Chapter 12

Adjectives Adjectives

McGraw-Hill/IrwinBusiness English at Work, 3/e © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Objectives

Identify the function of an adjective in a sentenceIdentify limiting, descriptive, possessive, proper, and demonstrative adjectives in sentences.

Use the articles a, an, and the correctly.

Hyphenate compound adjectives when appropriate.

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Objectives

Use the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees of adjectives correctly.

Identify nouns modified by adjectives, adjective phrases, and adjective clauses.

Determine the correct usage of commonly misused adjectives.

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Adjectives

An adjective is a word that modifies (describes) a noun or a pronoun.Several adjectives often appear in one sentence.More than one adjective may describe the same noun or pronoun.

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Adjectives

An adjective answers these questions:

What kind? green, old, round, strongWhich one? this, that, these, those How many? two, few, 300, two-thirds, all, someWhose? hers, Maria’s, companies’

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Limiting Adjectives

Indicate how many.May be numbers or words.

We must wait six weeks for the new chairs.Lisa charges a $200 consulting fee.

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Descriptive Adjectives Before Nouns

Answer the question What kind?Usually precede nouns.Are placed as closely as possible to the noun or pronoun that they modify.

We request sealed bids for the workstation estimates.Back disorders may result from poor posture.

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Descriptive Adjectives After Linking Verbs

Modify nouns or pronouns used as subjects.Act as complements (predicate adjectives).Usually follow linking verbs.

Proper office lighting is important.The noise in this office seems excessive.

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Possessive Adjectives

Possessive pronouns such as my, her, his, your, its, our function as adjectives. Possessive nouns such as Jon’s or the company’s function as possessive adjectives also.

You should use a keyboard that meets your needs.Richard’s degree is in marketing.

Modify a noun or a pronoun. Answer the question Whose?

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Proper Adjectives

Proper adjectives are proper nouns or words derived from proper nouns that function as adjectives. They answer the question Which?

We selected the Italian desk lamps.

Capitalize most proper adjectives as you would proper nouns.

Shelly recommends a light blue venetian blind.

Do not capitalize proper adjectives when they lose their connections with the proper nouns from which they were derived.

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Demonstrative Adjectives

The four demonstrative adjectives that modify nouns are this, that, these, those. These adjectives answer the question Which one? or Which ones?

Use this or that with singular nouns.Use these or those with plural nouns.

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Demonstrative Adjectives

continued

Examples—

We recommend this computer monitor for employees with vision problems.We will have difficulty complying with that safety regulation.Many of these injuries are unnecessary.Do those keyboards reduce wrist discomfort?

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Guidelines for Using A or An

The initial sound (not the first letter) of the word that follows an article determines whether you will use a or an.

Use a before words beginning with a consonant sound.

a chair a desk a telephone

Use a before words beginning with the long sound of u.

a university a union a uniform

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Guidelines for Using A or An

Use an before words beginning with the vowel sounds a, e, i, o, and the short sound of u.

an asset an outcomean unfortunate accident an estimate

Use an before words beginning with silent h.

an honest sales staff an hour agoan honor

continued

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The Article The

Use with singular or plural nouns.Place before any other adjective when two or more adjectives precede a noun.

Take short rest breaks throughout the day.The indoor air quality of the building is excellent.The most well-known category of CTD is carpal tunnel syndrome.

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Repetition of Articles

Repeat an article before each noun when two persons, places, or things are involved.

The manager and the supervisor approved the new office design.

Do not repeat an article when only one person, place, or thing is intended.

The manager recommended that the reception area and waiting room be redesigned.

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Compound Adjectives—Hyphenated Before and After Nouns

Some compound adjective combinations use hyphens when appearing before or after nouns or in other locations in a sentence.

This work-related injury could have been prevented.This office was described to me as fast-paced.

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Compound Adjectives—Hyphenated Only Before Nouns

Some compound adjective combinations use a hyphen when appearing before a noun.

This well-known furniture company is the one that we selected.

When these combinations appear in other locations in a sentence, they do not require hyphens.

We selected this furniture company because it is well known.

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Common Compound Adjectives

Do not use a hyphen when an adjective plus a noun combination is widely recognized as a concept or institution.

Our real estate agent recommended moving to a new location.Most of our positions require more than a high school education.To avoid wrist injury, learn the keystroke combinations for your word processing program.

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Nouns with Numbers

Use a hyphen to connect a number (words or figures) and a noun to form a compound adjective before a noun.

a 4-foot workstation a 15-pound object

Do not use a hyphen when the expression consisting of a number and noun follows the noun.

a workstation that is 4 feetan object that is 15 pounds

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Numerical Compound Adjectives

Use hyphens in the numbers between 21 and 99 when the numbers are written as words.

Eighty-two out of one hundred adults will suffer back problems at some point in their lives.

Our note to the bank is for Thirty-five Thousand Five Hundred Thirty-three Dollars ($35,533).

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Series of Compound Adjectives

Use a hyphen in a series of compound adjectives even though the base noun does not follow each adjective.

