Adjectives

Adjectives add description and other kinds of information to two other parts of speech.

Definition: An adjective is used to describe a noun or a pronoun.

Examples:

Serious judges Sleek jets Violet eyes, Tall Majestic oats

Assignment:

Exercise 1 on Pg. 349.

(Even numbers only)

Articles

Three commonly used adjectives are called articles--- the, a, and an.

These three words are adjectives because they come before nouns and answer the question Which one?

Because of the way it modifies nouns, the is called the definite article.

Articles

The, the definite articles, refer to a specific person, place, or thing.

Examples: The court The attorney The broken law

A or an, the indefinite articles, refer to any one of a class of people, places, or things.

Examples: A court An attorney A broken law

A or An??

A is used before consonant sounds.

An is used before vowel sounds.

Hint the letter “H” a consonant, may be sounds like either a consonant or a vowel. O and u are vowels, but they may sometimes sound like consonants.

Assignment

Exercise 2 on Pg. 350

Nouns are sometimes used as adjectives. When a noun is used as an adjective, it comes before another noun and answer the questions What kind? or which one?

Nouns used as Adjectives

Nouns: court, morning

Adjectives: a court date, a morning appointment

Assignment:

Pg. 351 Exercise 3.

(Odd Numbers ONLY)

Proper Adjective

A proper adjective can be a proper noun used as an adjective.

A proper adjective can also be a an adjective formed from a proper noun.

Proper Nouns Used as Proper Adjectives

Arizona Tuesday Churchill

Arizona desert (What kind of desert?)

Tuesday morning (Which morning)

Churchill memorial (Which memorial?)

Proper Nouns Elizabethan Boston

Proper Adjectives Formed from Proper Nouns Elizabethan literature

(What kind of literature)

Bostonian architecture (What kind of architecture?)

Assignment:

Pg. 352 Exercise 4.

Pronouns Used as Adjectives

Pronouns, like nouns, can sometimes be used as adjectives.

A pronoun is used as an adjective if it modifies a noun.

Four kinds of adjectives are sometimes used as adjectives. They are: Personal pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns Indefinite pronouns

Possessive Adjectives

Examples: my, your, his, her, its, our, and their

Because they have antecedents, they are considered to be pronouns.

They are also adjectives, because they answer the question which one?

Assignment:

Pg. 355 Exercise 7.

Demonstrative Adjectives

The four demonstrative pronouns-this, that these, and those– can be used as demonstrative adjectives.

Pronoun: I saw this. I’ll vote on this issue.

Interrogative Adjectives

The three interrogative pronouns– which, what, and whose– can be used as interrogative adjectives.

Pronoun: What did he want? Adjective: What sentence did he give?

Indefinite Adjectives

A number of indefinite pronouns-- both, few, many, each, most, and all, among others– can also be used as indefinite adjectives.

Pronoun: I bought one of each. Adjective: Each judge writes an opinion.

Assignment

Pages 356-357, Exercises 8-10.