Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs What are Adjectives? Adjectives describe nouns (persons, places, or things) or pronouns (words that substitute for nouns). Adjective Examples: She stood on a dark corner. (Dark describes the noun corner.) I need a little help. (Little describes the noun help.) She looked happy. (Happy describes the pronoun she.) An adjective usually comes before the word it describes: He gave me a beautiful ring. (Beautiful describes ring.) My rabbit tossed his furry ears in the air. (Furry describes ears.)

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs What are Adjectives? An adjective can come after a being verb (a verb that tells what something is). Being verbs are is, are, was, am, has been, feels, looks, seems, smells, sounds, and tastes: He seems unhappy. (Unhappy describes he and follows the being verb seems.) Kelly and Jackie are intelligent. (Intelligent describes Kelly and Jackie and follows the being verb are.)

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs What are Adjectives? Adjectives: Comparative and Superlative Forms The comparative form of an adjective compares two persons or things. The superlative form compares three or more persons or things. Comparative: Your car is cleaner than mine. Superlative: Your car is the cleanest in the parking lot. Adjective Comparative Superlative (two) (three or more) sweet sweeter sweetest confused more confused most confused good better best bad worse worst

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs What are Adverbs? Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverb Examples: As she spoke, Eric listened thoughtfully. (Thoughtfully describes the verb listened.) I said I was really sorry for my error. (Really describes the adjective sorry.) The cook worked very quickly. (Very descries the adverb quickly.) Adverbs answer questions like How? How much? How often? When? Why? and Where?

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Do not use an adjective when you need an adverb. Wrong: Talk to me honest. (adjective) Correct: Talk to me honestly. (adverb) Wrong: You can say it simple. (adjective) Correct: You can say it simply. (adverb) Wrong: He was breathing deep. (adjective) Correct: He was breathing deeply. (adverb)

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Don’t confuse Good (adjective) and Well (adverb) Wrong: You ran that race good. (adjective) Correct: You ran that race well. (adverb) Wrong: I cook eggs good. (adjective) Correct: I cook eggs well. (adverb) Wrong: How good do you understand grammar? (adjective) Correct: How well do you understand grammar? (adverb)

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Don’t confuse Bad (adjective) and Badly (adverb) The being verbs should be followed by an adjective, since they are not action verbs. Wrong: He feels badly about his mistakes. (adverb) Correct: He feels bad about his mistakes. (adjective) Wrong: That soup smells badly. (adverb) Correct: That soup smells bad. (adjective) Wrong: He dances bad. (adjective) Correct: He dances badly. (adverb)

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Not More + -er or Most + -est Be careful. Never write both an –er ending and more, or an -est ending and most. Wrong: I want to work with someone more smarter. Correct: I want to work with someone smarter. Wrong: Debbie is the most richest friend I have. Correct: Debbie is the richest friend I have.

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Use Than, not Then, in Comparison Then means “at a later time.” Wrong: You are taller then I am. Correct: You are taller than I am. Wrong: I’d like a car that is faster then my old one. Correct: I’d like a car that is faster than my old one. Wrong: After the party, than we’ll go to the beach. Correct: After the party, then we’ll go to the beach.

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Commas between Adjectives To find out if commas need to go between adjectives, do the following: Place the word and between the adjectives. If the sentence still makes sense, a comma is needed. Example: I visited the cold dark cave. I visited the cold and dark cave. The commas is needed: I visited the cold, dark cave.

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Commas between Adjectives To find out if commas need to go between adjectives, do the following: Try to reverse the order of the adjectives. If the adjectives don’t make sense, a comma is NOT needed. Example: The cat had pale blue eyes. The cat had blue pale eyes. The comma is NOT needed: The cat had pale blue eyes.

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Exercises Identify the adjectives. Q. The fat frog leaped into the cool pond. A. fat, cool Q. The student was happy, healthy, and wise. A. happy, healthy, wise Q. The young woman had many books. A. young, many

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Exercises Identify the adjectives. Q. Your dorm room is not cleaner than his dorm room. A. cleaner Q. He gave me good advice that my pet hamster is not well. A. good, well (it describes being “healthy”) Q. The friendly neighbor told me to be wary of the dog with pointy ears. A. friendly, pointy

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Exercises Identify the adverbs. Q. They quickly unloaded the truck. A. quickly Q. The plainly dressed man looked everywhere. A. plainly, everywhere Q. A very quiet woman sneezed so loudly. A. very, so, loudly

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Exercises Identify the adverbs. Q. She correctly answered the many questions. A. correctly Q. He left his glasses somewhere. A. somewhere Q. The crickets are quite noisy. A. quite

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Exercises Identify the adjectives and adverbs. Q. I read an especially good book while I was sitting by a surprisingly warm fire. A. Adjectives = good, warm A. Adverbs = especially, surprisingly Q. Yesterday, Martha discovered a very small mouse under the yellow sink in her tiny kitchen. A. Adjectives = small, yellow, tiny A. Adverbs = Yesterday, very

Chapter 21: Using Adjectives and Adverbs Hints about Adjectives and Adverbs Exercises Identify the adjectives and adverbs. Q. During the really long, boring flight, my blue watch, which is usually efficient, stopped entirely. A. Adjectives = long, boring, blue, efficient A. Adverbs = really, usually, entirely Q. After our fun vacation, we were so tired. A. Adjectives = fun, tired A. Adverbs = so