Use of Appropriate Adjectival Form

Target Audience: Polytechnic Teachers and Students in Tamilnadu
Subject: English-1, II YEAR MOP, M SCHEME
Objective: Students should be able to use adjectives in English in their day-to-day life.
Question Pattern in Exam: I.(j) Fill in the blanks using appropriate adjectival form of the word given in brackets: (3 marks) 
Three sentences will be given with blanks in the exam and students should use the correct adjective form of the noun or verb  given in bracket.
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What is an adjective?

A word that adds quality to a noun is called an adjective.  For instance, in the phrase "a brilliant student", the word 'brilliant' adds quality to student (noun).  So "brilliant" is an adjective.

How to make appropriate adjectival form?

In the exam, the given word in bracket would be either a noun or verb.  Students should know the ways for changing a verb or noun into adjective.  Most of such words will become adjectives if suitable suffixes are added to them.  The common ways for changing verb/noun into adjective are as follows:

1.  Adding "-ful"

Beautiful, doubtful, colourful, careful, harmful, peaceful, delightful, helpful, painful, powerful, thankful, useful, wonderful, fruitful,skilful, faithful, tasteful, hopeful  and so on.

2.  Adding "-less"

Examples: careless, harmless, helpless, powerless, thankless, useless, merciless, restless, noiseless, flawless, motionless, fearless, endless, tasteless, hopeless, needless, homeless and thoughtless.

3.  Adding "-y" or "-ly"

Examples: risky, cloudy, flimsy, hasty, homely, lovely, leaky, skinny, sleepy, stealthy, sunny, tasty, thirsty, friendly, likely, lively, weekly, costly, speedily, slowly, heavenly and yearly.

4.  Adding "-ive"

Examples: attractive, collective, connective, creative, declarative, defensive, elective, formative, massive, narrative, objective, preventive, productive, qualitative, quantitative, receptive, relative, sportive, suggestive, talkative, submissive, intuitive and inventive.

5.  Adding "-able or -ible"

Examples: readable, lovable, visible, breakable, bearable, acceptable, advisable, desirable, fashionable, reliable, noticeable, measurable, payable, transferable, accessible, eligible, feasible, flexible, contemptible, reversible, responsible, convertible, capable, understandable.

6.  Adding "-ial or al"

Examples: commercial, official, facial, social, experimental, departmental, functional, monumental, mathematical, influential, chemical, renewal, typical, vocal and arrival.

7.  Adding "-ic or ical"

Examples: comic, commercial, diplomatic, academic, magical, mechanical, graphic, technical, dramatic, economic, economical, optimistic, pessimistic, artistic, rustic, terrific,  energetic, romantic and musical.

8.  Adding "ant"

Examples: brilliant, distant, fragrant, ignorant, important, relevant, reluctant, significant, tolerant, vacant, abundant and extravagant 

9.  Adding "ent"

Examples:absent, competent, confident, , convenient, decent, different, excellent, frequent, obedient, patient, permanent, present, transparent and violent.

10.  Adding "ish"

Examples:foolish, childish, selfish, greenish, feverish, bookish, reddish, stylish, boyish, Spanish and Scottish

11.  Adding "ous or eous"

Examples: advantageous, dangerous, adventurous, disastrous, ambitious, cautious, conscious, erroneous, injurious, luminous, marvelous, momentous, prestigious, prosperous, ridiculous and suspicious.
12.  By using past particible/ present particible

Examples: spoken, stolen, rotten, learned, drunken, baked, mistaken, running (commentary), writing ( board), bored, interested, frightened, boring, interesting, frightening, depressed, excited, exciting and so on.

Exercises with Answers:
Fill in the blanks using appropriate adjectival form of the word given in brackets:
1.  I could see _________ (home) Indians on the platform sleeping at night.
2. He is ______ (like) to invite troubles from the stranger.
3. She was __________ (obedience) to her father just to satisfy him.
4. The _________ (error) entry found on the online portal was never corrected by the webmaster.
5. All teachers appreciated her _________ (academy) excellence. 
Answers: 1. homely, 2. likely, 3. obedient, 4. erroneous, and 5. academic.

More Exercises for you to practice:
1. Hitler's Aryan superiority theory was really ___________ (child).
2. The committee tried at its best to be ___________(transparency) in all matters.
3. He was actually selling _________ (steal) articles in his shop.
4. The books I purchased were not really ________ (use) for me.
5. Parents want their children to be ________ (creativity) and send to summer classes.
6. Nowadays even medication and education has become _________ (commerce).
7. Police arrested all the _______ (suspicion) persons connected with the murder.
8. It is _________ (need) to say that modern youngsters know the better use of mobile than the elders.
9. The shareholders were not satisfied with the _______ (year) result of the company.
10. The journey by private bus was so ________ (expense) in comparison to the Govt. bus.