Template:en-adj/documentation

Uses Lua:

• Module:en-headword

Use this template to show the headword line of an English adjective. It shows the headword in bold and its comparative and superlative inflections, if any.

This template contains the necessary meta-data to allow users who are using accelerated editing to create any grammatical forms semi-automatically.

Parameters

|1=, |2=, ...

Comparative form(s). See below.

|comp_qual=, |comp2_qual=, ...

Qualifiers corresponding to each comparative form. |comp_qual= corresponds to |1=, |comp2_qual= corresponds to |2=, etc.

|sup=, |sup2=, ...

Superlative form(s). See below.

|sup_qual=, |sup2_qual=, ...

Qualifiers corresponding to each superlative form. |sup_qual= corresponds to |sup=, |sup2_qual= corresponds to |sup2=, etc.

|def=1 or |the=1

Specify that the term is normally preceded the definite article the (e.g. devil's own). When given, the will appear at the beginning of the headword.

|def=~ or |the=~

Specify that the term is optionally preceded the definite article the. When given, two headwords will be generated, one with the and one without.

The positional/numbered parameters give the comparative forms. The first gives the first comparative, the second gives the second comparative, and so on. For each comparative form given, the following values can be used. The superlative is automatically generated from each of the comparative forms.

more

The comparative is formed with more and the superlative with most. For the first comparative form, this is the default.

further

The comparative is formed with further and the superlative with furthest.

er

The comparative is formed by adding -er to the base word, and the superlative by adding -est. This is done "smartly", and some changes are made to the base word if necessary:

• For words ending in -e, it is removed before the endings are added.
• For words ending in -(e)y preceded by a consonant, it is replaced by -i- before the endings are added.

(anything else)

The comparative is taken as given. The superlative is formed by replacing -er with -est on the given form. However, if the given form does not end in -er, or if the superlative is formed irregularly, you need to specify the superlative explicitly. This is done using the sup=, sup2=, sup3=, sup4= parameters. Each of those parameters is matched to the corresponding comparative. So sup= gives the superlative corresponding to the first comparative given, sup2= gives the superlative corresponding to the second comparative, and so on.

If an adjective is not comparable, give its first parameter as just -. This will display "not comparable". However, you can also specify one or more comparative forms after the -, and it will then show "not generally comparable" along with the given forms. Note that in this case, the first comparative does not default to more, so you need to give it explicitly.

If an adjective only has the comparative form (such as more like it), give its first parameter as +. This will display "comparative form only" and add the adjective to Category:English comparative-only adjectives.

If you do not know what the comparative and superlative form are, or if you're not sure if the adjective is comparable at all, give the first parameter as ?. This will omit the comparative and superlative forms altogether.

The following parameters are additionally supported on all English headword templates, including {{en-adj}}:

|head=, |head2=, ...

Override the headword display; used to add links to individual words in a multiword term.

|id=

Sense ID for linking to this headword. See {{senseid}} for more information.

|nolinkhead=1, |splithyph=1, |nosplithyph=1, |hyphspace=1

Control how multiword terms are linked. See Module:en-headword/documentation for more information.

|nosuffix=1

Prevent terms beginning with a hyphen from being interpreted as suffixes. See Module:en-headword/documentation#Suffix handling for more information.

|nomultiwordcat=1

Prevent multiword terms (those with spaces or with hyphens in the middle) from being added to Category:English multiword terms.

|pagename=

Override the page name used to compute default values of various sorts. Useful when testing, for documentation pages, etc.

|sort=

Sort key. Rarely needs to be specified, as it is normally automatically generated.

Examples

For most adjectives, the comparative and superlative are just formed with more and most. This is the default, so for these adjectives you can just specify no parameters, but you can also give more, which is redundant but not wrong:

{{en-adj}}
{{en-adj|more}}

If the adjective forms its comparative and superlative by adding -er and -est, specify that with er:

{{en-adj|er}}

This even works for most adjectives ending in -(e)y (like happy) or in -e (like late), so you don't need to do anything special for them.

If the adjective has more than one way to form the comparative, provide them both as separate parameters, in order. For example, on abject or shy:

{{en-adj|er|more}}
{{en-adj|er|shyer}}

Adjectives with stem changes or irregular forms

If the adjective forms its comparative with some changes in the spelling of the stem, you need to specify it directly. This is done for hot for example, which doubles its -t-:

{{en-adj|hotter}}

The corresponding superlative hottest will be generated automatically. If the default superlative is not correct, give it with the sup= parameter. For example on good:

{{en-adj|better|sup=best}}

This prevents the template from generating bettest which would be incorrect.

The sup= parameter is required if the comparative does not end in -er, as this prevents the template from generating the superlative. This happens with certain adjectives that are composed of multiple parts, like short-lived:

{{en-adj|shorter-lived|sup=shortest-lived}}

Incomparable adjectives

If the adjective is absolute and has no comparative forms, use - as the first comparative. For example, on annual:

{{en-adj|-}}

If the adjective is not generally comparable but sometimes is, use - as the first parameter, with subsequent parameters as above. For example:

{{en-adj|-|er}}

When the inflection is unknown or uncertain, use a question mark (?) as the first parameter. Such information can still be added to the entry later, and this avoids having to give potentially false information:

{{en-adj|?}}

Comparative-only adjectives

If the adjective only has the comparative form, use + as the first comparative. For example, on more like it:

{{en-adj|+}}

Autosplitting

{{en-adj}}, as with all English headword-line templates, implements an intelligent, customized algorithm for automatically splitting and linking the components of a multiword term. See Module:en-headword/documentation#Autosplitting for more information.

Suffix handling

{{en-adj}}, as with all English headword-line templates, will normally interpret a term beginning with a hyphen as a suffix and handle it specially. See Module:en-headword/documentation#Suffix handling for more information.

Link modifications

{{en-adj}}, as with all English headword-line templates, has a special mechanism for overriding the default linking behavior of individual terms in a multiword expression without having to repeat the entire expression. See Module:en-headword/documentation#Link modifications for more information.