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
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, expensive, frightening, funny, hot, interesting, old, pretty, small, 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
It is totally helpful, thankyou british council!!
its is really good to understanding about the adjectives ,
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
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
yeah, same idea
me too ,i get confused in applying the rule with some adjs but i think you have just to take this rule into consideration .
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