ADJECTIVE (AND ADVERB) STUDY GUIDE - Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns . • Modify means to describe. - Be able to locate adjectives in a sentence. • I won a million dollars this year in the Georgia lottery. (THERE ARE 5) • My favorite food is Chinese. (THERE ARE 3) • Because he loves many sports, he went to the store and bought Nike running shoes. (THERE ARE 4) - Demonstrative adjectives : this, that, these, those • Example: This book is used in math class. (This modifies book) • This and that refer to something that is singular. These and those refer to something that is plural. • This and these refer to something that is close to you. That and those refer to something that is farther away from you. • When writing a sentence, the adjective must modify a noun. • This is the best book ever. (This is a demonstrative pronoun, not adjective, because there is no noun to modify after the word “this.”) - Article adjectives : the, an, a • “The” is definite. o Please give me the book. (“The” indicates that it is a specific book.) • “A” and “an” are indefinite. o Please give me a book. (“A” indicates that it could be any book.) • Know when to use “a” versus “an.” You use “a” with consonant sounds and “an” with vowel sounds. o Be careful though! Just because a word starts with a vowel does NOT mean you will use “an” if it has a consonant sound. o For instance, you would say “an apple,” but you would not say “an unicycle” because of the strong “you” sound. - Proper adjectives : American, Chinese, Congressional, Jewish, Italian, etc. • These words can also be proper nouns. If used in a sentence as an adjective, they must modify a noun. • The proper adjective is always capitalized. • I am proud to be an American (noun). American does not modify anything. • We bought an American flag to display on the 4 th of July. (Adjective) - Possessive adjectives : my, her, his, our, their, your, its • Show possession or ownership – that is how they describe a noun. • Be able to fill in the blank with the correct possessive adjective: o Taylor likes to walk _______ dog every day around the neighborhood. o You seem to have problems using ________ computer. - Adjective suffixes : -ous, -ful, -ible, -able, -ing, -y, -ive • “ing” words can be tricky!!! o Noun: Swimming is my favorite hobby. o Adjective: We built a new swimming pool last summer. o Verb: We have been swimming in my pool all afternoon. - Adjectives answer the following questions : • How many? How much? : numbers (one, two, three…), each, several, less, little, any, no, some, some, many, much, etc. • What kind? Which one? - Forms of adjectives Comparative: comparing two nouns • Words are usually formed by adding the suffix “er” or the word “more” • I am taller than my sister. (Taller is an adjective modifying “I”) Superlative: comparing more than two nouns • Words are usually formed by adding the suffix “est” or the word “most” • I am the tallest girl in my class. (Tallest is an adjective modifying “I”) Irregular forms : Exceptions to the rules listed above • Good, better, best • Bad, worse, worst • Much, more, most - Adverbs modify verbs, adjective, and other adverbs (never nouns!!!) • I ran quickly . QUICKLY modifies ran (a verb). • I am very hungry. VERY modifies hungry (an adjective). • I ran very quickly. VERY modifies quickly (an adverb). - Adverbs answer the following questions : • How or in what way? To what degree or extent? Where? When? - Be able to tell the difference between an adjective and an adverb . • The boy carefully set the model ship on its stand. CAREFULLY is an adverb because it describes HOW the boy set the ship on its stand. • All of you are very capable students. CAPABLE is an adjective because it describes students, which is a noun. - Some adjectives may also be used as adverbs : • I studied for the hard test. (HARD is an adjective modifying test, which is a noun.) • I studied hard for the test. (HARD is an adverb modifying studied, which is a verb.) .