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Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives
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 |
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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:
EC Tip: "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives". "Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers".
- 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.
EC Tip: The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is an absolute. Dead is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader" than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfect
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:
EC Tip: Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's better to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable. This is a matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have never heard of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it doesn't make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably have the same idea in your language.
- 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 |
Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives Quiz >
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