Adjective comparatives

Adjectives describe nouns and other adjectives -- brown puppy or chocolate brown puppy. They show what kind, how many, and which one. Adjectives must be placed near the words they modify. They may come before the word they describe -- a cute puppy -- or they may follow the word they describe -- the puppy is cute.

Comparatives compare two things connected with "than" or "but." Examples:

- Steve is older than Carl.
- Steve is older, but Carl is taller.

Note: When using pronouns, the subject form of the pronoun always follows "than." Example:

- Steve is older than I [am].

Superlatives compare more than two things and usually use "the" because only one element is the superlative. Examples:

- Sears Tower in Chicago is the tallest building in North America.
- The Empire State Building in New York is tall, but the Sears Tower in Chicago is taller. Taipei 101 in Taiwan is the tallest building in the world.

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Order of adjectives

Why is it "the quick, brown fox" and not "the brown, quick fox," or "a fat, green toad" and not "a green, fat toad"?

The order of the adjectives is as follows:

- Determiner - a, an, her, five, many, much several etc.
- Opinion - pretty, ugly, smart, cheap, etc.
- Size - big, fat, thin, tall, large, small etc.
- Shape - circle, square, tall, short etc.
- Age - old, young 10 years, a year, a week, new etc.
- Color - yellow, green, pink etc.
- Origin - American, English, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, European, Chinese etc.
- Material - cotton, wood, plastic, cloth, glass, gold etc.
- Purpose/Qualifier - hat box, sleeping bag, computer table,safe island, football field.

Source: http://www.english-the-easy-way.com/Adjectives/Adjectives_Order.htm

A, An, The: Little words, big meaning

"A," "An," and "The" are adjectives called articles. Special usage rules apply:

• "A" and "An" are indefinite and are used with general nouns or nouns not previously mentioned. I have a cat and a dog for pets; Geri has an octopus for a pet. A man and a woman walk on a path.
• "The" refers to nouns previously mentioned. The cat and the dog don't get along. The octopus is a baby. The man took the woman's hand when the path got rocky.
• "The" is used to refer to specific nouns: The elephant is a highly intelligent animal. The Nile is found in the African continent. The sun should shine tomorrow after the storm passsed overnight.
• "A" is used before nouns that begin with a consonant or consonant sound: A history assignment, an university degree.
• "An" is used before nouns that begin with a vowel or vowel sound: An assignment, an hour.
• "A" and "An" are also used to refer to your profession: I am an admin.