Using Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. Writers use adjectives to give readers a more complete picture of the people, places and things they want to describe.

1.Adjectives always come in front of nouns:• Twelve talented young musicians

2. Adjectives can also come after linking verbs:

• The children are happy• Ali seems sad. • The cookies smell delicious.

3. A compound adjective is two or more words that function together as one wordten-week semester part-time job

4. Adjectives are always singular; never add s to an adjective

big feet (not bigs feet)terrible days (not terribles days)

5. Nouns can be adjectivesa shoe store tennis ballsa stone house

6. -ing and -ed words can be adjectivescooking class bored studentssleeping baby broken heartinteresting class stolen money

1. I take care of my expensive old bicycle. 2. I am fond of my house plants. 3. It has broad green leaves and delicate white

flowers. 4. I bought a straw hat at a music festival. 5. It was not expensive, but I liked it because it

was practical and attractive. 6. I bought my mug at a small, tourist shop at

the airport. 7. I took a three-week holiday last year. 8. My friend bought a used car.

Activity 1:Identify the adjectives in the following sentences

My car was old and ugly, but I loved it anyway. Its main paint color was black, but it also had blue, green, yellow, and white paint in different places. The body was in terrible condition. It had several big dents. The lock on the hood was broken, so I had to tie it down with a strong rope. Also, the back bumper was rusty, and the front window was cracked. The inside of the car was also in terrible condition.

Activity 2: Identify the adjectives in the following sentences

The passenger door handle was missing, so you couldn't open the passenger door from the inside. The seats had at least ten large holes in them. Also, the gas gauge was broken. It always showed "full," so I often ran out of gas. The speedometer was broken too, so I never knew how fast I was driving. Like a first love, my old VW had a few faults, but in my mind it was perfect.

Activity 2: Identify the adjectives in the following sentences

Ordering AdjectivesSometimes we use two or more adjectives together:• My parents live in a nice new house.• A dirty old black cat is wandering the streets.

1. OPINION Adjectives  Adjectives like nice and dirty are opinion adjectives. They tell us what you think about somebody or something.

Opinion adjectives often go before fact adjectives

2. FACT Adjectives Adjectives like new, old, green are fact adjectives. They give us factual information about age, shape, colour, make, etc.

1- Articles, demonstratives, pronouns, possessives: a, an, the, those, her, Mary’s

2- Quantity: two, fifty, some, many, a few3- Opinion: happy, beautiful, exciting, silly, cheerful

4- SIZE  :       How big?         large, small, tiny, huge, little5-SHAPE :    What shape?  square, round, rectangular, flat6- CONDITION: rusty, broken, hungry, wet, cold 7- AGE   :      How old?           new, young, old, ancient8- COLOUR :    What colour?  blue, pink, yellow, crimson9-  ORIGIN :    Where from?      English, American, Chinese10- MATERIAL: plastic, wooden, glass, woolen11- PURPOSE : racing car, frying pan, rocking chair 12. Noun used as an adjective: shoe store, wedding dressA.   An interesting old  bookB.   An ugly pink plastic necklaceC.   A nice small African drumD.   A delicious round chocolate cakeE.   A pair of smart brown  leather boots

1. At home there is (a wooden beautiful square ) table in the dining room.

2. I was offered (gold unusual an) ring by my husband.

3. My grandmother has knitted ( a new woolen nice) pullover for me.

4. I saw (an American interesting old) movie with friends at home.

5. It may rain ! There are (black big ) clouds floating in the air.

Activity 3: put the adjectives in the correct order

6. Last week, I visited (a small old lovely ) village in a remote area.7. It started to rain so I opened (red yellow huge a) umbrella8. John was given (an black little adorable) cat by his sister. 9. A (shiny new sports Italian) car was parked opposite my house.10. It was such (a sunny lovely ) day that we decided to go out for a walk.

Activity 3: put the adjectives in the correct order

Activity 4: Adding two or three adjectives to the following sentences:

1. My umbrella is like a friend. 2. No one understands why I still wear my jeans.

3. If I could save one thing from the fire, it would be my chair.

4. My mother gave me a ring. 5. My brother owned a car.