A selection of English ESL adjective printables

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

This is ideal for pairwork.

The students fold the sheet in the middle and take turns in doing the sentences.

for some it's easier to put it into a closed book and reveal one sentence after the other.

follow-up: copying some or all of the sentences



-warm-up, in-between, ...



- second page: all English

comparison of adjectives tandemsheet

The students have to sort the words out into the correct categories. I have included abstract and proper nouns. You could do this as dictionary work as they may not know some of the words. 

Noun, verb or adjective?

A gapfill exercise on adjectives and prepositions. Personally, I do not consider studying this kind of grammar very useful, in my opinion it is far better to get a hunch for the right preposition by reading and listening to authentic texts in English. However, an exercise like this may be a good way to test how well you already know the English language. It may also be useful when you are getting ready for tests like FCE, CAE etc. The adjectives in this exercise are the same as those in "Adjectives and prepositions 2" (also uploaded here).



ADJECTIVES AND PREPOSITIONS 2B

Comparatives exercise using THAN and AS ... AS, adjectives and nouns (count and nocount). Students look at the chart and make sentences comparing the two made-up cities.

Comparing Adjectives and Nouns

Here is a dobble game to help the students learn some adjectives they can use to introduce themselves.

It can be played alone or with several students. They have to find the common adjective between two cards. 

I have done a Quizlet vocabulary list for them so that they can first learn the words.

The ones I have chosen to illustrate are : 

Aggressive

Bossy 

Brave 

Clever

Determined

Easy-going

Emotional

Faithful 

Generous

Greedy

Helpful

Honest

Impulsive

Jealous

Lazy

Messy

Open-minded

Optimistic

Patient

Pessimistic

Quiet

Relaxed

Reliable

Selfish

Shy

Silly

Sincere

Sociable 

Stupid

Talented

Tidy 



Personality adjectives dobble game 

A gapfill exercise on adjectives and prepositions. Personally, I do not consider studying this kind of grammar very useful, in my opinion it is far better to get a hunch for the right preposition by reading and listening to authentic texts in English. However, an exercise like this may be a good way to test how well you already know the English language. It may also be useful when you are getting ready for tests like FCE, CAE etc. The adjectives in this exercise are the same as those in "Adjectives and prepositions 1" (also uploaded here).

ADJECTIVES AND PREPOSITIONS 1B

Students practise identifying -ed or -ing adjectives followed by discussion questions using these.

-ed vs -ing adjectives

Adjectives and comparison - comparative form of adjectives.

A) learn the words.

B) first explain the rules. you can also ask kids if any of the characters' icons match the adjectives given.

C) put stress on the word "than". practise the correct order of the words.

D) kids make their choices - what do they think? practise the correct order of the words.

E) kids give adjectives describing their friends - then try and draw the character of the described person.



I hope it's useful :)

comparative form of adjectives

This is a worksheet about Pablo Picasso. Students must find the adjectives that describe Picasso.

Adjectives with Pablo Picasso

Building on the foundation from the 'Practice 1' worksheet, in this worksheet students can practice putting adjectives in the right order through different exercises, using the OSASh.COM method for guidance. It is designed for freer practice, with pictures to describe and a few examples. Suitable for B1 level and up, and for adults or higher level high school students. For more  worksheets and teaching articles by the same author, visit https://www.celiajenkins.com/teaching

Adjective Order Practice 2

This is a resource for the teacher that is focused on the commonly used adjectives and their rules. At the end of the worksheet, a site is pasted for further resources. 

Adjectives Degree of Comparison

this worksheet is practice using adjectives ending with ED or ING

5,640 Adjective English ESL worksheets pdf & doc