Marvelous Modifiers
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Marvelous Modifiers Designed by Elisa Paramore Function of Adjectives Adjectives are words that modify nouns or pronouns and answer one of the following questions: Which? What kind of ? How many ? How much? Adjective Endings able or ible ac or ic al and ical an and ian ary ed en ent and ant ern Adjective Endings, con’t esque ful fic ileish ive less like ous some y Position of Adjectives before the noun or pronoun it modifies- examplethe purple sweater after a linking verb- example- John was brilliant as an appositive of the noun modified- exampleThis precocious youth, able and alert, graduated from Harvard. after a direct object- example- The circumstances made the detective suspicious. Rule 1 for effective use of adjectives When comparing 2 people or objects, use the comparative adjective form-the comparative form is made by adding ‘er’ to the adjective or the words more or less The superlative form is made by adding ‘est’ or using the words most or least before the adjective Rule # 2 for Adjectives When comparing more than 2 people or objects use the superlative form of the adjective Practice Exercise Add the correct ending to make the following words into the comparative form white slow agile clean active friendly Practice Exercise Add the correct ending to following adjectives to make the superlative form: white slow agile clean active friendly Rule #3 for adjectives When comparing one person or object with others in the group, use the words any other or anyone else, not just the word any Rule #4 for adjectives Avoid making double comparisons like more happier or most fastest Rule #5 for adjectives Use the article ‘a’ before a word that starts with a consonant sound. Use the article ‘an’ before a word that starts with a vowel sound Practice Exercise Add the correct article to following words honeycomb esophagus honorable man unhappy ending eucalyptus tree unicorn Rule # 6 for adjectives say ‘half a (or an)’ and not ‘a half a (or an)’ Example- This program is only half an hour long. Rule # 7 for adjectives Repeat the article ‘a, an or the’ before a second noun in a series for contrast, clearness or emphasis Example- Please order the beef and cheese nachos for me. (one item only) Example- Please order the beef and the cheese nachos for me. (2 items only) Rule # 8 for adjectives When 2 or more adjectives modify a noun, repeat the article only if different objects are meant- example- In the shop we found a black and white dress. (1 dress) Example- In the shop we found a black and a white dress. ( 2 dresses) Rule # 9 for adjectives An article such as ‘a, an or the’, or a preposition applying to all members of a series of nouns should only be used before the first item or repeated before each one Never use the article “the” before the word both Rule # 10 for adjectives The words this and that are singular and are only used to modify singular nouns or pronouns. The words these and those are plural and are used only to modify plural nouns and pronouns Rule # 11 for adjectives Do not use double negatives negatives are words that begin with the letter ‘n’ such as in the words- never, nothing, no, none and nobody Do not use negatives with half negative words such as hardly, scarcely, barely, only and but (when it means only) Rule # 12 for adjectives After the words be, become, grow, seem, appear, look, feel, taste, smell, remain and sound use a predicate adjective to describe the subject of the sentence- Example- Ben felt clumsy. Rule # 13 for adjectives The word good is used as an adjective the word well is only used as an adjective when it means “ in good health, attractive or satisfactory” Practice exercise Change the following sentences as needed to follow the rules for adjectives On a hike Brad watches carefully for copperheads and rattlers, for the both snakes are common in the mountains. That there butterfly with red bands on its wings is called a red admiral. There isn’t hardly any part of the world that is entirely free from mosquitoes. The moon jellyfish is one of the most commonest of the jellyfish group. Adjective clauses An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun and is attached to the word it modifies in one of 2 ways with a relative pronoun such as who, whose, which and that with a subordinating conjunction such as where like a main clause, a adjective clause has a subject and verb but it can not stand alone Punctuating Adjective Clauses Adjective clauses beginning with the word ‘that’ are never set off from the rest of the sentence with commas Adjective clauses beginning with the words ‘who’ or ‘which’ should not be set off by commas if omitting the clause would change the basic meaning of the sentence Adjective clause that begin with the words ‘who’ or ‘which’ should be set off with commas if omitting the phrase would not change the basic meaning of the sentence. Practice Exercise Identify the adjective clause in the following sentences and punctuate them as needed. Earle Stanley Gardner whose Perry Mason is a leading favorite with mystery fans originally practiced law. The knowledge of human foibles which helped Gardner in his legal practice later assured his success in business. In 1923 Gardner began the career of fiction writing which later brought him a fortune. The editor of Black Mask who read the story promptly returned it to Gardner. purpose of adverbs adverbs are words that modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb adverbs commonly answer the questionswhen, where, how, how often or how much adverbs such as when and where may also be used to help ask questions Adverb endings many end with ‘ly’ but not all adverbs do very, always, almost, often, not, now, well, rather, too and yesterday adverbs may also end with ‘ward’ and ‘long’ Practice exercise choose the correct form of the adverb in the parentheses. Can Josh beat Timothy (easy, easily)? (Nowhere, nowheres) in the world is there more gold than at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The motorcycle invented by Daimler in 1883 worked fairly (good, well), but it was (not nearly, nowhere near) successful enough to catch the public interest. If you speak your lines too (rapid, rapidly), most members of the audience will not understand what you are saying. The floodwaters receded (gradual, gradually). only use standard adverbs such as- anyway, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, somewhere, regardless, not nearly, in no way, usually, seldom and hardly ever do not use substandard adverbs such a- anyways, anywheres, everywheres, nowheres, somwheres, nowhere near ( not nearly) nohow, most times and seldom ever do not use more than one adverb to describe another adverb, an adjective or a verb Purpose of Adverb clauses an adverb clause modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb adverb clauses often answer the questions when, where, how or how much? an easy way to differentiate between an adjectives and a adverbs and adjective and adverb clauses is that adverbs and adverb clause can be moved within the sentence Adverb clauses adverb clauses start with an adverb that shows how the clause relates to the rest of the sentence- they show one of 4 thingstime- such as the words- after, as soon as, as long as, before, once, since, till, until, when, whenever and while place- where or wherever cause- as, because, in order that, since, so that condition- although, as, as though, even if, even though, if, in case, just as, provided that, though, unless, whereas, while Punctuating adverb clauses If at the beginning of the sentence, it is separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma after the last word of the clause If in the middle of the sentence it is enclosed in commas If the clause comes at the end of the end of the sentence it is not separated from the rest of the sentence Practice exercise Identify the adverb clause in the following sentences and punctuate them as needed. When Gardner was a young lawyer in California he specialized in brilliant legal tricks and masterly exhibitions of psychology. His customary acuteness failed when he used a beneficiary under a will as a witness to the will. Gardner retuned to law when the job of business analyst no longer satisfied him. Soon he rebelled against the routine office hours and court calendars which dominates a lawyer’s life. Thank you for your participation in this workshop. We hope you found it helpful. Remember to complete and return the Academic Enrichment Summary so that we may document your participation. If you are viewing this workshop via the internet please come by the Student Support Services office to complete and Academic Enrichment Summary or you may click on the link in the instruction box on the Workshops page and print one out or e-mail it to rcrews@wallace.edu Exit:
