Adjectives: Lesson 1: Limiting Adjectives

Noun: person, place, thing, or idea

Examples: boy, park, book, freedom

Adjective: a word that describes or points to a noun

Examples: happy boy, sunny park, interesting book, blessed freedom

Limiting Adjectives: These adjectives don’t really describe things in detail; they just point out nouns. They answer: Which one? Whose? How much?

Limiting Adjectives may be:1. Articles: a, an, the

Examples: a book, an apple, the tree

2. Demonstratives: this, that, those, theseExamples: this book, that apple, those shoes, these trees

3. Numbers:Examples: ten books, thirty apples, seven women

4. Possessive Pronouns: his, her, their, our, its, your, myExamples: his book, her sofa, their house, our car, its claws, your sink, my radio

5. Possessive Nouns: Anyone or anything’s name with an apostrophe, as long as it is describing a noun.Examples: Tom’s car, dog’s tail, car’s tires

6. Indefinites: some, few, many, several, no, any, (there are more!)Examples: some candy, few drivers, many toys, several students, no ice cream, any chocolate

Pronoun: A word that takes the place of a noun.Example: This is cool. (“this” is a pronoun)

Be careful! For the above list of determiners to be adjectives, they must point to a noun. If they do not, then they may be pronouns, not adjectives!

Example: This cord is frayed. (“This”=adjective; it is pointing to the noun “cord”) This is frayed. (“This” = pronoun; it is taking the place of the noun “cord”)

Adjectives: Lesson 2: Descriptive Adjectives

Descriptive Adjectives: Adjectives that really describe nouns, instead of just pointing to them like limiting adjectives.

Common Suffixes for Descriptive Adjectives:Note: A suffix is a word part that comes at the end of a word.

ous-dangerousful-cheerfulable/ible-remarkable, incredibley-rainyive-creativeless-pricelessal-special

Adjectives: Lesson 3: Proper Adjectives

Proper nouns: Nouns that name specific persons, places, or things. They must be capitalized.

Examples: Elvis, Bible, Switzerland, China, Mickey Mouse

Proper Adjectives: Adjectives that are made out of proper nouns.Examples: Biblical, Swiss, Chinese

Proper adjectives are always capitalized, but the nouns they describe are not.Example: Swiss cheese

Elvis movie Biblical quotation

Mickey Mouse hat Chinese food

Adjectives: Lesson 4: Predicate Adjectives

Linking Verbs: a verb that doesn't show action; it links a subject to something else in the sentence.

The most common linking verbs: is am are was wereExamples: She is tall. She was a teacher.

Substitution trick: If you can substitute the verb or verb phrase with is, am, are, was, or were, then the verb is a linking verb.Example: She had remained calm. -> She was calm. (“had remained” is a linking verb)

Common linking verbs: to seem, to remain, to become, to stay, to appear, to grow, to feel, to sound, to taste, to smell

Remember to use the substitution trick to tell if a verb is a linking verb!

Adjective: a word that describes a noun.

Predicate Adjective (PA): 1. An adjective 2. It follows a linking verb 3. The predicate adjective describes the subject of the sentence.

Example: Mrs. Batsford became sleepy. (“sleepy” = PA) -> “sleepy” describes the subject “Mrs. Batsford”. The winners of the race were thirsty and hungry. (“thirsty, hungry” = PA) -> “thirsty & hungry”describe

the subject “winners”.

Adjectives: Lesson 5: Degrees of Adjectives

Degrees of Adjectives: adjectives that make comparisons

There are 2 degrees of adjectives:1. Comparative2. Superlative

Comparative Adjectives:

compare 2 nouns are formed by adding “er” to the adjective if it is no more than 2 syllables.

Example: high = higher

If the word has more than 2 syllables, place “more” or “less” before the adjective.

Examples: She is more beautiful than her sister. She is less beautiful than her cousin.

The words “good” and “bad” have special forms in the comparative

Examples: good = better bad = worse

Superlative Adjectives:

Compare 3 or more nouns Are formed by adding “est” to the adjective if it is no more than 2 syllables

Example: high=highest

If the word has more than 2 syllables, place “most” or “least” before the adjective

Examples: She is the most beautiful of all the girls at school, but he is the least handsome of all the boys at school.

The words “good” and “bad” have special forms in the superlative:

Examples: good = best bad = worst