Action Plan for Teachers

Action Plan for Teachers

English Grammar Adjectives Used to something

Used to something

The use of used to do is explained here. However, used to has another meaning, it can be used as an adjective and we use it to talk about things that have become familiar, and are no longer strange or new.

Used to usually comes after verbs such as be, get or become.

• After a while you get used to the noise.
• She will become used to the smell.
• I was used to the web site.

You can also say that someone is used to doing something.

• I'll never get used to getting up at six o'clock in the morning.

It took me a while until I was used to driving on the right-hand side of the road

English Grammar Possessive Adjectives

Possesive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Subject pronoun	Possessive adjective
I	my
you	your
he	his
she	her
it	its
we	our
they	their

For example:

·         I own a laptop. = It is my laptop.

·         You own this computer (I presume). = It is your computer.

·         My husband owns a car. = It is his car.

·         My sister owns a house. = It is her house.

·         My dog owns a collar. = It is its collar.

·         We use this website. = It is our website.

·         Manchester United own a football ground. = It is their football ground.

English Grammar Adjective Order

Adjectives can be used to describe lots of things, from physical size, age, shape, colour, material, to more abstract things like opinion, origin and purpose. We can use adjectives together to give a detailed description of something. Adjectives that express opinions usually come before all others, but it can sometimes depend on what exactly you want to emphasise.

For example: 

"That nice, big, blue bag." (You like the bag.)
"That big, nice, blue bag." (You like the colour.)

When we group adjectives together there is a general rule for the position of each type adjective, these are:-

Position	1st*	2nd*	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
	Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Material	Origin	Purpose
	Nice	Small	Old	Square	Black	Plastic	British	Racing
	Ugly	Big	New	Circular	Blue	Cotton	American	Running

This is just a guide as you wouldn't normally see so many adjectives in one description.

For example:

• "She had a big, ugly, old, baggy, blue, cotton, British, knitting bag." Is grammatically correct but a bit too long-winded.

* You might swap opinion and fact adjectives depending on what you wish to emphasise:-

For example:

• "She had a long, ugly nose." emphasising the length of her nose.
• "He was a silly, little man." emphasising that the man was silly.

English Grammar Common Adjectives Table

Appearance	Condition
adorable alert  average  beautiful blonde  bloody  blushing  bright  clean  clear cloudy  colourful concerned  crowded  curious  cute  dark  dirty  drab  distinct dull  elegant fancy  filthy glamorous gleaming graceful grotesque  homely  light  misty  motionless  muddy  plain  poised quaint scary  shiny  smoggy  sparkling  spotless stormy  strange  ugly  unsightly unusual	alive brainy  broken  busy  careful cautious  clever  crazy  damaged  dead  difficult easy fake  false famous  forward  fragile guilty  helpful helpless important  impossible infamous innocent  inquisitive  mad  modern  open  outgoing  outstanding poor  powerful puzzled  real  rich  right  robust sane  scary  shy  sleepy stupid  super  tame  thick tired wild  wrong
Feelings - negative	Feelings - neutral	Feelings - positive
afraid angry annoyed  anxious  arrogant  ashamed  awful  bad bewildered bored  concerned  condemned confused  creepy cruel  dangerous  defeated  defiant depressed disgusted disturbed doubtful  eerie  embarrassed envious evil fierce  foolish  frantic  frightened grieving guilty  helpless hungry  hurt  ill  jealous  lonely mad  naughty nervous  obnoxious outrageous  panicky  repulsive safe scared shy  sleepy sore strange  tense  terrible  tired troubled unusual  upset uptight weary  wicked worried	alright calm  different  fair fine  OK pleasant  puzzled	agreeable alert  amused  brave  bright  charming  cheerful comfortable cooperative courageous delightful determined  eager  elated enchanting encouraging  energetic enthusiastic excited  exuberant faithful  fantastic friendly frowning funny  gentle  glorious  good  happy  healthy  helpful hilarious innocent  jolly kind  lively  lovely  lucky  obedient perfect  proud  relaxed relieved silly  smiling  splendid  successful  thoughtful victorious vivacious well  witty wonderful
Shape	Size	Sound
broad  crooked  curved  deep even  flat hilly  jagged  round  shallow  square  steep  straight  thick thin  triangular uneven	average big fat gigantic huge large little  long  massive medium  miniature narrow petite short  skinny small  tall  tiny wide	cooing  deafening  faint harsh  high-pitched  hissing  hushed  husky  loud  melodic moaning  mute  noisy  purring  quiet  raspy  screeching shrill  silent  soft  squeaky  squealing thundering  voiceless whispering
Speed	Taste	Time
fast quick  rapid  slow  swift	bitter bland  delicious different  fresh  greasy  hot juicy repulsive  revolting  ripe  rotten  salty  sour  spicy  stale strong sweet  tasteless  tasty  terrible wonderful	ancient brief.  early  late long modern new  old old-fashioned  quick short young
	Touch
	blunt boiling breakable  breezy broken bumpy chilly clean cold cool crooked  cuddly curly  damaged  damp different  dirty dry  dusty  filthy flaky fluffy fuzzy  greasy  grubby  hard icy  loose  plastic  prickly  ripe  rough  rubbery  scratchy  shaky  shaggy  sharp  silky  slimy slippery smooth  soft solid  steady  sticky  tight uneven unusual unripe  warm  weak wet  wooden wooly