This post is part of our special series “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
How to use ADJECTIVES
- Adjectives such as some, little, much, more, enough, all, any, great, half, whole, sufficient, etc show quantity of things or people. They are used for uncountable nouns.
For example
Incorrect – The child drank few milk.
Correct – The child drank some milk.
- Numerical adjectives are used for countable nouns. They tell the number of nouns in the sentence. They might also refer to the position of person or thing.
For example
Incorrect – I have little chocolates in my pocket.
Correct – I have few chocolates in my pocket.
- Ordinal preceded cardinal, when both are used in a sentence together.
For example
Incorrect – The hundred first customers will be given discount.
Correct – The first hundred customers will be given discount.
- Words “later and latest” refer to time while “latter and last” refers to position.
For example
Incorrect – Though I had reached at 8am, I was latest in the class.
Correct – Though I had reached at 8am, I was last in the class.
- “Further” means more/additional while “farther” means away in terms of distance/advancement
For example
Incorrect – Chemotherapy helped her in farther improvement.
Correct – Chemotherapy helped her in further improvement.
- “Each” is used to denote two or more nouns, while “every” is used to denote more than two nouns.
For example
Incorrect – Every of the two glasses are half filled.
Correct – Each of the two glasses are half filled.
- “Some” is used to express degree or quantity in an affirmative sentence. “Any” is used in negative or interrogative sentence.
For example
Incorrect – Have you eaten some mangoes?
Correct – Have you eaten any mangoes?
- Comparative adjective should be used for comparison between nouns. For this superlative should not be used.
For example
Incorrect – Which according to you is best OS between Android and Windows?
Correct – Which according to you is better OS between Android and Windows?
- When two qualities of same noun are compared, then comparative adjective with “-er” should not be used. Instead “more + positive degree” should be used.
For example
Incorrect – The knight is wiser than brave.
Correct – The knight is more wise than brave.
- When comparative degree is used for comparison, the noun which is compared should be excluded from the group by using the word “other”.
For example
Incorrect – He is faster than any boy in the school.
Correct – He is faster than any other boy in the school.
- When superlative degree is used for comparison, the noun which is compared should be included in the group.
For example
Incorrect – He is fastest of all the other boys in the school.
Correct – He is fastest of all the boys in the school.
- When two nouns are compared, it is very important that same parameter of both the nouns should be compared.
For example
Incorrect – India’s population is lesser than China.
Correct – India’s population is lesser than that of China.
- Double usage of comparative or superlative degrees should not be done.
For example
Incorrect – He is the most fastest boy in the class.
Correct – He is the fastest boy in the class.
- The comparative Adjectives such as “superior inferior, senior, junior, prior, anterior, posterior prefer, etc.” should be followed by ‘to’ instead of ‘than’.
For example
Incorrect – Kapil is senior than me.
Correct – Kapil is senior to me.
- Some adjectives do not have different degrees of comparison. Such words are – unique, ideal,
perfect, complete, universal, entire, extreme, chief, etc.
For example
Incorrect – Kohinoor is the most unique diamond.
Correct – Kohinoor is a unique diamond.
- All the Adjectives which refer to the same Noun should be in the same degree of comparison.
For example
Incorrect – He is the wisest and brave soldier in the army.
Correct – He is the wisest and bravest soldier in the army.
- “Elder and eldest” should be used for people only. “Older and oldest” can be used for both living and non-living things.
For example
Incorrect – My grandfather is older to my mother.
Correct – My grandfather is elder to my mother.
To view all the posts in this series, go to — “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
Photo credit: Rex Pe / Source / CC BY
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