Grammar Lesson 24
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Vocabulary:
Latin root lev- means to lighten or raise
Alleviate- to relieve, diminish, or lighten
Levity- frivolity, giddiness, and lack of appropriate seriousness
The Limiting Adjectives
• Help to define or “limit” a noun or pronoun
• They tell “which one”, “what kind”, “how many”, or “whose”
• Six categories: articles, demonstrative, numbers, possessive, indefinites
Articles
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The most commonly used adjectives
A, an, the
We use a before words beginning with a consonant sound
We use an before words beginning with a vowel sound
Demonstrative
• Answers the question “which one?”
• This, that, those, these
Numbers
• Answers the question “how many?”
• Two Senators
• Seven articles
Possessive Adjectives
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Both pronouns and nouns commonly function as adjectives
They answer the question “whose?”
Pronouns- his, their, her, its, your, my
Nouns- Hamilton’s, Washington’s
Indefinites
• Answers the question “how many?”
• Some, few, several, any, no, many
Diagramming adjectives
• We diagram adjectives by placing them on a slanted line beneath the noun or
pronoun they describe, modify, or “limit”
• Example:
• America’s (possessive adjective) first (limiting adjective) President united the
(article) many (indefinite adjective) senators.
Grammar Lesson 25
• Vocabulary:
• Amendment- the act of changing by correction, deletion, or addition; a
Constitutional amendment is a change made after the Constitution was
ratified
• Suffrage- the right to vote
Capitalization: Areas, Religions, Greetings/No
Capital Letter
• Areas of the country- we capitalize North, South, East, West, Midwest,
Northeast, when they refer to certain areas of the country (we do not
capitalize them when they indicate a direction)
• Religions, Deity, Bible- we capitalize religions, denominations, the Bible and
its parts, and the Deity
Greeting and closing of a letter
• We capitalize the first words in the greeting and closing of a letter
• Example:
• Dear Alexander,
You’re great!
Sincerely, Bob
No capital letter
• Animals, plants, diseases, foods, trees, musical instruments, and nontrademarked games are not capitalized unless a proper adjective appears with
them
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Examples:
beagle/German shepherd
willow tree/ Australian willow
card game/ Monopoly
Seasons of the Year/ Hyphenated words
• Seasons- we do not capitalize seasons of the year- fall, winter, spring,
summer
• Hyphenated words- we treat hyphenated words as if it were a single word, if
it is a proper noun or the first word of a sentence, we capitalize only the first
word, and not all parts of the hyphenated word
• Example: In mid-October we enjoy the fall colors.
• Fifty-six years ago, Izzy left home.