Synonyms and antonyms of Types and forms of adjectives in British Thesaurus

Types and forms of adjectives

adj. (abbreviation)

a word that gives information about a noun. Some adjectives indicate the qualities of a noun, for example ‘big’, ‘interesting’, and ‘weird’, and others classify a noun, for example ‘global’, ‘male’, and ‘electronic’.

adjective group (noun)

a group containing at least one adjective (the head), and often other items such as adverbs and prepositional phrases. For example, ‘highly skilled’ and ‘low in sugar’ are adjective groups. An adjective group is often the complement in a clause, after a verb such as ‘be’. For example, in the sentence ‘Her behaviour seems slightly odd’, ‘slightly odd’ is an adjective group.

comparative (noun)

the form of an adjective or adverb that shows that someone or something has more of a quality than they previously had or more of it than someone or something else has

participle (noun)

in English, the present participle (‘-ing’ form) and the past participle (‘-ed’ form) of a verb, that are used for forming different tenses, in non-finite clauses, in passives, and as modifiers. For example in the sentences ‘Are you listening?', ‘After graduating she worked as a bus driver’, ‘Lunch is served at noon’, and ‘He begins the season with an injured foot’ the words ‘listening’, ‘graduating’, served’, and ‘injured’ are all participles.

past participle (noun)

in English, the ‘-ed’ form of a verb, that is used for forming the perfect tenses, in the passive, and as a modifier. For example, in the clauses ‘Have you eaten yet’, ‘Payment must be made immediately’, and ‘Do you like fried fish?’, the words ‘eaten’, ‘made’ and ‘fried’ are all past participles.

present participle (noun)

in English, the ‘-ing’ form of a verb, that is used for forming the ‘continuous’ present and past, and as a noun or noun modifier. For example in the sentence ‘They were behaving in a threatening manner’, ‘behaving’ and ‘threatening’ are present participles.

the superlative (noun)

linguistics the superlative form of an adjective or an adverb