Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns.
- Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest).
The adjective hot is gradable. - Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are:
- extremes (for example: freezing)
- absolutes (for example: dead)
- classifying (for example: nuclear)
The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable.
Gradable Adjectives
A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples:
| grading adverbs a little, dreadfully, extremely, fairly, hugely, immensely, intensely, rather, reasonably, slightly, unusually, very | + | gradable adjectives angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep, fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot, important, long, popular, rich, strong, tall, warm, weak, young |
A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:
- big, bigger, the biggest
- hot, hotter, the hottest
- important, more important, the most important
Look at these example sentences:
- My teacher was very happy with my homework.
- That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular.
- He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold. But Sweden was the coldest.
Non-gradable Adjectives
A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:
It was rather freezing outside.The dog was very dead.He is investing in slightly nuclear energy.
Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms:
- freezing,
more freezing, the most freezing - dead,
deader, the deadest - nuclear,
more nuclear, the most nuclear
Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone:
- It was freezing outside.
- The dog was dead.
- He is investing in nuclear energy.
However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example:
| non-grading adverbs | non-gradable adjectives | |
| absolutely | awful | extreme |
| utterly | excellent | |
| completely | terrified | |
| totally | dead | absolute |
| nearly | impossible | |
| virtually | unique | |
| essentially | chemical | classifying |
| mainly | digital | |
| almost | domestic | |
Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives:
- Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the exam again.
- Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique.
- It starts an essentially chemical reaction.
Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable
Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense. For example:
| adjective | common = | |
| He's got a very old car. | gradable | not young |
| I saw my old boyfriend yesterday. | non-gradable | former, ex- |
| He has some dreadfully common habits. | gradable | vulgar |
| "The" is a very common word in English. | gradable | prevalent |
| The two countries' common border poses problems. | non-gradable | shared |
Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives
The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives:
| gradable | non-gradable |
| Please don't forget! It's really important. | He was really terrified. |
| He's a fairly rich man. | It's a fairly impossible job. |
| He's pretty tall. | It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it. |
"Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives
The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with:
| adjective | quite = | |
| It's quite warm today. | gradable | fairly, rather |
| Are you quite certain? | non-gradable | completely, absolutely |
Reference
| Non-gradable adjectives |
| Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying. |
alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole |
| Non-grading adverbs |
| Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all non-gradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't. |
| absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely, mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually |
Source:
englishclub.com
Now do the quiz
Exercise: Adverbs of degree
Exercise: Adverbs of manner
