![]() In addition, many true adjectives are gradable. If a plant is dead, for example, another plant cannot be more dead. But there is a caution some adjectives have absolute meanings that can make them seem absurd if used comparatively. There are, of course, irregular members of this group despite what your average three-year-old says, things go from good to better and best, not to gooder and goodest. Monosyllables, and some disyllables that happen to end in -y, change form, with occasional accommodations in spelling, by adding -er and -est: smart, smarter, smartest happy, happier, happiest. For adjectives with two or more syllables, the comparative and superlative are formed with more and most ( more captivating the most enthralling ). The word more is our clue true adjectives can compare one entity to another. Those in the second group are more adjectival than the others, in that the qualifications they express can themselves be qualified. ![]() But in English there are adjectives and there are adjectives. ![]() How do we spot an adjective? For one thing, adjectives tell us about the nouns they qualify by answering questions like “what kind,” “which one,” and “how many”: a serious student the purple flower three kisses.
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