Participles as adjectives

I am confused as to when I can use participles as adjectives. Let me give you an example. I can say: I saw a barking dog. Here the present participle barking is used as an adjective. But I can't say: I saw a barked dog, using the past participle as an adjective. Why not? Thanks.

barking dogs [ yes ] barked dogs [ no ]

There are not very many adjectives formed from verb participles, Tutul, that can be used in both -ed and -ing forms.

You can often get a sense of what works and what doesn't by transforming the participial adjective into a participial clause.

If it doesn't make sense as a participle in a clause, it is unlikely to make sense as a participle adjective. Consider the following:

The barking dogs kept me awake all night.

The dogs that were barking kept me awake all night.

The barked dogs kept me awake all night.

The dogs that had been barked kept me awake all night.

Barking works in the first pair of examples because -ing forms when used as adjectives have similar meanings to active verbs.

Barked doesn't work in the second pair of examples because most past participles have passive meanings when they are used as adjectives. Dogs can be washed, dried, combed, brushed, fed and walked, but they can't be barked. That is something they do themselves.

abandoning child [ no ] abandoned child [ yes ]

Abandon (meaning to leave someone when you should stay with them) is commonly used in passive structures. For this reason, abandoned works as an adjective, but abandoning does not. Compare the following:

The abandoned child cried for three days without stopping.

The child that had been abandoned cried for three days.

The abandoning child was so unhappy she cried for three days.

The child which was abandoning was so upset she cried for three days.

Abandoning doesn't work because children cannot abandon themselves, though the unfortunate ones are sometimes abandoned by their parents.

There are a few participial adjectives that can be used in both -ing and -ed forms, but note the differences in meaning, depending on active or passive use in these examples below.

broken hearts [ yes ] breaking waves [ yes ]

She is suffering from a broken heart

Her heart has been broken by his cruel behaviour.

The breaking waves pushed the surfboard further out to sea.

Huge waves breaking on the beach pushed the surtboard out to sea. 

alarmed houses [ yes ] alarming reports [ yes ]

Alarmed houses afford some protection against burglary.

Houses which are alarmed afford some protection against burglary.

Alarming reports are coming in that refugees are being racially abused.

Reports are coming in that refugees are being racially abused. This alarms me.

A small number of verbs have past participles that can be used as adjectives before nouns with active meanings. Note with these examples there may not be so much change in meaning between the -ing and -ed forms:

falling/fallen [yes] advanced/advancing [yes] developing/developed [yes]

The falling leaves covered the path and made it quite slippery.

The leaves that were falling covered the path and made it slippery.

The fallen trees blocked the road and only pedestrians could get through.

The trees that had fallen blocked the road and made it quite impassable.

When we think of countries that are still developing and countries that have developed, it is true to say that:

a) developing countries need as much help as they can get.

b) it is the developed nations which should provide it.

This class is appropriate only for advanced students.

It is suitable for students who have advanced beyond level five.

The advancing army surrounded the city and cut off all its supply lines.

The army, which was advancing rapidly, had cut off the city by nightfall.

Hard pressed / pushed

If you are hard pressed or hard pushed to do something, you experience great difficulty in doing it. Being pressed suggests being under pressure:

• It seems to me that the Labour government will be hard pressed to win the next election.
• We were hard pushed to complete all the preparations before the guests arrived.

Use of the adverb hard here suggests a lot of force being used against you. Note that hard also sometimes suggests physical force:

This door is inclined to stick, but if you push it hard, it will open.

pressed for time / money / etc

Pressed also collocates with time and money and other ideas in a similar way to hard pressed, suggesting difficulty:

• Are you pressed for time? If not, I suggest we have some lunch.
• This one's worn out. Why don't you buy a new one? ~ I'm a bit pressed for cash at the moment.
• It's not really her subject, but she says she could teach beginners Spanish if we're really pressed.

