dim
shiny
spotted
muted
beautiful
pretty
fair
moldy
sharp
frozen
sour
ugly
nice
bad
wrinkled
cracked
hazy
sweet
sad
mean
good
smooth
fuzzy
slick
spicy
anxious
democratic
boring
What do these words have in
common?
dim
shiny
spotted
muted
beautiful
pretty
fair
moldy
sharp
frozen
sour
ugly
nice
bad
wrinkled
cracked
hazy
sweet
sad
mean
good
smooth
fuzzy
slick
spicy
anxious
democratic
boring
They're all ADJECTIVES!
Adjectives
What is an adjective?
Tell what you think an adjective is:
____________.
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe, or give more
information about, nouns and pronouns.
Adjectives tell which: this frog, that giant, those
dwarfs.
Adjectives tell what kind: the green frog, the
lonely giant, the frozen lake.
Adjectives tell how many: many frogs, several
giants, one lake.
Adjectives can also work together: this green
frog, that lonely giant, those seven
dwarfs.
Adjectives
The blue adjectives at the beginning were
concrete adjectives. They described using the
five senses.
The green adjectives were abstract adjectives.
They described feelings or ideas.
Adjectives Practice I
Rewrite the following sentences. Revise the
adjective to make it more vivid. Underline the
word you change.
1. On winter afternoons, I sometimes walk home
after band practice rather than ride on a
crowded bus.
2. I hardly even notice the heavy traffic that
streams past me on the street.
3. The wet sidewalk glistens in the bright lights
from the windows of stores.
Adjectives Practice I
Rewrite the following sentences. Revise the
adjective to make it more vivid. Underline the
word you change.
4. The stoplights throw green, yellow, and red
splashes on the pavement.
5. At last, I reach my peaceful home.
6. I know they are glad to see me.
7. The hikers went exploring in the dark forest.
8. In the afternoon, the tired hikers pitched camp
in a clearing.
9. On one occasion, they almost turned back.
10. They kept going and were rewarded for their
great effort.
Too Many Adjectives!
Adjectives can help make writing clearer and
more specific, but adjectives should be used
sparingly. Too many adjectives will spoil the
sentence.
Example:
We went into the big, old, dark, cold, scary,
empty, rotten house.
The adjectives in this sentence do not create a
picture. They tell the reader what to think about
the room, not what to see.
“Just Right” Adjectives!
Revision Example:
We stepped into the house. We saw wrinkled
wallpaper, shattered windows, and a gaping hole
where the staircase used to be.”
The second sentence shows that the house was
old and falling apart; it does not tell the reader
what to think or how to feel.
Remember:
As a general rule, use adjectives that show, not
ones that tell.
Word Wall
Write down one of the following topics in
your composition book:
fairy-tale characters
summer
winter
school
birthdays
holidays
animals
games
friends
family
Word Wall
The category selected by the most students will
be the topic of our word wall.
Take two minutes. Brainstorm as many vivid
adjectives you can think of to describe our
topic.
Writing Activity I
Replace the weak adjectives in the following
sentences with stronger, more vivid ones.
Example:
Weak
We saw the pretty lake.
Strong
We saw the shimmering lake.
Writing Activity I
Replace the weak adjectives in the following
sentences with stronger, more vivid ones.
1. Snow White bit the bad apple.
2. Jack hacked down the ugly beanstalk.
3. The goat sniffed the uneatable grass.
4. The princess gazed at the beautiful sunset.
Writing Activity II
Some writers use adjectives in a special way.
They put two or three of them together, and
these adjectives all begin with the same sound.
These are called alliterative adjectives.
Here's and example from Edgar Allan Poe:
“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless
day . . .”
Notice all of the D sounds.
Writing Activity II
Examples
The curious, curved caterpillar crept across the
cracked branch.
The determined, dotted Dalmatian dragged the
dizzy fireman to safety.
The groaning, grumpy giant grabbed the sack of
golden eggs.
The tired, toothless troll tugged at the ropes of
his tattered tent.
Writing Activity II
In your composition book, compose two sentences
that contain alliterative adjectives. Each sentence
must contain at least three adjectives.
If you have trouble beginning, select on of the
topics below:
Snow White
Apples
Twilight
Justin Bieber
Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk)
Princess
Dragon
Monkey
Writing Activity III
Adjectives cannot act alone. They have to work
with other words, especially with nouns and
verbs, like a team.
Here's an example where these parts of
speech do not work together:
My room is a real mess. There's stuff
everywhere. Things are all over the place. It
doesn't even look like my room.
This description is too general; it does not paint a
picture with words.
Writing Activity III
Here's what happens when general
adjectives, nouns, and verbs are replaced
with more concrete and specific ones:
My room looks like a tornado hit it. Strewn on the
floor are heaps and bundles of clothes. Crumpled
and crinkled papers and torn and tattered candy
wrappers litter the desk. Faded, dingy curtains
hang like flags at half-mast; behind them a mudsplattered window filters the sun in blotches. The
doors of the closet hang a deranged angles;
inside, shoes and sweaters lay in piles beneath
bent and twisted hangers.
Writing Activity III
The previous description was better because it
lets the reader see that the room is a “mess,” but
it doesn't tell the reader directly.
Writing Activity III
Step 1: Select one of the following topics:
a pet
a room
a favorite place
an animal
a character from a story
Writing Activity III
Step 2: Brainstorm a list of at least five
details about your topic.
Example:
Dragon
sweltering breath
wings larger than tanks
teeth as sharp as swords
crimson, blood-colored eyes
cavernous nostrils
Writing Activity III
Step 3: Compose a topic sentence for your
paragraph.
Example:
The dragon was a frightening beast.
Your example:
The __________ was __________.
Writing Activity III
Step 4: Compose the rest of the paragraph. Include
the details you brainstormed. Make your adjectives
as vivid as possible!
Example:
The dragon was a dreadful beast. With sweltering
breath that left human skin cracked and flaking, the
dragon snarled viciously. Inside the scaly creatures
mouth lay a torrent of jagged teeth, honed for ripping
through armor. Cavernous nostrils exhaled sauna-like
air, and the beast's beady, crimson eyes glared.
Suddenly, with a quick flap of wings the size of tanks,
the dragon exploded into the air.
Writing Activity IV
Towards the end of his poem, “Pied Beauty,” Gerard
Manley Hopkins puts together a string of adjectives in
pairs of opposites: “swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle,
dim . . .”
Your job: Create a poem that describes something
using pairs of opposite adjectives.
Writing Activity IV
Step 1: Select one of the following topics. Write this
in your composition book:
Christmas
summer
winter
birthday
food
friendship
Writing Activity IV
Step 2: List opposite adjectives that could describe
your topic.
Example: Summer
Summer is hot and cool, dazzling and dim, lazy and
lively.
Writing Activity IV
Step 3: Give examples of each adjective you
expressed.
Example:
Summer is hot days and cool nights, dazzling sun and
dim moon, lazy afternoons and lively evenings.