Page 57 - DENG103_English - I

English–I

Notes A third means for creating the opposite of an adjective is to combine it with less or least to
create a comparison which points in the opposite direction. Interesting shades of meaning and
tone become available with this usage. It is kinder to say that “This is the least beautiful city
in the state.” than it is to say that “This is the ugliest city in the state.” (It also has a slightly
different meaning.) A candidate for a job can still be worthy and yet be “less worthy of consideration”
than another candidate. It’s probably not a good idea to use this construction with an adjective
that is already a negative: “He is less unlucky than his brother,” although that is not the same
thing as saying he is luckier than his brother. Use the comparative less when the comparison
is between two things or people; use the superlative least when the comparison is among
many things or people.
• My mother is less patient than my father.
• Of all the new sitcoms, this is my least favourite show.

Some Adjectival Problem Children

Good versus Well

In both casual speech and formal writing, we frequently have to choose between the
adjective good and the adverb well. With most verbs, there is no contest: when modifying
a verb, use the adverb.
He swims well.
He knows only too well who the murderer is.
However, when using a linking verb or a verb that has to do with the five human senses,
you want to use the adjective instead.
How are you? I’m feeling good, thank you.
After a bath, the baby smells so good.

Even after my careful paint job, this room doesn’t look good.
Many careful writers, however, will use well after linking verbs relating to health, and
this is perfectly all right. In fact, to say that you are good or that you feel good usually
implies not only that you’re OK physically but also that your spirits are high.
“How are you?”
“I am well, thank you.”

Bad versus Badly

When your cat died (assuming you loved your cat), did you feel bad or badly? Applying
the same rule that applies to good versus well, use the adjective form after verbs that have
to do with human feelings. You felt bad. If you said you felt badly, it would mean that
something was wrong with your faculties for feeling.

Other Adjectival Considerations

Review the section on Compound Nouns and Modifiers for the formation of modifiers created
when words are connected: a four-year-old child, a nineteenth-century novel, an empty-headed
fool.

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