Adjectives
Adjectives—words that describe or modify nouns. They tell what kind, how many, or which one.
What Kind? Fast riders, crowded stadium, steamy morning
Which one? First lap, inner lanes, final race
How many? Five teams, many fans, more applause
•Common adjectives are words that describe nouns but they are not specific.
example: small, huge, red, twelve
•Proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns so they are always capitalized.
example: Chicago museum, African art
Articles
Articles (a, an and the) are also adjectives. An article indicates that a noun will soon follow.
•A and An are called indefinite articles because they are used before a noun that names a nonspecific person, place, thing or idea.
Example: A sudden turn can cause an accident.
*Use a before a consonant sound—a ball
*Use an before a vowel or a silent h—an egg, an hour
•The is a definite article because it points to a particular person, place, thing or idea.
Example: The competition continued through the afternoon.
Where are the adjectives in these sentences? Are they common or proper?
- Ancient mammoths were huge, woolly creatures.
- This mammoth is huge, but that mammoth is even bigger.
- Dinosaurs were egg-laying animals.
- The North American Allosaurus had sharp teeth and powerful jaws.
Nouns as Adjectives
•Sometimes words that are usually nouns can function as adjectives.
- Karen always wipes her runny nose with paper towels.
- Teasing a junkyard dog is a bad idea.
- An intelligent person will never put his head into an empty pickle jar.
- I hear that apple juice is a healthy drink.
Pronouns and Possessives as Adjectives
•When the pronouns this or that come before a noun, the words become adjectives.
Example: This phone has a dial.
That phone has a cord.
•Possessive pronouns (my, our, your, her, his, its, their) are used as adjectives.
•Other pronouns like these, those, all, each, both, few, most, and some can also be used as adjectives.
Adjectives as Comparatives and Superlatives
Adjectives can be used to compare people, places or things:
• To say that one thing is better than another, add er to the adjective.
Example: This spice is hotter than that one.
•To say that one thing is the most or best out of more than two, add est:
Example: This is the spiciest meat I ever tasted.
•Longer adjectives use more and most for comparatives and superlatives.
Example: This is the most delicious apple I have ever tasted.
•Never use more or most with the er or est form of the word.
•Remember to use than, not then, in making comparisons. Then refers to a moment in time, while than is used to compare one thing to another.
Absolute Adjectives
•Some adjectives should not be compared. These are called absolute adjectives. For example, you can’t have a most favorite sweater. Your favorite sweater is already the one you like the most. Other absolute adjectives--Absolute, complete, final, square, full, meaningless, superior, basic, empty, excellent, dead, essential, harmless, obvious, ultimate, certain, entire, perfect, unique, pure, universal, favorite.
Practice for Adjectives—correct the following sentences.
- The elm is more taller then the maple.
- An T-Rex is a impressiver animal than a dog.
- She is the most perfect student in the school.
- I went to an school that I have never been to before.
- This is a more prettier gift then anything else I could buy.