To turn a noun into an adjective, English usually adds a suffix: danger → dangerous, hope → hopeful, nation → national, child → childish, rain → rainy. The common adjective suffixes are -ful, -less, -ous, -al, -ic, -ive, -able/-ible, -y, -ish, -ly, -ent/-ant and -ary. Each one adds a meaning of its own, and the…

The most useful words to describe music name one thing you can actually hear: its speed (slow, upbeat, frantic), its mood (joyful, haunting, melancholy), its texture (lush, sparse, layered), its volume and energy (soft, driving, explosive) or its sound quality (warm, bright, gritty). “Good” and “nice” tell a reader nothing; “a sparse, haunting piano piece…

Opposite adjectives are pairs of adjectives with contrary meanings, such as hot and cold, happy and sad, polite and impolite. Grammarians call them antonyms. Below are 76 common pairs, grouped by topic. After the list are the two things that make opposites useful rather than just memorised: the prefixes English uses to build them, and…

A descriptive adjective is an adjective that names a quality of a noun: what something is like. In a tall tree, bitter coffee and The room was cold, the words tall, bitter and cold are descriptive adjectives. They answer the question “what kind?”, and they are by far the largest group of adjectives in English….

Sensory words are words that describe how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes or feels: glossy, crackling, musty, tangy, prickly. Most of them are adjectives, though verbs (sizzle, glint) and nouns (whiff, hum) can do the same job. They let a reader experience a scene instead of being told about it, which is why teachers ask…

Mood words describe the feeling a piece of writing, a scene or a place creates in the reader: eerie, peaceful, tense, melancholy, joyful. When a teacher asks “what is the mood of this passage?”, the answer is one of these words, backed up by the details in the text that produce it. Below are 108…

Descriptive language is writing that uses sensory detail, precise words and comparisons so the reader can picture a person, place or moment instead of just being told about it. “The kitchen was messy” tells. “Three days of plates leaned in the sink, and the floor stuck to my socks” describes. The second sentence never uses…

Describing words are words that tell you what something is like: its size, colour, sound, feel, mood or character. Most of them are adjectives, such as tiny, golden, creaky or stubborn, and they sit next to a noun or after a verb like is, seems or looks. Some describing words are adverbs instead: they describe…

Many English adjectives are followed by one specific preposition, and the pairing has to be learned rather than worked out. You are good at something, afraid of something, interested in something. Swap the prepositions and each one breaks. This is one of the most common sources of error for learners and one of the least…

A double comparative marks a comparison twice, and English allows only one marker per adjective. More better, most easiest and more taller are all the same error. English gives you two ways to compare, and they are alternatives, not ingredients: Method Comparative Superlative Endings taller tallest Separate word more careful most careful Use one or…