Home/Common Mistakes/Grammar/Adjectives/Check if an adjective is gradable or non-gradable
Home/Common Mistakes/Grammar/Adjectives/Check if an adjective is gradable or non-gradable

Check if an adjective is gradable or non-gradable

Some adjectives are non-gradable, also called ungradable. They are complete and final.

For example:

  • The man was dead.
    (You can’t be a little dead or very dead. You are either dead or alive.)
  • It was freezing outside.
    (Something is either frozen or it is not.)

There are two tests to know if an adjective is gradable or non-gradable:

Test 1

Can we use very before it?

  • This exercise is very easy.
  • This exercise is very impossible.
    (Something is either possible or impossible.)

Test 2

Can we make a comparative or superlative from it using adjective + er/est or more/most + adjective?

  • Last winter was the coldest for 50 years.
  • The man was deader.
    (Something is either dead or alive.)
  • The car was more destroyed.
    (Something is either damaged or destroyed.)
  • Last winter was the most freezing for 50 years.
    (Something is either frozen or it is not.)

Now do Check if an adjective is gradable or non-gradable · exercise 1.