Tricks of Adjective

RULE 1

Positive degree of adjective  / adverb comes in between ‘as… as’ and ‘so…..as’ .

Ex: He is as good as his brother.

He ran as fast as he could.

RULE 2

Adjective + er ….. than indicates the presence of a comparative degree.

Comparative degree comes before than .

Ex: He is better than his brother.

Than may or may not come after a comparative degree.

Ex: Today I am feeling better.

RULE 3

When one is chosen out of two, we use a comparative degree preceded by the and followed by of.

Ex: She is the best of two sisters.(wrong)

She is the better of two sisters.(right)

RULE 4

If one is chosen out of more than two or all superlative degree is used preceded by the and followed by of.

Ex: He is the best of the three / all the players.

RULE 5

When two qualities of a noun or a pronoun are compared with each other , more + positive degree is used instead  of a comparative degree.

Ex: He is wiser than intelligent.(wrong)

He is more wise than intelligent.(right)

RULE 6

If one is compared with all the others of the same variety ,any other is used to exclude the former.

Ex: Gold is more precious than any metal.(wrong)

Gold is more precious than any other metal.(right)

RULE 7

Adjectives that end in ior are followed by to and not than.

Ex: Superior, inferior, senior, junior,prior,anterior,posterior.

Ex: He is senior to me.

RULE 8

Many adverbs end in -ly, but many do not. Generally, if a word can have -ly added to its adjective form, place it there to form an adverb.

Ex: She thinks quick/quickly.
How does she think? Quickly.

She is a quick/quickly thinker.
Quick is an adjective describing thinker, so no -ly is attached.

She thinks fast/fastly.
Fast answers the question how, so it is an adverb. But fast never has -ly attached to it.

We performed bad/badly.
Badly describes how we performed, so -ly is added.

RULE 9

Adverbs that answer the question how sometimes cause grammatical problems. It can be a challenge to determine if -ly should be attached. Avoid the trap of -ly with linking verbs such as taste, smell, look, feel, which pertain to the senses. Adverbs are often misplaced in such sentences, which require adjectives instead.

Ex: Roses smell sweet/sweetly.
Do the roses actively smell with noses? No; in this case, smell is a linking verb—which requires an adjective to modify roses—so no -ly.

The woman looked angry/angrily to us.
Did the woman look with her eyes, or are we describing her appearance? We are describing her appearance (she appeared angry), so no -ly.

The woman looked angry/angrily at the paint splotches.
Here the woman actively looked (used her eyes), so the -ly is added.

She feels bad/badly about the news.
She is not feeling with fingers, so no -ly.

RULE 10

The word good is an adjective, whose adverb equivalent is well.

Ex: You did a good job.
Good describes the job.

You did the job well.
Well answers how.

You smell good today.
Good describes your fragrance, not how you smell with your nose, so using the adjective is correct.

You smell well for someone with a cold.
You are actively smelling with your nose here, so use the adverb.

RULE 11

The word well can be an adjective, too. When referring to health, we often use well rather than good.

Ex: You do not look well today.
I don’t feel well, either.

RULE 12

Adjectives come in three forms, also called degrees. An adjective in its normal or usual form is called a positive degree adjective. There are also the comparative andsuperlative degrees, which are used for comparison.

A common error in using adjectives and adverbs arises from using the wrong form of comparison. To compare two things, always use a comparative adjective:

Ex: She is the cleverer of the two women (never cleverest)

The word cleverest is what is called the superlative form of clever. Use it only when comparing three or more things:

Ex: She is the cleverest of them all.

Incorrect: Chocolate or vanilla: which do you like best?

Correct: Chocolate or vanilla: which do you like better?

RULE 13

There are also three degrees of adverbs. In formal usage, do not drop the -ly from an adverb when using the comparative form.

Incorrect: She spoke quicker than he did.

Correct: She spoke more quickly than he did.

Incorrect: Talk quieter.

Correct: Talk more quietly.

RULE 14

When this, that, these, and those are followed by a noun, they are adjectives. When they appear without a noun following them, they are pronouns.

Ex: This house is for sale.
This is an adjective.

This is for sale.
This is a pronoun.