Are you able to lift 15-, 20-, or 30-pound objects?

We had an opportunity to choose 4-, 6-, or 8-foot workstations.

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“Self” Words

Use a hyphen when self is connected to another word to form a compound adjective.

self-confidenceself-reliantself-fulfillingself-worth

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Positive Degree

Use the positive degree as the base form of the adjective to describe one person, place, thing, quality, idea, activity, or one group of things.

bright color tall buildingquiet printer high bid

This turquoise fabric is a bright color.Franklin Office Furniture submitted a high bid on the computer chairs.

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Comparative Degree

Use the comparative degree to compare two people, places, ideas, qualities, activities, or things.

brighter color taller buildingquieter printer higher bid

This turquoise fabric is a brighter color than the gray fabric.Franklin Office Furniture submitted a higher bid on the computer chairs than Rincon Furniture.

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Superlative Degree

Use the superlative degree to compare more than two persons, places, ideas, qualities, activities, or things.

brightest color tallest buildingquietest printer highest bid

This turquoise fabric is the brightest color of all of the fabric samples.Franklin Office Furniture submitted the highest bid of all the vendors.

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Guidelines for One-Syllable Adjectives

Add er to the positive form for its comparative degree.

cool + er = coolertall + er = tallerold + er = oldersafe + er = saferhigh + er = higherclean + er = cleaner

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Guidelines for One-Syllable Adjectives

continued Add est to the positive form for its

superlative degree.

cool + est = coolesttall + est = tallestold + est = oldestsafe + est = safesthigh + est = highestclean + est = cleanest

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Guidelines for Two-Syllable Adjectives

Positive Comparative Superlative

narrow narrower or more narrow

narrowest or most narrow

quiet quieter or more quiet quietest or most quiet

simple simpler simplest

Add er or add more or less to the positive form for its comparative degree.

Add est or add most or least to the positive form for its superlative degree.

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Guidelines for Three-Syllable Adjectives

Add the word more or less before the positive form for its comparative degree.

Add the word most or least before the positive form for its superlative degree.

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Guidelines for Three-Syllable Adjectives

Positive Comparative Superlative

attractive more attractive most attractive

essential more essential most essential

efficient less efficient least efficient

complicated less complicated least complicated

continued

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Words Ending in y

Change the y to i and add er or est to form the comparative and superlative degrees.

Positive Comparative Superlative

friendly friendlier friendliest

busy busier busiest

heavy heavier heaviest

happy happier happiest

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Special Forms

Some irregular adjectives change in their comparative and superlative forms.

Positive Comparative Superlative

good better bestbad worse worstlittle less, lesser littlest, leastmany more mostmuch more most

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Absolute Adjectives

Already express the highest degree.

circular horizontal straight

complete ideal supreme

correct instantaneous unanimous

dead perfect unique

empty single vertical

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Adjective Clauses

Use who, whose, which, and that to connect to the noun or pronoun that is modified.Place an adjective clause immediately after the noun that is described.Use commas to set aside the clause when it does not add to the meaning of the sentence (nonrestrictive clause). Do not use commas when the clause is necessary to the meaning of the sentence (restrictive).

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Adjective Clauses

Example of a nonrestrictive clause

The firm’s corporate office, which is in Florida, compiled statistics on workplace injuries.

Examples of restrictive clauses

Workers who must repeat the same motion throughout the day are most likely to develop RSIs.Several Web sites that I discovered provide excellent information about ergonomics.

continued

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Adjective Phrases

Function as modifiers of nouns or pronouns and may be infinitive phrases, participial phrases, or prepositional phrases.

To avoid pain in my wrists, I wear a wrist support. Having no break from working on the computer, I noticed that my eyes were dry.The wireless mouse from Computer Town was highly recommended.

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Fewer/Less

Use fewer with plural nouns. Fewer refers to number.

Using computer function keys causes fewer hand injuries.Treehorn Books had fewer complaints after lowering the bookshelves.

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Fewer/Less

Use less with singular nouns when you refer to degree or amount.

Simple ergonomic changes cost less money to implement than you might imagine.

Use less than before nouns that express money, percentages, time, distance, and measurements.

We planned to spend less than $500 for a new chair.

continued

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Farther/Further

Use farther to refer to physical distance.Use further to mean additional.

The printer is farther from my workstation than I like.The new office supply store is farther from our office than we expected.Poor indoor air quality causes further problems to people with asthma.Jane will provide further information about the workstation at the next meeting.

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Latter/Later/Last/Latest

Use latter to refer to the second of two persons, places, or things mentioned.Use later to refer to time.Use last to refer to whatever follows everything else in a series.Use latest to refer to time (as in most recent).

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Latter/Later/Last/Latest

continued

Examples The latter plan for the reception area is more comfortable for visitors than the others that were submitted.The latest set of statistics about work-related injuries just arrived.We ordered new computer keyboards last year.The later time for the planning meeting was not suitable for me.

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