Likely / likely that / likely to

I would like to ask you about the meaning and grammatical construction of the phrase likely to be hard pressed to in the following sentence:

…this region is one of the least developed in China and the authorities are likely to be hard pressed to respond to the disaster.

likely

Likely is most often used as an adjective, meaning probable, (opposites unlikely / improbable). If something is likely, it is probably going to happen:

• The most likely cause of the fire in the stadium was an unextinguished cigarette
• The most likely outcome to the investigation is that the stadium will have to be rebuilt.

With the modifiers most, quite or very, likely is also sometimes used as an adverb, meaning most probably:

They'll quite likely invite you out to eat in a restaurant when you're staying with them.

it's likely that + clause

Likely is quite often used with it as a preparatory subject:

• It's unlikely that this afternoon's session will last very long. It should be over by five o' clock.
• It's more than likely that I shall see Chris in Cambridge. I am almost certain to bump into him, in fact. 

be likely to + infinitive

As an alternative, we can use the be unlikely to + infinitive construction with a normal subject, but probable cannot be used in this way:

• This afternoon's session is unlikely to last very long.
• I'm unlikely to be back late from the meeting.
• Are you likely to be staying in when you get back?

It is this realisation of likely that is used in your example, Reinhard:

• The authorities are likely to be hard pressed to respond to the disaster.

Note that if we wanted to use probably as an alternative in these examples, it would need to re-phrase them as follows:

• This afternoon's session will probably finish quite early.
• I shall probably be back quite early from the meeting.
• Will you probably stay in when you get back?
• The authorities will probably be hard pressed to respond to the disaster.

Dearly

Dearly can only be used as an adverb and normally collocates with the verbs love / like and in this sense means a lot or very much:

• He's such a nice man. I love him dearly.
• I would dearly like / love to be in your shoes and to have the whole summer free to travel around Europe.

Common adjectives ending in -ly There are not very many, but other common adjectives apart from costly ending in -ly include: friendly, lively, lovely, silly, ugly, unlikely: It was a lively party and there were lots of very friendly people there. He was really quite ugly and unlikely to succeed in the blind date competition.

Adverbs formed by adding -ly

As you no doubt know, most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the adjective:

• He is a slow and careful driver.
  He drives slowly and carefully.
• I'm going to give a house a thorough clean.
  I'm going to thoroughly clean the house.

But note that we cannot form adverbs in this way when the adjective ends in -ly. We cannot say: friendlily or uglily or sillily. We have to find some other way of modifying the verb, e.g.:

• They greeted us in a very friendly / silly manner.

Adjective and adverb with the same form A number of adverbs have the same form as adjectives. The most common include: hard, fast, straight, early: I know he has a fast car, but he doesn't need to drive so fast. It's hard work, but if you work hard and really concentrate, you'll finish it by bedtime. I caught the early bus to be sure of arriving early. The Aurelian Way is a very straight Roman road which goes straight from Rome to Pisa.

Adverbs with two forms Some adverbs have two forms. Sometimes there is a difference in meaning. Sometimes there is not very much difference. Compare the following: I haven't seen very much of you lately (lately = recently). You always seem to come home late from work.(late = arriving after the expected time) Mary can jump really high on the trampoline.(high = vertical distance) Yesterday she jumped right off it. It was highly amusing. (highly = very) Alfonso can eat free in the restaurant where he works. (free = without paying) You can speak freely. Nobody can hear us. (freely = without feeling restricted) Can you please be waiting for me outside at nine o' clock sharp? (sharp = punctually) I thought she spoke to him rather sharply. (sharply                  = in a harsh tone) Don't talk so loud. Everybody in the room can hear you. (loud = informal usage) Jonathan spoke loudly and convincingly about the advantages of leasing rather than buying cars. (loudly = more formal usage)

Irregular adjectives and adverbs

I'm confused about adjectives and adverbs like expensive, dear, costly, dearly, etc. Can you please explain them to me?

