Adjectives and Adverbs

By: Yeonsoo Suh & Danitza Lopez

Ch. 12 Adjectives Stacking of adjectives in a special order

Comparative & superlative forms

Positions of adjectives: attribute & predicative

Adjective phrases

Stacking of Adjectives: more than two adjectives before a head noun

*The little old poor lady

When different types of adjectives are used without coordinating conjunctions

adjectives must be put in a special order

The poor little old lady

The order of cumulative adjectivesopinion

Physical state

age

color

Proper noun used as adjective nationality

Religionpolitical belief

material

Noun used as adjective

BeautifulAngryWisepoor

LargeSmalllittle

Old new

Blackred

EnglishJapanese

Christian SilkMetalWood-(en)

FashionSchool

Intelli-gent

Ovallong

Marxist

clear Rustybroken

cold

Time to practiceWorksheet #1

Gradability of Adjectives:Comparative & Superlative

Inflections(-er) & (-est) More/Most or Less/Least + Two or more syllables,Participial adjectives

Lively-livelier-liveliestCold-colder-coldestPrivate*privater*privat

est

more lively-most lively

more private-most private

Participial adjectives:more interesting, less boring, most excited

Positions of Adjectives Attributive: Before a head noun

in a NP

That big car is his. They chose a young

man for the job.

He gave an interesting talk.

Predicative: After a verb and not in a NP

She is tired. The soup tastes too

salty.

His talk was interesting.

Attributive-Only Adjectives Adj. of degree• an absolute hero• a total disaster

Quantifying Adj.• the only way• an occasional cloud

Adj. of time and location

• a future appointment• her left arm

Associative of adj.• a criminal attorney• a public official

Adj. Compounds• grayish-blue• big-name• street-smart best-selling glass-bottom

Predicative-Only Adjectives Adj. beginning

with the prefix –A

• The young girl was asleep.

• The firefighter discovered a man who was still alive.

• *an alive man

Adjectives that take complements

• She is eager to help other people.

Adj. referring to medical conditions

• My mother is ill.• *They took the ill

woman• to the hospital.• a mentally ill patient

Adjective phrases

AdjThe customers were [angry].

Adv AdjHe was [extremely] [upset].

Adj PPHe was [upset] [about the poor service].

He was [extremely] [upset] [about the poor service].

Adjective Phrases

Adj. + about Adjective +at

angry, annoyed, pleased, delighted, glad, upset

Kyle is still upset about his test results.

He was annoyed at my carelessness.

adept, angry, great, talented, terrible

The author was amazed at the reaction of the press.

My husband is really terrible at sports.

Adjective Phrases

Adj. + for Adj. + with

Bad, difficult, easy, good, necessary, responsible

We are very sorry for the inconvenience

Everybody knows that overeating is not good for you.

Bored, busy, fed up, obsessed, impatient

I am familiar with that term.

Jenny is completely obsessed with food.

Time to play a game A group activity to practice adjective phrases

1. Each person takes one card of a sentence. 2. S/he reads the sentence aloud. 3. S/he tells whether the sentence is grammatical

or not. 4. If the sentence is ungrammatical, correct it with

an appropriate preposition.

* We are amazed with his reaction to our suggestion.

we are amazed at his reaction to our suggestion.

Adverbs Definition: a word that supplies information

about how, where, when, why, and to what extent some action occurs.

Describes an action, an adjective or another adverb.

Majority of the adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective Example:

Some adverbs have the same form of an adjective. Example:

Quick Quickly

Accurate Accurately

Dangerous dangerously

Fast Hard

Late Low

Quick song about adverbs

http://snarkygrammarguide.blogspot.com/2010/09/good-stuff-adverbs-from-electric.html

Find the Adverb Read this paragraph and find the adverbs:

Today I helped my mom cook dinner. We carefully cut the vegetables and slowly placed them into a boiling pot of water. Next, mom quickly browned the chicken and patiently let it cook through. She works fast. I eagerly waited for my next job, which was to gently sprinkle spices into the soup. But, I accidentally poured in too much cumin. I quietly told my mom my mistake, and she sweetly told me, as a child, she had coincidently made the same mistake. Now I realize cooking is not as hard as I thought.

Find the Adverb Read this paragraph and find the adverbs:

Today I helped my mom cook dinner. We carefully cut the vegetables and slowly placed them into a boiling pot of water. Next, mom quickly browned the chicken and patiently let it cook through. She works fast. I eagerly waited for my next job, which was to gently sprinkle spices into the soup. But, I accidentally poured in too much cumin. I quietly told my mom my mistake, and she sweetly told me, as a child, she had coincidently made the same mistake. Now I realize cooking is not as hard as I thought.

