Grammar in focus
What adjectives do
Adjectives describe nouns (people, places, things). They never change for gender or number: a red car, two red cars.
Position
- Before a noun: a beautiful girl, a big house.
- After be / look / feel / taste / smell: She is tall. The soup tastes good. It smells delicious.
Order of adjectives
opinion → size → age → shape → color → origin → material + noun: a beautiful old house, a small red bag, a big black dog.
-ed or -ing?
- -ed = how a person feels: I'm bored / interested / excited / tired.
- -ing = what causes the feeling: The film is boring / interesting / exciting.
Comparison
taller than · the tallest · more interesting than · the most interesting · heavier (y → ier) · good → better → the best.
Watch out
- No plural:
two reds shirts→ two red shirts. - Adjective ≠ adverb: She is slow / She speaks slowly. The food tastes good (not
well).
En español
Los adjetivos describen sustantivos, van antes del sustantivo y no cambian de género ni número (a red car, two red cars). Orden: opinión, tamaño, edad, color… -ed = cómo se siente alguien; -ing = lo que lo causa.
US vs UK
This book teaches American English. These are the differences you will notice with British English on this topic.
Common positive adjectives differ: awesome/great (US), brilliant/lovely (UK).
Cambian los adjetivos positivos comunes: awesome/great (EE. UU.), brilliant/lovely (Reino Unido).
Sick (US) can mean ill. In the UK, sick often means about to vomit.
Sick (EE. UU.) = enfermo. En Reino Unido sick suele ser con náuseas.
Mad (US) = angry. In the UK mad usually means crazy.
Mad (EE. UU.) = enojado. En Reino Unido mad suele ser loco.
Exam practice
- Five parts, like a certification exam: multiple choice, open cloze, error identification, sentence transformation and US vs UK.
- Typed answers accept American spelling and contractions (don't = do not).
- Every item has feedback in English and Spanish. Items and options change order on every attempt.
- Only Exam mode saves your score to your progress. You pass with 70%.
Practice mode
No timer. Check each part as you go and read the feedback.
Exam mode
25 minutes. Feedback at the end. Your best score is saved.