Gradable and ungradable adjectives

Gradable adjectives can be used with adverbs such as very or extremely to say that a
thing or person has more or less of a particular quality. Ungradable adjectives
themselves imply “to a large degree” and are seldom used with these adverbs. Instead,
we can use adverbs such as absolutely or totally.

extremely, deeply, fairly, hugely, angry, big, busy, comfortable, gradable

adverbs immensely, pretty (informal), common, happy, important, adjectives
rather, really, reasonably, quiet, rich, strong, young
slightly, very
absolutely, completely, entirely, amazed, awful, dreadful, ungradable
adverbs pretty, really, simply, totally, furious, huge, impossible, adjectives
utterly invaluable, terrible,
wonderful, useless

Examples:

1) Our teacher gave us a completely impossible problem to solve.

2) She was extremely rich.

Notice that not all the adverbs given can go with all the adjectives given. For example, we
wouldn’t usually say “completely essential”. Really and pretty can be used with both gradable
and ungradable adjectives.

Adverbs:

We use extremely, very, etc. with gradable adjectives and absolutely, completely, etc. with
ungradable adjectives. Here are more adverbs like these and adjectives which commonly
follow them:

+ gradable adjective + ungradable adjective

extremely … effective, difficult, hard absolutely … clear, necessary, sure, true
dreadfully …angry, disappointed, sorry simply … awful, enormous, terrible
hugely … entertaining, enjoyable, successful utterly … exhausted, unbearable,
unrecognisable

When two gradable adjectives come before the noun, we can put either a comma or and
between them. Compare:

- an attractive, big garden and - an attractive and big garden

Two ungradable adjectives have and between them if they are from the same class, but and is
not used if they are from different classes. Compare:

- financial and political conditions and - improving financial conditions

1. Match the gradable adjectives in A to the ungradable adjectives in B.

A B

tasty small cold hot filthy furious delicious

beautiful big interested delighted fascinated
angry happy dirty gorgeous boiling tiny
enormous freezing

2. Are the underlined adjectives gradable or ungradable? Suggest an appropriate adverb to

complete each sentence. Try to use a different adverb each time.

1. The play ……………………………………………… marvellous.

2. The answer is ……………………………………………. simple.
3. His new flat is …………………………………….. enourmous.
4. He was ………………………….... devastated by the news.
5. The instructions were ………………………… complicated.
6. I was …………………………………………………. disappointed.
7. The answer was …………………………………………. absurd.
8. The questions were ………………………………………… hard.
9. Her books are ……………………………………………. popular.
10. I was ………………………………………… terrified by the film.
11. He’s a(n) ………………………………………… successful artist.
12. He’s a(n) ……………………essential member of the team.

3. Use an adverb + adjective in your response, as in 1. (A) How would you feel if:

1 a friend said s/he had just won a million pounds? I’d be absolutely delighted.
2 your best friend told you s/he was emigrating to Australia?
3 someone broke a window in your house or flat?
4 a complete stranger told you that you were very beautiful/handsome?
5 you lost some airline tickets you had just bought?

4. Do you know which of these adverbs can come before each set of adjectives? The adverb
you choose must be able to come before all three adjectives in the set.

badly enormously perfectly severely terribly virtually

boring acceptable handicapped

1 ……………… important 3 ……………… adequate 5 ……………… limited
sorry clear weakened
identical damaged popular
2 ……………… impossible 4 ………………… needed 6 ……………… influential
unchanged wrong powerful
 ADVERB EXERCISES

1. Put in the correct word.

a. Two people were ___________________ injured in the accident
(serious/seriously).
b. The driver of the car had ___________________ injuries (serious/seriously).
c. I think you behaved very ___________________. (selfish/selfishly).
d. Rose is ___________________ upset about losing her job. (terrible/terribly).
e. There was a ___________________ change in the weather. (sudden/suddenly).
f. Everybody at the party was ___________________ dressed.
(colourful/colourfully).
g. Linda likes wearing ___________________ clothes. (colourful/colourfully).
h. Liz fell and hurt herself quite ___________________. (bad/badly).
i. Joe says he didn’t do well at school because he was ___________________ taught.
(bad/badly).
j. Don’t go up that ladder. It doesn’t look ___________________. (safe/safely).

