GrammarModifiers:

Delayed Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjective AdverbA word that describes/gives more information

about a noun.

Adjective Phrase Adverb Phrase

A word that describes/gives more information

about a verb.

A group of words that describes/gives more information about a

noun.

A group of words that describes/gives more information about a

Verb.

Opening AdjectiveAn adjective or adjective phrase at the beginning

of a sentence, giving information about a noun.

Example:“Speechless, Bryson

scanned the small living room.”

Opening Adverb

Example:

An adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning

of a sentence, giving information about a verb.

“In silence, my mother sat and waited for me

to respond.”

Delayed AdjectiveAn adjective or adjective phrase placed

after the noun described.

You must ALWAYS offset a delayed adjective with commas.

Example:

“People under the helicopter ducked down, afraid, as if they were being visited

by a plague or a god.”

Delayed Adjective( An adjective or adjective phrase placed after the noun described. )

Examples (end of sentence):

1. It's a routine day in October, sunny and crisp.

2. Each snowflake was different, Sister Zoe said, like a person, irreplaceable and

beautiful. 3. He ceased, but at once Boromir stood up,

tall and proud.

Delayed Adjective( An adjective or adjective phrase placed after the noun described. )

Examples (middle of sentence):

1. A woman of fifty or so, plump with frizzy gray hair, came toward them.

2. Its lawn, green and lush, is the length of several football fields.

3. The April sun, weak but determined, shone through a castle window and from there squeezed itself through a small hole

in the wall.

Practice 1Directions:

Underline all delayed adjectives.

On your note sheet, complete PRACTICE 2.

1. Milk, sticky and sour on her dress, attracted every small flying thing from gnats to grasshoppers.

2. The shadow was still there, dark and dreadful. 3. A dog came bounding among us with a loud volley

of barks, and leapt round us, wild with glee at finding so many human beings together.

4. The water in this pool has a dark clarity like smoked glass, transparent but obscure.

Hint:A delayed adjective phrase always starts with an adjective. To check whether or not it is an

adjective phrase, take the first word of the phrase and put it in front of the noun you think it

describes. A dog came bounding among us with a loud volley of barks, and leapt round us, wild with glee at finding so many human beings together.

A wild dog came bounding among us with a loud volley of barks, and leapt round us.

Hint:A delayed adjective phrase always starts with an adjective. To check whether or not it is an

adjective phrase, take the first word of the phrase and put it in front of the noun you think it

describes.

Milk, sticky and sour on her dress, attracted every small flying thing from gnats to grasshoppers.

Sticky milk attracted every small flying thing from gnats to grasshoppers.

Delayed AdverbAn adverb or adverb phrase placed

after the verb described.

You must ALWAYS offset a delayed adverb with commas.

Example:

“The friends stared out at the world, wildly, like lunatics.”

Delayed Adverbs( An adverb or adverb phrase placed after the verb described. )

Examples (middle of sentence):

1. By now the sharks were all around us, above and below, and to all sides.

2. They smiled, delicately, like weary children remembering a party.

3. He stretched out his hands, blindly, frantically, waving them in the air to ward off the attack from the dinosaur he knew

was coming.

Delayed Adverbs( An adverb or adverb phrase placed after the verb described. )

Examples (end of sentence):

1. We all had a drink together, amicably. 2. Still winded, Smith sat up, slowly. 3. She watched the children run into the

school, noisily making sounds with hand-made instruments.

Practice 2Directions:

Underline all delayed adverbs.

On your note sheet, complete PRACTICE 2.

1. They sang like angels, purely and sweetly. 2. In hunting season, all kinds of small game turn up

in dumpsters, some of it, sadly, still alive. 3. His body glided across the room, noiselessly and

smoothly. 4. She was running, between the road and railroad

tracks, after a car that was driving away.

Practice 3Directions:

Write one sentence that includes an delayed adjective, and a

second that includes a delayed adverb.

On your note sheet, complete PRACTICE 3.

WorksheetComplete the worksheet:

“Delayed Adjectives & Adverbs”!

Good Luck!