Expensive / dear / costly

These adjectives are all synonyms though they are used in slightly different ways and in different collocations. It is also the case that dear as an adjective has two meanings, it means both expensive and well-liked, as well as featuring in expressions such as Oh dear! or in letters as in Dear Sir. The problem with costly may be that it looks like an adverb as it ends in -ly. This is confusing as most adverbs end in -ly, but costly is an exception and is an adjective. Compare the following uses and collocations in these examples:

• It was an expensive suit, but if you want to work for this firm, you have to dress well.
• These are very nice. ~ They're a bit too dear / expensive, I'm afraid. Haven't you got anything cheaper?
• Agatha is a dear friend of mine. She is so kind and gentle in everything she does.
• Oh dear! I've forgotten to bring my ID and I shan't be allowed to take the IELTS test.
• It was a costly mistake and it meant I wouldn't have another chance until the autumn.

Inversion 3: 'no sooner..than..'

My question is about ‘no sooner’ and ‘than’ requiring the semi-inversion. Most of those sentences sound like 'no sooner came John to the station than the train arrived'. And my question is, how can I make two sentences of this one sentence, in order to understand better the way it functions?

OK, yeah, that’s a good and interesting question. And let’s make it clear first of all what order things happen in. If I say “no sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came in”, we need to be clear what happened first. Does it mean, the train came in and then me, or I came in and right after me the train? Well, my experience is actually that I arrive at the station, and then the train doesn’t come in for hours.

But, to answer your question, if I say “no sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came in”, it means, I came in, and right after me the train. I got there first… just! I’ll give you another couple of examples:

“No sooner had I put the phone down than it rang again”.

“No sooner had I finished the meal than I started feeling hungry again”.

It’s actually a rather literary construction. I’d expect to read it, maybe write it, but I probably wouldn’t say it. Instead I think I’d say something like this:

“The train came in just after I got to the station”, or “ had only just got to the station when the train came in”…or something like that.

Hardly and scarcely

There’s two similar structures, also rather literary, that have got the same meaning, with ‘hardly’ and ‘scarcely’. You could say “hardly had I arrived at the station when the train came in”, or “scarcely had I arrived at the station when the train came in”.

Same meaning: I got there just before the train. It’s a slightly different structure to the one with ‘no sooner’, because with no sooner we use ‘than’ – after a comparative, sooner – with ‘hardly’ and ‘scarcely’ we say “when”: “hardly had I arrived when the train came in”.

Trains are actually a bit unreliable in Britain today as I’ve suggested. I was on one recently on the way to London, we were moving extremely slowly, and the driver made an announcement over the loudspeaker saying “we apologise for the slow running of the train, but we have been moved onto a branch line because of engineering works, and we are likely to stay there for the foreseeable future!”.

I was pretty upset, because it was my birthday and I really didn’t want to spend it on a train between Oxford and London! However, no sooner had he made the announcement than we started going faster again – so I had my birthday at home after all. So thanks for your question, Michael! 

So do I, etc

These expressions are quite informal, Martine, and are readily used in short answers in spoken English to express agreement with what has been said in the first statement. So is here followed by inverted word order: auxiliary verb + subject:

• Judy can run 100 m in 11 seconds. ~ So can Henry!
• I've got a blister on my big toe. ~ So have I.
• I'm going to get it seen to by the club doctor. ~ So am I.
• I like to eat really hot food on cold days and so do all my friends.

So is occasionally followed by normal word order in short answers to express surprised agreement:

• If you don't believe me, just look out of the window. It's snowing! ~ So it is!
• You've given me tea and I asked for coffee! ~ So I have! I'm sorry.

Neither / nor would I, etc

These expressions are used in a similar way to So would I, etc, to express agreement with negative statements:

• I can't swim very well and neither can my sister. 
• I wouldn't dream of going into the water if the temperature is below 20° C and nor would any southerner.

inversion after negative expressions

We can use inversion in statements for the purpose of emphasis if we decide to start the statement with a negative expression. Compare the following:

• Under no circumstances would I wear a mini-skirt.
• I wouldn't wear a mini-skirt under any circumstances.