2. Complete each sentence using a word from below.

Careful(ly) complete(ly) continuous(ly) financial(ly) fluent(ly)

happy/happily nervous(ly) perfect(ly) quick(ly) special(ly)

a. Our holiday was too short. The time passed very ___________________.
b. Steve doesn’t take risks when he’s driving. He’s always ___________________.
c. Sue works ___________________. She never seems to stop.
d. Rachel and Patrick are very ___________________ married.
e. Maria’s English is very ___________________ although she makes quite a lot of
mistakes.
f. I cooked this meal ___________________ for you, so I hope you like it.
g. Everything was very quiet. There was ___________________ silence.
h. I tried on the shoes and they fitted me ___________________.
i. Do you usually feel ___________________ before examinations?
j. I’d like to buy a car, but it’s ___________________ impossible for me at the
moment.

3. Choose two words (one from each box) to complete each sentence:

absolutely badly completely changed cheap damaged

reasonably seriously slightly enormous ill long planned
unnecessary unusually quiet

a. I thought the restaurant would be expensive, but it was ___________________.

b. Steve’s mother is ___________________ in hospital.
c. What a big house! It’s ___________________.
d. It wasn’t a serious accident. The car was only ___________________.
e. The children are normally very lively, but they’re ___________________ today.
 f. When I returned home after 20 years, everything had ___________________.
g. The film was ___________________. It could have been much shorter.
h. A lot went wrong during our holiday because it was ___________________.

4. Put in good or well:

a. I play tennis but I’m not very ___________________.
b. Your exam results were very ___________________.
c. You did ___________________ in your exams.
d. The weather was ___________________ while we were on holiday.
e. I didn’t sleep ___________________ last night.
f. How are you? Are you ___________________?
g. Lucy speaks German very ___________________.
h. Lucy’s German is very good.
i. Our new business isn’t doing very ___________________ at the moment.
j. I like your hat. It looks ___________________ on you.
k. I’ve met her a few times, but I don’t know her ___________________.

5. Are the underlined words right or wrong? Correct them where necessary:
a. I’m tired because I’ve been working hard.
b. I tried hard to remember her name, but I couldn’t.
c. This coat is practically unused. I’ve hardly worn it.
d. Judy is a good tennis player. She hits the ball hardly.
e. Don’t walk so fast! I can’t keep up with you.
f. I had plenty of time, so I was walking slow.

6. Complete these sentences. Use hardly + a verb or

any/anybody/anything/anywhere/ever:
a. I’ll have to go shopping. There’s ___________________ to eat.
b. I’m very tired this morning. I ___________________ last night.
c. I was a very warm day and there was ___________________ wind.
d. Scott and Tracy have only met once before. They ___________________ each
other.
e. Kate was very quiet this evening. She ___________________ a word.
f. Our new boss is not very popular. ___________________ likes her.

7. Put in so, such or such a:

a. It was a great holiday. We had ___________________ good time.
b. It’s difficult to understand him because he speaks ___________________quietly.
c. I was surprised that he looked ___________________ well after his recent illness.
d. Everything is ___________________ expensive these days, isn’t it?
e. The weather is beautiful, isn’t it? I didn’t expect it to be ___________________
nice day.
f. I have to go. I didn’t realize it was ___________________ late.

8. Make one sentence from two, using so or such:

 1. She worked hard. You could hear it from miles away.
2. It was a beautiful day. You would think it was her native language.
3. I was tired. We spent the whole day indoors.
4. We had a good time on holiday. She made herself ill.
5. She speaks English well. I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
6. I’ve got a lot to do. I didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the day.
7. The music was loud. We decided to go to the beach.
8. I had a big breakfast. I didn’t know what to say.
9. It was horrible weather. I don’t know where to begin.
10. I was surprised We didn’t want to come home.

9. Use your own ideas to complete these pairs of sentences:

a. We enjoyed our holiday. It was so _______________________________________.
b. We enjoyed our holiday. It was so _____________________________________.
c. I like Catherine. She’s so _____________________________________________.
d. I like Catherine. She’s such _________________________________________.
e. I like New York. It’s so _______________________________________________.
f. I like New York. It’s such _____________________________________________.
g. I wouldn’t like to be a teacher. It’s so _________________________________.
h. I wouldn’t like to be a teacher. It’s such _________________________________.
i. It’s great to see you again! I haven’t seen you for so ______________________.
j. It’s great to see you again! I haven’t seen you for such ____________________.