Adjectives

1. Adjectives • An adjective (adj.) modifies a noun or pronoun: the red car.

2. Adjectives (continued) • To modify is to change. We say that adjectives modify nouns. In what ways do adjectives change (or modify) nouns? • Imagine a tennis ball. Think about the image of a tennis ball in your mind. Now, imagine a crystal ball. Does the second adjective modify or (change) the image that you have in your mind?

3. Adjectives (continued) • Why do we need adjectives? - Because there are only thousands of nouns, but there are billions of things in the universe. - Adjectives help us to express the subtle differences between very similar things.

4. Adjectives (continued • Binary: Notice that an adjective is always part of a binary system, like a double star or a planet with one moon. • The presence of an adjective implies the presence of a noun or pronoun. If you see the in a sentence, look for the noun or pronoun. If the word is not modifying a noun or pronoun then it is not an adjective.

5. Adjectives (continued) • Articles: The articles are the three adjectives a, an, and the. • The definite article is the. • The indefinite articles areaandan. • The word article comes from the Latin word artus, meaning “joint”. Imagine if we had no a, an, andthe; our rapid speech sounds would slur together and we would not be able to tell where the nouns were. The articles are little noun-alerts letting us know a noun comes next – they also break the sentence into noun segments!

6. Adjectives (Continued) • Three degrees of adjectives: Adjectives have a wonderful property: they can change degree. A fire can be hot, hotter, or hottest. • These threedegrees of adjective intensity are known as the positive (good), comparative (better), and superlative (best) degrees.

7. Adjectives (continued) • Proper adjectives: Proper adjectives are made out of proper nouns. • England makes English. • Rome makes Roman. • When we convert the proper noun Spain into the proper adjective Spanish, we retain the capitalization.

8. Adjectives (continued) • The reason a school subject such as English and Spanish are capitalized and a subject such as history and mathematics are not is that English and Spanish are proper adjectives made from the proper names of countries.

9. Adjective (continued) • Good or Well? The word good is an adjective that may be used to modify nouns or pronouns; the word well is usually an adverb that modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. • Examples: • The goodathlete runs well. • Thegooddog received all the praise. • Am I doingwell?

10. Identify the nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the sentence below. Then, as needed, indicate if the adjective is an definite or indefinite article, pron. adj. adj. n. adj. adj. n. (indefinite)

11. Refer to the passage below and then underline all the adjectives. When you finish, answer the questions below. These kids looked like they belonged in a rock band. Andrey wiped his dirty hands on his pants and got to his feet. The light in his head grew brighter. It just might work. He took the guitar, strummed a few radical notes, and jumped out into the crowd. How many words are in this passage? How many of these words are adjectives?

12. These kids looked like they belonged in arock band. Andrey wiped his dirty hands on his pants and got to his feet. The light in his head grew brighter. It just might work. He took the guitar, strummed a few radical notes, and jumped out into the crowd. How many words are in this passage? 49 How many of these words are adjectives? 8