Adjectives: gradable and non-gradable

Adjectives: gradable and non-gradable

Do you know how to use adjectives in phrases like a bit cold, really cold and absolutely freezing? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how gradable and non-gradable adjectives are used.

It's really cold.
It's absolutely freezing.
This exercise is really difficult.
This exercise is completely impossible.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar test 1

Adjectives: gradable and non-gradable: Grammar test 1

Grammar explanation

Gradable adjectives

Most adjectives are gradable. This means we can have different levels of that quality. For example, you can be a bit cold, very cold or extremely cold. We can make them weaker or stronger with modifiers:

She was quite angry when she found out.
The film we saw last night was really funny!
It can be extremely cold in Russia in the winter.

Here is a list of some common gradable adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with them.

Modifiers a little/a bit pretty/quite really/very extremely
Adjectives angry, big, boring, cheap, cold, expensivefrightening, funny, hot, interestingold, prettysmall, tasty, tired, etc.

Non-gradable: absolute adjectives

Some adjectives are non-gradable. For example, something can't be a bit finished or very finished. You can't be a bit dead or very dead. These adjectives describe absolute qualities. To make them stronger we have to use modifiers like absolutely, totally or completely:

Thank you, I love it! It's absolutely perfect!
Their farm was totally destroyed by a tornado.
My work is completely finished. Now I can relax.

Here is a list of some common absolute adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with them.

Modifiers absolutely/totally/completely
Adjectives acceptable, dead, destroyed, finished, free, impossible, necessary, perfect, ruined, unacceptable, etc.

Non-gradable: extreme adjectives

Adjectives like amazing, awful and boiling are also non-gradable. They already contain the idea of 'very' in their definitions. If we want to make extreme adjectives stronger, we have to use absolutely or really:

Did you see the final match? It was absolutely amazing!
After 32 hours of travelling, they were absolutely exhausted.
My trip home was really awful. First, traffic was really bad, then the car broke down and we had to walk home in the rain.

Here is a list of some common extreme adjectives and some modifiers that we can use with them.

Modifiers absolutely/really
Adjectives amazing, ancient, awful, boiling, delicious, enormous, excellent, exhausted, fascinating, freezing, gorgeous, terrible, terrifying, tiny, etc.

 

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Adjectives: gradable and non-gradable: Grammar test 2

Language level

Average: 4.5 (430 votes)
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Submitted by balyaim on Tue, 10/12/2024 - 16:06

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It is totally helpful, thankyou british council!!

Submitted by kathirkamanathan on Mon, 02/12/2024 - 00:28

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 its is really good to understanding about the adjectives , 

Submitted by esraayou on Sat, 16/11/2024 - 15:34

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sorry! why there is no sheet for this lesson or rule?

 

Hello esraayou,

We're a small team here at LearnEnglish and creating pdf worksheets is quite a time-intensive process for us. Sometimes we publish a page without the pdf worksheets and try to add them when time allows.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Khinethu on Thu, 17/10/2024 - 08:04

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For tired adjective, I am quite confused. I felt like we can use both quite tired or completely tired. For example, We are completely tired so we stayed in . We are quite tired, so we stayed in. Is it correct or not?

Hello Khinethu,

While you may find examples from time to time which do not fit the pattern, I think very/extremely/quite and so on are by far the most common adverbs to modify tired. Completely works better with an equivalent non-gradeable adjective such as exhausted or shattered.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

me too ,i get confused in applying the rule with some adjs but i think you have just to take this rule into consideration .

 

Submitted by emaieloh on Wed, 16/10/2024 - 23:52

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Hello,

I have a question about "destroyed" being an absolute adjective. If we can say "partially destroyed", then it is gradable, right?

Hello emaieloh,

'Destroyed' is a non-gradeable adjective which is modified for intensity by completely, totally, absolutely, utterly or really. However, other adverbs can be used which are not intensifers. Partially is one of these as it limits the extent of the destruction rather than lessening the quality of the destruction. For example, if a building is partially destroyed it means that part of it is destroyed and part of it is not, so perhaps one side of the building is still standing.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team