Download Adjectives/ Adverbs

Adjectives & Adverbs
Adjective and adverbs are parts of speech known as modifiers, which help to clarify and
enhance your sentences.
Adjectives: words that describe nouns (person, place, or thing). They also give a more
specific meaning to nouns and pronouns. Adjectives answer the question.
You can use the following questions to help identify adjectives in sentences.
What Kind?
Red Boat
Sick passenger
Silver Jewelry
Cool Water
Which One?
third chance
this train
any piece
those apples
How Many?
six cars
both answers
several reasons
few letters
How Much?
enough space
no rain
more energy
little effort
Textbook examples:
An adjective usually comes before the noun it modifies, but at times it may come after
the noun. In the examples below, the italicized words are the adjective, and the
underlined words are the nouns that are being modified.
Before The Noun: The sick child lay in bed.
After The Noun: The child, sick with fever, lay in bed.
After The Pronoun: She was sick for a week.
Before the Pronoun: Sick in bed, he was very bored.
Textbook Exercises: For adjectives. Exercise 2 pg. 382
Instructions: Underline each adjective in the following sentences. Then italicize the word
that each adjective modifies and type questions that it answers.
1. Small work boats were sailed extensively for pleasure in early colonial times.
2. The first pleasure schooner was built in 1816.
3. It was built specifically as a large, luxurious yacht.
4. American yacht clubs started around the 1840’s.
5. Six members of the New York Yacht Club financed America’s first racing yacht.
Proper Adjectives- a proper noun used as an adjective or an adjective formed from a
proper noun.
Proper Adjectives- They can be simply proper nouns. Others are formed from proper
nouns.
-When proper nouns are used as adjectives, the form of the proper noun is not
changed.
Examples: Alcott novel (What kind of novel?)
Chicago storm (What kind of storm.)
: Jefferson
Jeffersonian democracy (What kind of democracy?)
Mexico
Mexican Art (What kind of art?)
Compound Adjective- an adjective that is made up of more than one word.
Pronouns Used as Adjectives
A personal pronoun that can be used as an adjective answers the question Which one?
about a noun that follows it.
Adverbs: words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
You can identify adverbs by seeing if the word answers where, when, in what way, or to
what extent. A lot adverbs also end in -ly.
You can use the following questions to help identify adverbs in sentences.
Adverbs can also be placed in many different positions. The chart shows how they can
come after or before a verb or verb phrase or even between the words in a verb phrase.
Adverbs Modifying Verbs
Where?
fell below
went there
move aside
climbs down
When?
arrived today
should have spoken before
left early
begins then
In What Way?
happily ran
danced awkwardly
will end abruptly
had been sung loudly
To What Extent?
partly understands
have not completed
wash completely
hardly would have known
Textbook examples:
In the examples below, the adverbs are underlined.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we
face it wisely and courageously… (From First Inaugural Address ; F.D. Roosevelt)
Adverbs Modifying Adjectives and Adverbs
When an adverb modifies an adjective it usually comes directly before the adjective
Adverbs Modifying Adjectives
very glad
absolutely wrong
almost ready
entirely grateful
Sometimes adverbs are used to sharpen the meaning of other adverbs.
An adverb modifying another adverb generally comes directly before the adverb it
modifies.
Adverbs Modifying Adverbs
moved very quickly
climed almost over
not completely wrong
only just recognizable
Textbook Exercise: (Exercise 20 pg 391) Underline the adverb in each sentence, and
write the question it answers: Where? When? In What Way? To What Extent?
1. Ancient peoples often saw designs in the stars, called constellations.
2. They carefully named the constellations after various religious figures, animals, and
objects.
3. Constellations are sometimes imagined to be groupings of bright stars.
4. Eighty-eight constellations are recognized today.
5. The names are derived in part from Greek mythology.