Download Chapter 5: Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives
Adjective – a word that modifies, or describes, a noun or a pronoun
Predicate adjective – an adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies the subject of
the sentence
Articles and Proper Adjectives
Article – a, an, the
Definite articles – the; refers to a specific person, place, or thing
Indefinite articles – a, an; refers to one of a general group of people, places, or things
A is usually used with words beginning with a consonant sound. An is used before words
beginning with a vowel sound.
a unit
a pilot
an hour
an astronaut
Notice that unit really begins with the consonant sound of y.
Proper adjective – formed from proper nouns
Chinese: formed from China
Persian: formed from Persia
Israeli: formed from Israel
Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
Comparative form of an adjective –compares two things, groups, or people
Ex: My toe is larger then my nose.
Superlative form of an adjective – compares more then two things, groups, or people
Ex: My toe is the largest of all.
The comparative and superlative forms of most one-syllable and some two-syllable
adjectives are formed by adding –er and –est to the adjective.
For most adjectives with two or more syllables the comparative and superlative are
formed by adding more and most before the adjective.
The words less and least are used before both short and long adjectives for the negative
comparative and superlative.
Demonstratives
The words this, that, and those are called demonstratives. They “demonstrate,” or point
out, people, places, or things. This and these point out people or things near to you, and
that and those point out people or things at a distance from you. This and that describe
singular nouns. These and those describe plural nouns.
•
•
Demonstrative adjectives point out something and describe nouns by answering
the questions which one? or which ones?
The words this, that, these, and those are demonstrative pronoun when they take
the place of nouns and point out something.
Ex: Demonstrative Adjectives:
That wig is unusual.
Look at this lump.
Those chickens are crazy.
These homes are ugly.
Demonstrative Pronouns:
That is a tall tree.
This is a monkey.
Those are cheesy.
These are tiny.
Adverbs
Adverb – a word that modifies, or describes, a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
Ex: Adverb modifying a verb: Hobo Bob begged playfully for money.
Ex: Adverb modifying an adverb: The old lady looked at him very sheepishly.
Ex: Adverb modifying an adjective: The long shiny needle popped the balloon.
When modifying a verb, an adverb may describe how or in what manner the action is
done. In addition, it may describe where or in what direction an action was done.
Many adverbs are formed by adding –ly to adjectives. However, not all words that end in
–ly are adverbs. The words friendly, lively, kindly, and lonely are usually adjectives.
Similarly, not all adverbs end in –ly such as sometimes.
Intensifiers
Intensifier – an adverb that emphasizes or intensifies and adjective or adverb
Ex:
Hobo Bob made green money.
Hobo Bob made big green money.
Comparative and Superlative Adverbs
Comparative form of an adverb – compares two actions
Ex:
It was more amazingly built then the box next door.
We came earlier then before.
Superlative form of an adverb – compares more than two
Ex:
It was the most amazingly built box.
We were the earliest of all.
Using Adverbs and Adjectives
Adverbs and adjectives are often confused, especially when they are used after verbs.
Predicate adjectives follow linking verbs. Make sure not to get them mixed up.
Working online is hard without a fast modem.
Hard is an adverb in the sentence above. It may seem as a predicate adjective. Hard
modifies the verb working and modem is the predicate noun.
•
•
Use a predicate adjective after a linking verb.
Use an adverb to describe an action verb.
Avoiding Double Negatives
Negative word – expresses the idea of no
Affirmative words – words that express the idea of yes
Double negative – two negative words used in the same sentence
Ex:
I don’t got no time to take poo.