Types of Adverbs Manner adverbs: Describe how the action

expressed by the verb is carried out. Example: The boy walked slowly across the school.

Degree adverbs: how much or the degree to which the verbal action is carried out. Example: Gas prices have gone up enormously.

Duration adverbs: Describe how long the action goes on for. Example: My best friend moved away permanently.

Frequency adverbs: How often does the action occur? Example: I show up to work a little late sometimes.

Types of Adverbs (continued) Time adverbs: When did the action occur?

Example: I was hungry earlier, so I ate. Instrumental Adverbs: Answer the question of By

what means was this done? Example: It has been mathematically proven to be

correct. Place adverbs: Answer the question of Where did

the action occur? Example: Please step outside if you need to take a

call. Additive adverbs: Show that something additional

was done. Example: The boy also ate the candy.

Types of Adverbs (continued) Restrictive adverbs: Restrict meaning of an action or

proposition. Example: You can only sign up for this class.

Act-related adverbs: Provide background or motive for the action expressed by the verb. Example: She willfully helped the old lady cross the street.

Stance adverbs: A category of act-related adverbs that express the speaker or writer’s attitude as well as hedges. Example: She wisely proved her point. / I vaguely

remember that. Connective adverbs: Link sentences to other

sentences. Example: Therefore, I washed my car.

Type Definition Example

Manner How action is expressed.

The boy walked slowly across the school.

Degree How much or degree Gas prices have gone up enormously.

Duration how long the action goes on

My best friend moved away permanently.

Frequency How often action occurs

I show up to work a little late sometimes.

Time When did the action occur?

I was hungry earlier, so I ate.

Instrumental

By what means was this done?

It has been mathematically proven to be correct.

Place Where did the action occur?

Please step outside to take the call.

Additive Something additional was done

The boy also ate the candy.

Restrictive Restrict meaning of an action

You can only sign up for this class.

Act-Related

Provide background or motive

She willfully helped the old lady cross the street.

Stance express the speaker or writer’s attitude

She wisely proved her point.

Connective

Link sentences to other sentences

Therefore, I washed my car.

Practice types of adverbs Work on worksheet #3 individually.

Only do the top part named “Types of adverbs” You have 5 minutes to complete these 6

exercises.

Placement of adverbs Position varies depending on what constituent the

adverb modifies. Modifying adjectives and adverbs

Rule: Precede the adjective or adverb Stacking is permitted, but limited to two words.

Example: It was a really warm day./ It was a really incredibly warm day.

Modifying verbs Can occur in several positions in a sentence but never

between a verb and its object. Sentence initial: before a main verb (Most common) Middle: between main verb and following element such as a

PP Sentence final: right before the period

Things to remember Stance adverbs are sometimes not accepted in

final position. She will leave definitely. She will definitely leave.

Degree adverbs can be in sentence-final position but there are exceptions. She enjoyed the party tremendously. (degree) She caught up nearly. (degree) Nearly and almost are some examples of this

exception. Manner adverbs modifying verbs can become

degree adverbs modifying adjectives. She played so unbelievable. It was an unbelievably awkward moment.

Things to remember (continued) Few types are accepted in initial position.

Earlier he told me a story. (time) Sometimes he brings me flowers. (frequency) Always she speaks English. (frequency)

Exception to the rule: Always is ungrammatical when in initial position unless used in imperative sentence. Always remember to do your homework.

Negative frequency adverbs such as: never, scarcely, ever, hardly ever, seldom, rarely Appearing in initial position, the subject-aux

inversion must be applied. Never I have seen anything as beautiful as the sky

today. Never have I seen anything as beautiful as the sky

today.

Clauses Adverbs can modify clauses.

Example from page 255: He answered the question foolishly. (manner adverb) Foolishly, he answered the question. (evaluation)

Comment about entire sentence: adjunct Easy to spot as they have commas after them

Example: There is, in fact, no basis to his comment.

Complements: adverbs modifying that or infinitive clauses Position can cause alteration to meaning of sentence

The city council voted to immediately approve the sales tax increase.

The city council immediately voted to approve the sales tax increase.

Practice time Tell me whether these sentences are

grammatical or not. If they are not, then help me fix them. 1. Seldom I have seen a performance as good as

that one. I have seldom seen a performance as god as that one.

2. Always he has to take out the trash. He always has to take out the trash.

3. He takes sometimes the bus. He takes the bus sometimes.

Now finish worksheet #3 on your own.

Time to play Adverbial Charades! Here are the rules

I will divide the class into 2 teams One person per team will act out the action and its

adverb from the card. Actor cannot speak or make any sounds.

Both teams will try to guess. When one team guesses correctly, they will get one point and have another person from their team act out another card.

Team with most points is the winner.

This is a fun way to learn adverbs and their functions!