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: 4.6 (241 votes)

Submitted by barron on Tue, 11/07/2023 - 09:39

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This course is really professional,thinks for you sharing!

Submitted by musslm1 on Sun, 11/06/2023 - 11:30

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Dear Sir
Thank you for your teaching the lesson was really useful
Thank you again,
Your sincerely,
Muslima)

Submitted by Uwase Mireille on Wed, 07/06/2023 - 01:23

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Thank you for your program now I learn about adjectives

Submitted by Nina England on Tue, 07/03/2023 - 11:24

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I would be very grateful if you could tell me all the adjectives and verbs (collocations) which can be used before 'TO BITS', with the meaning of 'very much'. Thank you very much for your help in advance.

Submitted by dayla_juarez02 on Fri, 24/02/2023 - 02:13

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excellent topic, I discovered more gradable adjetives

Submitted by CindyLoveEnglish on Fri, 25/03/2022 - 04:17

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Sorry, can I just add another adverb 'super' to my previous question:
Can we use 'super' to modify extreme adjectives?
Thank you.

Cindy

Submitted by CindyLoveEnglish on Fri, 25/03/2022 - 03:40

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Dear Sir or Madam,

Can you tell me if we can use 'so' to modify ungradable adjectives?
Also, are these adjectives 'pumped', 'stoked', 'excited' gradable?

Thank you.
Cindy

Hello Cindy,

We can use 'so' with many extreme non-gradable adjectives, especially those which express opinion and emotion:

I was so exhausted that I just fell asleep.

The story was so fascinating that everyone listened without a sound.

The dessert was so delicious that I couldn't stop!

 

It's less straightforward with 'super'. Here I think generally we don't use it with these adjectives, though some individuals use 'super' in place of 'really' when they want to emphasise emotion or physical states:

I was super exhausted.

However, these are really individual eccentricities rather than language rules.

 

We don't use 'so' or 'super' with absolute adjectives.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear Peter,

Thank you so much for your prompt reply.

It seems you have missed out my other question :)
Could you tell me if these adjectives 'pumped', 'stoked', 'excited' are all gradable?

Thank you.
Cindy