y	-Add -y as a suffix -If ending has an ‘e’, remove it	-Hair -Imagine -Gloss	-Hairy -Imaginary -Glossy
-al	-Add -al as a suffix -If ending has an e, remove it and add -al or -ial or -ual	-Tragic -Nature -Intention -Concept -Commerce –Finance -Fanatic	-Tragical -Natural -Intentional -Conceptual -Commercial -Financial -Fanatical
-ly	-Add -ly as a suffix	–Earth -Endearing -Kind -Time -Mature	-Earthly -Endearingly -Kindly -Timely -Maturely
-ful	-Add -ful as a suffix -If ending in -ty, replace it with i	-Beauty -Dread -Play -Grace -Bounty -Play	-Beautiful -Dreadful -Playful -Graceful -Bountiful -Playful
-ory	-Add -ory as a suffix -If ending has an ‘e’, remove it	-Introduction -Advise -Anticipate -Compensate	-Introductory -Advisory -Anticipatory -Compensatory
-ic	-Add -ic as a suffix -If ending in -y, remove it	-Artist -Energy	-Artistic -Energetic
-ous	-Add -ous as a suffix -If ending in -y, remove it -If ending has an ‘e’, remove it -Sometimes, words ending with -cle are replaced by -cul	-Glamour -Fame -Mystery -Miracle	-Glamourous -Famous -Mysterious -Miraculous
-ish	-Add -ish as a suffix	-Child -Brown -Book	-Childish -Brownish -Bookish
-ive	-Add -ive as a suffix -If ending in -ion, remove it -If ending in -e, remove	-Description -Impulse	-Descriptive -Impulsive
-en	-Add -en as a suffix	-Black -Silk	-Blacken -Silken
-some	-Add -some as a suffix	-Trouble -Dark -Whole	-Troublesome -Darksome -Wholesome
-less	-Add -less as a suffix	-Child -Brain -Shame	-Childless -Brainless -Shameless

1. Adjectives formed from Nouns: 

Keep the above table in mind and try to convert a few Nouns in your surroundings into Adjectives. Have a look at some examples here:

Noun	Adjective	Noun	Adjective
Girl	Girlish	Danger	Dangerous
Trouble	Troublesome	Accident	Accidental
Gold	Golden	Length	Lengthy
Man	Manly	Human	Humanly
Courage	Courageous	Sense	Senseless
Storm	Stormy	Laugh	Laughable
Envy	Envious	King	Kingly
Tragedy	Tragic	Creation	Creative
Advise	Advisory	Nature	Natural

Let’s use some of these adjectives made from nouns in sentences to further understand their usage:

• My cousin is envious of my swimming skills.
• It was senseless of us to go trekking without equipment.
• The weather is getting stormy in Atlantic ocean.
• My niece is very creative with the mischiefs she does.
• The cherry blossom flower growth all around Japan is natural.
• The spillage on my laptop was accidental.
• My sister’s wedding dress is golden in color.
• My little sister is the most troublesome of the lot.

2. Adjectives formed from Verbs:

Verb	Adjective	Verb	Adjective
Enjoy	Enjoyable	Hate	Hateful
Help	Helpful	Laugh	Laughable
Talk	Talkative	Adjust	Adjustable
Tire	Tireless	Annoy	Annoying
Judge	Judgemental	Differ	Different
Forget	Forgetful	See	Scenic
Shake	Shakeable	Speed	Speedy
Tickle	Ticklish	Observe	Observatory

Let’s use some of these adjectives made from verbs in sentences to further understand their usage:

• My grandmother is so forgetful, she forgot her own birthday.
• Our teacher is very helpful in our studies.
• Ladakh is a very scenic place.
• Our cat, Mila is a very annoying sleeper.
• I spent tiring nights at the PlayStation trying to get my scores at the top.
• Going to my grandparent’s house is always an enjoyable experience.
• Me and my brother are very different from each other.
• The falling of the market was quite anticipatory.

3. Adjectives formed from other Adjectives:

Adjective	Adjective	Adjective	Adjective
Three	Threesome	Easy	Easier
Green	Greenish	Funny	Funnier
Weak	Weakly	Gentle	Gentlest
Red	Redden	Fine	Finest

• The sky was reddish closer to the horizon today at dawn.
• My sister is funnier than I am.
• The pashmina shawls are the finest quality of shawls.
• Eating green leafy vegetables is easier than dealing with falling ill.
• We visit the chapel weakly once.

Did you see how easy it is to break it down. How logic in grammar goes a long way when it comes to formation of adjectives. It’s a fun activity to club the noun, verb and adjective form of a word together and identify the adjective from the lot. In fact, let’s take a small fun exercise. It’s much fun!

Solved Questions for You

1. From the following set of nouns, verbs and adjectives forms of the words, identify the adjective:

• Achieve, achievement, achievable
• Evaporate, evaporating, evaporation
• Glorious, glory, glorify
• Enthuse, enthusiasm, enthusiastic

2. From the set of words below, identify the adjective and the noun it is made from:

• Cease
• Enumerate
• Challenging

(The answer key will be mentioned at the end of this article. Although, we know you don’t need it. You have mastered the art and just want to check. If you haven’t done the exercise, come on, go ahead and take it.)

You should definitely print out the first table in this article and stick it somewhere you glance every day. By the time you near your English grammar exam, you will remember all the rules and how to use them. We really hope you benefitted from this article. Wishing you all the best.

Answer key to the two exercise above:

1. Identify the adjectives:

• Evaporating
• Glorious
• Enthusiastic

2. Challenging