Grammar for Everyone - Barbara Dykes 2007
4 Adjectives - Adjectives formed from nouns and verbs
Introduction
Part II The parts of speech
Colour your world!
Definition: The word ’adjective’ is from Latin ad jacere meaning ’throw to’ or ’add’. In the grammatical sense, this means to add the characteristics of something, i.e. to qualify it.
Before studying adjectives, students should:
• know the definition of a noun
• recognise nouns, both common and proper
• be able to give examples of nouns
Adjectives tell us more about nouns.
For example:
a red rose a distinguished scholar
Remember: this, that, these and those, which are pronouns standing on their own, are adjectives if the noun is specified. We call these possessive adjectives.
For example:
This is tasty. [pronoun]
But - This cake is tasty. [adjective]
Explained clearly, this is a lesson in logic.
The terms ’limit’ and ’modify’ are sometimes used with adjectives, but these are also applied to adverbs, and it is helpful for the student to use different terms, to better distinguish one from another. For young children, the word ’describe’ for adjectives is preferable as they will be familiar with the word and readily understand its meaning and application.
Ezra Pound preferred poetry without adjectives. He states: ’The true poet is easily distinguished from the false when he trusts himself to the simplest expression and writes without adjectives.’ And Mark Twain wrote: ’As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out.’1
On the other hand, Humpty Dumpty in Alice Through the Looking Glass, proclaims that: ’You can do anything with adjectives.’ But the best advice comes from William Safire: ’Adjective salad is delicious, with each element contributing its individual and unique flavour; but a puree of adjective soup tastes yecchy.’2
1 Crystal, David & Crystal, Hilary 2000, Words on words: Quotations about language and languages, Penguin Books, Middlesex, UK.
2 ibid.
Well-chosen adjectives are succinct and titillate the imagination, while a surfeit must inevitably diminish. Words, such as ’nice’ change in meaning over time and many words such as ’terrible’, ’fantastic’ and ’fabulous’ have lost their preciseness, such that it is difficult to find sufficiently expressive replacements. It behoves all teachers and tutors to encourage students in the rigorous exercise of accuracy and the development of an extensive vocabulary to draw from.
Young children need a free hand to practise and experiment with all the words at their disposal. The middle years will be especially important for training them in selectivity and adapting language to the purpose of the writing. Adjectives provide excellent opportunities for discussion.
4.1 Activities: adjectives
1. The outdoor activities suggested for nouns can now be done for practising adjectives, with the students adding qualifiers to the nouns they cite, for example:
A broken fence
A new concrete tank
2. Students can be provided with interesting puzzle exercises:
a. a list of interesting nouns and a list of colourful adjectives that can be matched, for example:
Nouns: toad, shoes, journey, truck, bride, worm, doughnut, tooth, uncle, track
Adjectives: grumpy, broken-down, dusty, tasty, loose, pretty, incredible, wriggly, slimy, worn-out
b. a list of interesting nouns for students to qualify with suitable adjectives of their choice
3. Each student writes a noun on a piece of paper. The papers are then passed in the same direction to the adjacent student. Students each add an adjective to the noun they have received.
4. Students mark or list adjectives from a selected passage of prose or poetry.
5. Provide sentences or a short passage without adjectives. Students make it descriptive by adding appropriate adjectives of their own choice.
6. Students are provided with pairs of initial letters with which they make adjective-noun combinations, for example:
f ... p ... - fat pig, fenced paddock
Extra points could be allocated for inventiveness, suitability and correct spelling.
a. l ... t ...
b. y ... f ...
c. s ... b ...
d. g ... p ...
e. w ... d ...
f. a ... l ...
g. l ... w ...
h. w ... h ...
i. f ... m ...
j. d ... a ...
Adjectives formed from nouns and verbs
Adjectives can be formed from nouns to express the quality of the noun.
For example:
point [noun], pointed [adjective]
hope [noun], hopeful [adjective]
Adjectives can also be formed from verbs.
For example:
to run [verb], running [adjective]
to believe [verb], believable [adjective]
Older students can be given exercises in forming one part of speech from another.