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ADJECTIVESM.N.SPIES

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Purpose of adjectives:

• Adjectives are used in descriptive writing.• Adjectives help the reader/listener to visualize

the nouns/pronouns.• Adjectives help the reader listener form an

opinion about something or someone.• Adjectives can describe quality, quantity,

order, position, differentiate between and point out ownership.

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It is almost impossible to communicate effectively without the use of adjectives.

Adjectives are added to nouns to state what kind, what colour, which one or

how many. Adjectives modify nouns and are necessary to make the meanings of

sentences clearer or more exact. My lesson was a basic introduction to adjectives, and

future lessons can include adjective phrases, adjective clauses

and degrees of comparison.

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Where are adjectives used in the real world:

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Where are adjectives used in the real world:

Everyday speech:

That brainless, naive blond girl at the expensive supermarket gave me the

wrong change.

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Where are adjectives used in the real world:

Identifying a suspect of a crime:

He was skinny, dark-haired and unshaven.

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Where are adjectives used in the real world:

Describing an accident to your insurance company:

I did not notice that the light-blue car was changing into my narrow lane, and before I

knew it, he drove right into my shiny new car.

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Where are adjectives used in the real world:

Flirting with a man/woman:

Hi, you are a gorgeous young woman and I would really like to show you this romantic

little restaurant, where we can enjoy ice-cold beers.

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What are adjectives?

• Adjectives describe or qualify nouns and pronouns.

• Adjectives add interest and colour to sentences by describing or giving more information.

• Adjectives tell you more about nouns and pronouns, and the details help the reader to picture what is happening.

• Adjectives are used in descriptive writing.

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Discussion and examples of adjectives:

Adjectives can come before a noun:• “But the hideous corpse shuffling slowly, painstakingly

over the sodden ground of the nearby woods paid no attention to the rain”.

Adjectives can follow a linking verb, such as is, am, are,

was, were:• The corpse is hideous.• The ground is sodden.• The woods are nearby.

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Discussion and examples of adjectives:

Adjectives can be formed from nouns:

• “It turned its eyeless skull this way”. (It turned its skull without eyes this way).

• The corpse made history. It is now historical woods.

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Discussion and examples of adjectives:

Adjectives can be formed/recognised by certain suffixes (endings):

• “The pitiless executer had carried out the sentence”. (The executer had no Pity).

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Adjectives can be formed/recognised by certain suffixes (endings):

• able – comfortable.• ant – constant.• ary – ordinary.• en – proven.• ent – permanent.• ful- hopeful.• ible – convertible.• ish – feverish.• ive – possessive.• less – painless.• ory – preparatory.• ous – adventurous.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Descriptive adjectives or adjectives of quality:

• The dull, grey afternoon.• A few rotting rags hung from its ancient

bones.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Proper adjectives:

• The Cape Town beaches are scattered with shells.

• The August winds are good for flying kites.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Adjectives of quantity/number:

• “Nearly two hundred years had passed since it had been a living, breathing being.”

• Many, several, few, some, most corpses.• Each, every, neither corpse.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Adjectives of order:

• He came first, second, last in the race.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Demonstrative adjectives:

• This, that corpse.• These, those corpses.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Possessive adjectives:

• My, its, his, her, our, their, your missing left arm.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Interrogative adjectives:

• Which, what, whose missing left arm.

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Different kinds of adjectives:

Compound adjectives:

• “Rage that fuelled its ever-increasing strength”.

• Well-deserved death.