Adjectives & Adverbs

1. Adjectives & Adverbs the zest of writing

2. Adjectives • Recognize an adjective when you see one • An adjective describes nouns by answering one of the questions: What kind is it? How many are there? Which one is it? • An adjective can be a single word, a phrase, or a clause.

3. Adjectives • What kind is it? • Dan decided that the fuzzy green bread would make an unappetizing sandwich. • What kind of bread? Fuzzy and green! What kind of sandwich? Unappetizing! • A friend with a fat wallet is a fun friend indeed. • What kind of friend? A rich one! • A warm towel is more comforting than a hot fudge sundae. • What kind of towel? One right out of the dryer!

4. Adjectives • How many are there? • Seven hungry space aliens slithered into the diner and ordered two dozen vanilla milkshakes. • How many aliens? Seven! How many milkshakes? 24! • The students, five freshmen and six sophomores, braved Dr. Ribley’scalculas exam. • How many students? 11! • The disorganized pile of book, which had 17 overdue volumes, blocked the doorway. • How many were overdue? 17!

5. Adjectives • Which one is it? • The most unhealthy item from the cafeteria is the steak sub. • Which item from the cafeteria? The steak one! • The angry caterpillar eyeing your cookie has started to crawl this way. • Which caterpillar? The angry one! • The students who studied rigorously for the test passed with flying colors. • What kind of colors? Flying rainbows!

6. Adjectives • To describe a noun fully, you might need to use two or more adjectives. A series of adjectives may require commas but not always. • If the adjectives are coordinate, meaning the adjectives need no particular order, then they need commas. • For example: The tall, creamy, delicious milkshake melted on the counter. • Noncoordinate adjectives do not make sense when you reorder the series, so they do not need commas. • For example: Jeanne’s twofatSiamese cats hog the couch.

7. Adjectives • Comparative adjectives make a comparison between two items – people, places, things, etc. • To form comparative adjectives either add –erto the end of the word OR add more before it. • One syllable words usually take –er at the end • Two syllable words vary. • Any word over three syllables will use more or less, depending on what you’re saying

8. Adjectives • Superlative adjectives make a comparison between three or more items. • To form a superlative adjective either add –estto the end of a word or add most before it. • One syllable words take –estat the end • Two syllable words vary. • Three or more syllable words use most or least, depending on what you’re saying.

9. Adjectives • Let’s check out some samples... • Stevie, a suck up who sits in the front row, has a thicker notebook than Nina, who never comes to class. • The thinnest notebook belongs to Mike, a computer geek who scans all of his notes and saves them on the hard drive. • Because Fuzz is a smaller cat than Buster, she loses the fight for tuna. • For dinner, we ordered a bigger pizza than usual. • Kelly is lazier than an old dog. • The new suit makes Adam more handsome than a movie star.

10. Adjectives • More samples • Movies on our new flat screen are less cloudy. • Heather is more compassionate than anyone I know. • These are the tartest lemon-roasted squid tentacles that I have ever eaten! • Nigel, the tallest member of the class, has to sit in front. • Because Hector refuses to read directions, he made the crispest mashed potatoes ever. • Some would say Justin Bieber is the most gorgeous singer in the world. • The most frustrating part of my day was crashing into Starbucks.

11. Adverbs • Recognize an adverb when you see one. • Adverbs tweak the meaning of verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and clauses. • Adverbs can be single words, or they can be phrases and clauses. • They can answer one of these four questions: How? When? Where? Why?

12. Adverbs • Some single word examples: • Lenora rudely grabbed the last cookie. • The adverb rudely fine-tunes the word grabbed • Tyler stumbled in the completely dark kitchen. • The adverb completely fine-tunes dark (Adj describing kitchen) • Roxanne veryhappily accepted the bonus from her boss. • The adverb very fine-tunes other adverb happily

13. Adverbs • Many single word adverbs end in –ly. • For example, peacefully, rudely, completely, happily • Not all –ly words are adverbs, though. For example, lovely is an adjective. • Many single word adverbs have no specific ending, such as next, not, often, seldom, and then. • If you are uncertain, LOOK IT UP! That’s my best advice.

14. Adverbs • Adverbs can also be multi-word phrases and clauses. • For example: At 2am, a bat flew through Debbie’s open window. • The prepositional phrase “At 2am” indicates when the event happened. The second prepositional phrase “through Debbie’s open window” describes where this hideous creature traveled.

15. Adverbs • With a fork, George thrashed the raw eggs until they foamed. • The subordinate clause “until they foamed” describes how George prepared the eggs. • Sylvia emptied the carton of milk into the sink because the expiration date had long passed. • The subordinate clause “because the expiration date had long passed” describes why Sylvia poured out the milk.

16. Adverbs • Comparative adverbs discuss two people, places, or things. • Use more or less for comparative adverbs. • For example, Beth loves green vegetables, so she eats broccoli more often than her brother. • Superlative adverbs compare three or more people, places, or things. • Use most and least for superlative adverbs. • For example, Among the members of her family, Beth eats pepperoni pizza the least often.

17. Adverbs • Don’t use an adverb when a stronger verb will do. • For example, don’t say “Drink quickly” when you could say “Gulp”! • At the same time, don’t use an adjective when an adverb is necessary! • For example, you often hear people say “I am real smart.” or “This pizza is real delicious.” • Real is an adjective, so it cannot modify another adjective. What you need hear is the word really. (Notice that –ly ending???)

18. Adverbs • Lastly, remember that adverbs are NOT part of the verb. They are a separate entity, totally on their own, even when they come in the middle of an auxiliary verb. • For example, “For his birthday, Frank would also like a jar of dill pickles. • In this sentence, also is an adverb that interrupts the verb phrase “would like”. • Another example, “Despite the approaching deadline, Sheryl has not started her essay. • In this sentence, not is an adverb that interrupts the verb phrase “has started”.