In this example, the first statement is more emphatic than the second one. We can use this approach with a wide variety of adverbial negative expressions, although it makes them sound rather formal. Compare the following:

• At no time would he allow his team mates to argue with the referee.
• Rarely / Seldom have I seen such an exciting game of football.
• Hardly had I taken my seat before two goals were scored.
• I had to show him my press pass and only then did he let me in.
• Only when the players had changed into smart clothes after the match were they allowed to talk to the TV reporters.

Inversion in conditional sentences

We can use inversion in certain types of conditional sentences when the if-clause begins with had, were or should. Sentences with inversion sometimes sound more formal than those with the more conventional if-construction. Compare the following:

• Had he not resigned, we would have been obliged to give him the sack.
• If he had not resigned, we would have been forced to sack him.
• Were she to find out that he was seeing some one else, she'd go berserk.
• If she were to find out that he was cheating on her, she would go mad.
• Should you decide to cancel the contract, please let me know by Friday.
• If you decide to withdraw from the agreement, please phone me by Friday.

Inversion after negative expressions and 'only...'

I have tried to learn English via the BBC, which is great! I like your Quiznet, but I need an explanation for the fifth item of Quiz Three: 5. Choose the correct answer:

Only at night ..... the safety of their cave

bats leave 

bats will leave

leave bats

do bats leave

Why is it not possible to use 'bats leave'? I would like to acquire this grammatical rule.

 Quite often in English, certain expressions with a restrictive or negative meaning are placed at the beginning of a sentence. The reason for doing so is to emphasize the point that you want to make. It is striking, original or surprising in some way. And whenever you make such a statement, inversion is necessary. So, it has to be:

• 'Only at night do bats leave their cave.'
• 'Only after I had returned home did I realize that I had left my watch in Emma's bathroom.'

 Inversion is also used after the not only ... but also construction:

• 'Not only did we visit Cuba's capital, Havana, (but) we also spent three days exploring the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.'

Inversion is also found in expressions containing the word 'no', when placed at the beginning of the sentence:

• 'Under no circumstances are you (allowed) to walk home from school alone.'
• 'In no way will I agree to sharing an office with Ben.

 The same rule operates for 'seldom', 'hardly', 'scarcely', 'rarely', 'never', 'never before' and 'no sooner':

• 'No sooner had I arrived at the station than the train came in.'
• 'Rarely do we see such brightly-coloured birds.'
• 'Seldom do we walk on such green grass.'
• 'Scarcely had we finished lunch when the bell rang for afternoon classes.'

Remember, you are registering surprise, or something similar, when you do this. If it is inappropriate to be so emphatic, you would say:

• 'We had scarcely finished lunch when the bell rang for afternoon classes.'

Inversion after negative expressions, so, and in conditionals?

 I'm getting ready for the TOEFL exam and this part of the website has been really useful for me. I need an explanation for all kinds of inversion and I want to know if it is an obligation to use inversion patterns.

Martine Talbourdet from France writes:

I would like to know if you really use expressions like So do I, So can I, So must I. Do you use them or are they formal?

'Incredible' and 'unbelievable'

 I recently found the Learning English section of the BBC webpage (which was such a delight for me because I really love the language) and I was wondering if you could tell me the difference between incredible and unbelievable and the right uses of each of them.

 These two adjectives, incredible and unbelievable, are quite interchangeable and to these two you could add a third: unimaginable.

They all describe things or events which are so amazing that they cannot be imagined or believed.

Adverbial forms are incredibly, unbelievably and unimaginably.

  You can substitute any of these adjectives or adverbs under discussion as you wish:

• 'When she died, Aunt Isobel left me an incredible amount of money – so much I didn’t know what to do with it!'
• 'I intend to work incredibly hard over the summer so that I pass my exams in September.'
• 'My performance at the Christmas concert was unbelievably bad.'
• 'The weather on the mountain yesterday was unbelievable. There was no chance of us getting to the top.'
• 'The operation was performed under almost unimaginable conditions. It is unbelievable that he survived.'
• 'The new computer game was unimaginably difficult. Neither Mike nor I could work out how to progress from level 1 to level 2.'

Hardly, hardly ever, hardly any

I've learned that the words hardly and rarely have the same meaning and that moreover we can use these words interchangeably in any sentence. Is this right or wrong?

They are not quite interchangeable as they stand, but need some modification first of all. If we add ever to hardly to arrive at hardly ever, then this is synonymous with rarely and also with seldom.

hardly ever

These adverbs describe how frequently or regularly something happens. Thus along a spectrum of frequency, starting with most frequent and ending with least frequent, we might find the following:

• Well doctor…. I always have two meat rolls for breakfast. Without fail. Every day.
• I usually have poached eggs on toast at the weekend. Not every weekend. But most weekends.
• I often / frequently have two chocolate biscuits or a pastry with my morning coffee. Not every day. But most days, I have to confess.
• And I sometimes have a brandy with my coffee after
  lunch. After a particularly good lunch.
• I hardly ever / rarely / seldom eat a full English
  breakfast. Once every two months perhaps.
• I never drink coffee after 7 p.m. Always tea. So what do you think is causing the high blood pressure?

Note that hardly ever, rarely and seldom equate with occasionally or very occasionally in terms of frequency, but that when you use hardly ever, etc, you are putting a negative gloss on what you are saying. Occasionally sounds much more positive. Compare the following:

• I occasionally see my daughter when I'm up in London. If she's free, around lunchtime.
• I hardly ever see my daughter. She's far too busy to find time for me.

hardly

Hardly, as an adverb by itself, means only just, and equates with barely and scarcely.

• Jonathan could hardly walk but already knew how to swim.
• I barely / hardly / scarcely knew Jack, although I know he was a great friend of John's.
• We had barely / hardly / scarcely finished dinner when they arrived.

hardly + any (+ -one/-thing)

Hardly any means very little or very few and is the opposite of plenty of, or colloquially, loads of. Note again the negative tone in which it is used:

• I've got plenty of friends, but hardly any money.
• I knew hardly anybody at the party, but Katie knew loads of people, nearly everybody in fact.
• It's worth hardly anything - practically nothing! Just a few pounds, perhaps.
• He's hardly said anything to anybody since the accident.
• He's said hardly anything to anybody since the accident.

Hardly/scarcely...neither/nor....so/too

If my friend says to me:

I hardly know this author

and if I hardly know her, should I answer:

Neither do I OR So do I?

Are both answers possible here?

hardly....neither/nor

Only Neither do I or Nor do I is possible here, Olga. This is because hardly has a negative meaning. It means almost not at all. So if you wish to agree with what is being said, you will also need a negative adverb and use neither or nor in response. Note that scarcely has the same negative meaning as hardly and that either of them can be used here. Compare the following:

• I can hardly / scarcely believe you're twenty years old now. ~ Nor / Neither can I!
• They're hardly / scarcely ever at home.
  ~ Neither / Nor are we!
• He's dead now, but I hardly / scarcely knew him.
  ~ Neither / Nor did I.

Note that neither/nor always come at the beginning of the response clause and that inversion of subject and verb are needed with the tense form agreeing with that of the first clause.

not either

As an alternative to neither/nor you can also use not either which has the same meaning, but normal word order:

• She had changed so much. I could hardly /scarcely recognise her. ~ I couldn't either.
• I've got hardly /scarcely any money left. What about you? ~ I haven't either.

neither…nor

Neither…nor are used together when we want to link two negative ideas:

• When I spoke to him, he neither smiled nor looked at me.
• Neither the chairman nor the treasurer was / were able to attend the meeting.
• Don't bother preparing dessert because neither Jane nor Julie eat / eats anything sweet.

