Unit 2 ADJECTIVES What are Adjectives Adjectives are

Unit 2 ADJECTIVES

What are Adjectives? • Adjectives are modifiers. They modify nouns or pronouns. This means they change the image of a noun or pronoun. • Adjectives can be located by asking the questions: What kind? Which one? How many? How much?

Adjectives Picture a dog in your mind. Do you have an image in your head? Now make it small It is a small dog

Adjectives Picture a dog in your mind. Do you have an image in your head? Now make it brown It is a brown dog

Adjectives Picture a dog in your mind. Do you have an image in your head? Now make it tired It is a tired dog

Adjectives Picture a dog in your mind. Do you have an image in your head? Now make it threelegged It is a three-legged dog

Limiting Adjectives Limiting adjectives point out nouns. There are five kinds of them: Articles Possessives Demonstratives Indefinites Interrogatives

Limiting Adjectives Many limiting adjectives have also been studied as pronouns. How do you tell when they are pronouns and when they are adjectives? • If a word is a pronoun, it will be renaming a person, place, or thing. Ex. That is a pencil. (That is renaming the pencil; therefore, it is a pronoun. ) • If a word is an adjective, it will be pointing out a noun. Ex. That pencil is big. (That is pointing out a pencil, and pencil is a noun; therefore, it is an adjective. )

Articles There are three articles: a, an, the “A” and “an” are called indefinite articles because they do not point nouns out as specifically. For example: • I’d like a • Let’s go on an Neither one of these sentences names a specific banana or a certain adventure. Without more clarification, any banana or adventure will do. “The” is called a definite article because it points out nouns more specifically. For example: • Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem. • Let’s go on an adventure. The Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!

Articles • “The” can be used before both singular and plural nouns. Ex. the cat, the houses • “The” can be used before both vowels and consonants. Ex. the ant, the car • “A” and “an” can only be used before singular nouns. Ex. a book, an elephant • “A” must be used before consonant sounds. Ex. a duck, a fossil, a uniform • “An” must be used before a vowel sounds. Ex. an umbrella, an excuse

Descriptive Adjectives • Descriptive adjectives simply describe the noun or pronoun! • They add some sensory image to your sentence which allows the reader to see, smell, hear, touch, or taste something in the sentence. • All of the modifiers in the earlier section of the slide show concerning the dog were descriptive adjectives. They made the dog small, brown, tired and three-legged. Those words are all adjectives!

Proper Adjectives • One type of descriptive adjective is called the proper adjective. • Proper adjectives are derived from, or come from, proper nouns. This means that they must always be capitalized. • Proper adjectives sometimes are formed by adding a suffix to the proper noun.

Proper Adjectives Examples of Proper Adjectives Proper Noun Proper Adjective American France French China Chinese Texan Texas The Chinese dumplings are the best item on the menu. (Chinese) German chocolate cake is very rich in flavor and texture. (German) The Japanese paper cranes are meant for good luck. (Japanese) The African drums sounded loud in the concert hall. (African) The Russian opera by Stravinsky is very beautiful. (Russian)

Possessive Adjectives • Possessive adjectives show ownership of a noun. • These words are the same as the possessive pronouns. • There are fourteen possessive adjectives: my, mine your, yours his, hers, its our, ours your, yours their, theirs

Demonstrative Adjectives • Demonstrative adjectives point out a noun. • They are the same words as the demonstrative pronouns. • There are four demonstratives: This That These Those

Indefinite Adjectives • Indefinite adjectives point out nouns. • They often tell “how many” or “how much” of something. • There are seventeen of them: all, any, another, both, each, either, few, little, many, more, most, much, neither, one, other, several, some

Interrogative Adjectives • Interrogative adjectives are used to ask questions. • Three of them were also interrogative pronouns which , what , whose

Location of Adjectives can be located in three places in a sentence. 1. The most common location is directly in front of the noun it is modifying. Ex. the big dog, the new toy 2. Another location is after a linking verb or verb of condition. These are called predicate adjectives. Ex. The game was interesting. 3. The final location of adjectives occurs after a noun when it is set off by commas. Ex. The book, well-written and suspenseful, kept my interest.

Now take the assessment on Adjectives!