Purpose
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use common English adjectives correctly and place them correctly relative to the noun they describe.
Lesson Explanation
An adjective describes a noun. In English, adjectives usually come before the noun they describe: a big house, a happy child, a red car.
Common adjective pairs worth knowing directly, since they are opposites:
big / small hot / cold happy / sad fast / slow easy / difficult new / old
Unlike some other languages, English adjectives do not change form to match the noun’s gender or number: a big dog and big dogs both use the exact same word, big — the adjective itself never changes.
When multiple adjectives describe the same noun, they usually appear in a specific order (opinion, size, age, color) — for example, a beautiful, small, old, red car follows this natural order.
Practice Questions
1. Where does an adjective usually go, relative to the noun it describes?
View Answer
Before the noun.
2. What is the opposite of “big”?
View Answer
small
3. What is the opposite of “hot”?
View Answer
cold
4. What is the opposite of “happy”?
View Answer
sad
5. Complete: “a ___ house” using an adjective meaning large.
View Answer
big
6. Correct or incorrect: adjectives change form to match plural nouns, like “bigs dogs.”
View Answer
Incorrect — adjectives never change form; it is “big dogs.”
7. Write the same adjective form for both “a small dog” and “small dogs.”
View Answer
small (unchanged in both)
8. What is the opposite of “fast”?
View Answer
slow
9. What is the opposite of “difficult”?
View Answer
easy
10. Which comes first in a natural word order: “small” (size) or “beautiful” (opinion)?
View Answer
“beautiful” (opinion) comes before “small” (size).
11. What is the opposite of “new”?
View Answer
old
12. Complete: “a ___ car” using an adjective meaning the color of blood.
View Answer
red