Adjectives Flashcards
“I have a few objections to this argument”
What is the adjective?
Few
“The trench was enormous”
What is the adjective?
enormous
What is an adjective?
Words that describe the quality, quantity or states of nouns.
Adjectives DO NOT modify verbs, adverbs or other adjectives.
“As the age-old saying goes, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”
What are the adjectives?
bad (bad guy)
good (good guy)
age-old (age-old saying)
“As the age-old saying goes, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”
What is the adjective?
only (only way)
“Only” is an adjective that modifies a noun (“way”)
What is a predicate adjective?
The technical name for an adjective when it is used to modify a linking verb (feel, smell, sound, seem, appear)
“I feel bad about what happened” (bad is the adjective)
“I sound nice through the microphones” (nice is the adjective)
“Please use three white flowers in the arrangement.”
What is the adjective?
“Three white” (Three white flowers)
“Three white” is an adjective that modifies a noun (“flowers”)
“He was the smartest guy in the room”
What is the adjective?
“Smartest” (smartest guy)
“Smartest” is an adjective that modifies a noun (“guy”)
What are coordinate adjectives?
Adjectives that modify the same noun, and must be separated by a comma or the word ‘and’.
“This is a long, difficult internship”
“This is a long and difficult internship”
What is NOT a coordinative adjective?
Adjectives that modify the same noun, but cannot be separated by a comma or the word ‘and’ without sounding unnatural.
“The painted metallic column cost $50,000”
It would be odd to rephrase this sentence with the word ‘and’ between painted and metallic.
Why are coordinative adjectives important?
Must be careful when paraphrasing words and coordinative adjectives are involved
When adjectives are not coordinate, they must stick together in that same order and cannot be separated by a comma or the word ‘and’
For example “The rusty steel equipment”
What are words that can be used both as a noun or an adjective?
Homeless
(The homeless need our help)
(A homeless man)
Guide
(This is a useful guide to the city)
(The guide dog)
Fraud
(He was a fraud)
(The transaction was fraudulent)
“The woman is quite pretty”
What is the adjective?
“Pretty”
“Pretty” is an adjective that modifies a noun (“woman”)
“The weather report is almost always right.”
What is the adjective?
“right”
“right” is an adjective that modifies a noun (“report”)
The three cats were mischievous in varying intensities.
Use an absolute, comparative and superlative adjective to describe each cat.
Mischievous is a multi-syllable adjective, so we must use the adverb ‘more’.
The mischievous cat.
The more mischievous cat.
The most mischievous cat.