Note that when singular subjects are connected with neither…nor, the verb which follows can be either singular or plural.

so / too

When the frequency of occurrence increases from never or hardly ever to occasionally or sometimes, these adverbs give a positive rather than a negative meaning to what is being said. If we wish to agree with statements in a positive way, this is our opportunity to use so or too. Compare the following:

• I would never work as a shop assistant in a large department store. ~ Neither would I.
• I could hardly / scarcely understand a word he was saying ~ Nor could your parents.
• Neither Henry nor Harry is / are coming to Edward's party. ~ I'm not either.
• They occasionally eat lunch at 'The Blue Parrot'.
  ~ So does Tom. / Tom does too.
• I sometimes have to work at weekends to get everything done ~ So do we. / We do too.
• I go to the cinema quite often - twice a week usually.
  ~ Me too. / So do I.
• She always uses olive oil in her cooking
  ~ So do my Spanish friends / My Spanish friends do too.

Note that the expressions Me too and Me neither, both of which are used in very informal speech, can only be used with first person singular agreement:

• Look, it's already two o' clock and I haven't done any work today. ~ Me neither.
• I'm so tired I could sleep for twelve hours. ~ Me too.

'Good' and 'well'

Why do you use good instead of well in the following phrase?:

'We eat good and drink well.' (An English colleague put it that way.)

good = adjective

well = adverb

Therefore it has to be we eat well as we are describing how we eat and drink. It might be said that adverbs answer the question How…? whilst adjectives answer the question What sort of…?

Study the following:

• 'She speaks good Japanese.'
• 'She speaks Japanese well.'
• 'She speaks Japanese better than I do.'

Note that better is the comparative form of both good and well. 

In English, we often play around with basic language, whether consciously or unconsciously, for effect. So, whilst 'we eat well and drink well' would be grammatically correct, 'we eat good and drink well' may be more effective in terms of impact because it breaks the grammatical rule. I would not recommend it, however, if you are taking an exam, but it will sound good over a drink with friends.

Why not sound well in this particular example? It is because when we use verbs such as be, seem, appear, sound, look, feel, smell, taste, they are followed by adjectives rather than adverbs as we are describing the subject of the sentence rather than the action of the verb.

So we have:

• 'She looks really good in those clothes.'
• 'The food at the reception tasted really good - better than the food we had last year.'
• 'There's no way he'll get a distinction, but the work he's done appears good enough for a pass.'
• 'I felt really good when she congratulated me on winning the essay prize.'

For similar reasons we would talk about:

A good-looking woman.
A good-natured boy. (good describes his nature)

But we would also say:

• A well-dressed woman. (well tells us how she dresses)
• A well-behaved boy. (well tells us how he behaves)

Look up good and well in your dictionaries to see if you can find further examples of adjectives formed in this way. 

The only time when well can be used as an adjective by itself is when we are talking about someone's health. Here well means in good health. Compare the following:

• 'How are you today?' 'Fine. Very well, thanks. / Not very well, actually.'
• 'I often feel unwell when I'm on a boat, but as soon as I get off, I'm fine.

Note that the expression well and good is used to indicate that you find a particular situation satisfactory or acceptable. Thus, we might say:

• 'If you can do the job in less time and leave early, I don't mind. That's (all very) well and good.'
• 'If you want to stay here on your own over Christmas, well and good.

Incidentally, there is now a trend among young people, particularly in the 18 - 25 age range, to use well instead of very in expressions like:

• 'I am well happy with that.'
• 'I was well tired last night.
• 'She was well pleased with her birthday present.'

Again it breaks the rule and is effective in the impact it makes.

Well used in this way often refers to exceptional circumstances or is used as a summary statement. I wonder if this creative use of the English language has reached you yet in your part of the world?

Formation and use of adjectives

Fun is sometimes used as an adjective in the following contexts:

• It was a fun thing to do.
• It was a fun place to go to.
• She is a fun person to be with.

instead of:

• She is fun to be with.
• It was fun to go there.
• It was fun to do that.

Fun here means pleasant and enjoyable. It/she made you feel happy.

However, funny is the normal adjective and fun is normally used as a noun. Note that when funny is used as an adjective in this way, it will have one of two quite different meanings. Consider the following:

She is a funny person.	She makes me laugh.
She is a funny person.	Her behaviour is really strange.

 Adjectives describe the qualities of people, things and places. They are one of the largest word classes in English. They are normally placed before a noun but, as we saw above, they can also come after the verb to be and also after other linking verbs such as stay, look, seem, appear, become, etc. Study the following:

• A tall young man and a petite middle-aged woman were walking along the narrow road.
• Tasty, fresh, white French bread is always best served with Stilton cheese and red wine.
• The fine sunny weather is set to continue. It will stay fine for the next few days.
• New ideas are always interesting and exciting.

Note that if we have more than one adjective before a noun, the order in which they appear is not always fixed, although it tends to be in this order: quality, size, age, colour, class. Check to see to what extent this is true in the above examples.

Note also that we often use adverbs of degree to modify the meanings of the adjectives we use. Among the most common are very, too, quite, rather, much, more, and most. Consider the following:

• It was very noisy in the garden but much quieter in the house.
• I would have said he was rather tall. But my mother described him as exceedingly tall.
• She is a very gifted child. Her teacher says that she is too intelligent for her class.

 adjectival endings

Many of the most common adjectives have no special endings. Consider these pairs which are opposite in meaning:

light - dark / heavy	cool - warm	difficult - easy / simple
sad - happy	rough - smooth	cruel - kind

However, many common adjectives can be recognised as such by their endings. Here are some of the most common:

-al:	typical, special, international, industrial, mental, physical, general
-ant:	pleasant, significant, tolerant, deviant, conversant, variant, valiant
-ent:	different, violent, patient, sufficient, convenient, excellent, frequent
-ous:	serious, anxious, nervous, dangerous, obvious, famous, conscious
-ic:	terrific, horrific, democratic, domestic, scientific, platonic, sympathetic, basic
-y:	filthy, dirty, dusty, messy, noisy, sandy, stony, rocky, healthy, hungry, angry
-ive:	active, passive, secretive, attractive, expensive, sensitive, native
-able:	comfortable, regrettable, probable, enjoyable, fashionable
-ible:	possible, horrible, terrible, sensible, susceptible
-ful:	useful, careful, beautiful, skilful, grateful, faithful
-less:	useless, careless, pointless, breathless, tireless, toothless
-ed:	interested, bored, tired, surprised, worried, confused, excited
-ing:	interesting, boring, tiring, surprising, worrying, confusing, exciting

1. It was the worst play we had ever seen. It was really _________ful.

2. The car had a three-litre engine. It was really ___________ful.

3. She paid a lot of attention to detail to ensure that everything was correct. She was really ___________ful.

4. He could never remember where he had put things. He was one of the most _______________ful professors I had ever met.

5. He obtained the highest grades in exams and was an excellent sportsman too. He was one of the most _____________ful students the school had ever had.

6. His garden was always full of the brightest flowers in summer. It was really ____________ful.

7. It was really quiet in the woods. The only sound you could hear was that of birdsong. It was really ____________ful.

8. I decided I would impress my mother by tidying my room and doing all the washing up. "Oh, you've been really _________ful," she said when she came in.

1. A dreadful / awful play.

2. A powerful engine.

3. A careful worker.

4. A forgetful professor.

5. A successful student.

6. A colourful / beautiful garden.

7. Peaceful surroundings.

8. A helpful boy.