Adjectives

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The picture above is a village in the Black Forest of Germany.

The photographer of the scene was so entranced by the beauty that he or she gave it the title:

Scenic panoramic landscape of a picturesque mountain valley in spring.

But that's not all. The photographer then added:

Scenic historic village with blossoming trees and traditional houses.

• How many adjectives did the person use to describe this scene?

There are four in the first description: scenic, panoramic, picturesque, and mountain.

In the second description, there are also four: scenic, historic, blossoming, and traditional.

• Do you think you could describe this scene better than the title reflects?
• What adjectives would you use?

An adjective is a word that is used to describe or modify nouns and pronouns. These words are used to help you visualize what is being described: how it looks; how it feels; or how it sounds; how it smells, or how it tastes!

Sometimes, the description in a book can make you feel like you are in the scene yourself, experiencing what the character is experiencing. This is great writing!

Adjectives also tell you what kind, how much, or which one.

For example, in the phrase calico cat, calico is telling what kind of cat the writer is talking about.

If you said you wanted one dozen eggs, one dozen tells how many (much) eggs you want.

If you said that you wanted to sit on this chair, then the word this is identifying which chair you want to sit on.

There are also comparative and superlative forms of adjectives. We use these to compare two or more things.

Watch Comparatives and Superlatives with Teacher Daniel (Daniel Watson, The English Bug), to see if you remember the difference between comparative and superlative forms of adjectives:

• Did you discover the difference?

You use the comparative form of an adjective when you are comparing two things. You use the superlative form of an adjective when you compare three or more things.

Also, when writing the comparative form, you add -er to the adjective. When you write the superlative form, you use -est.

Now, continue to the Got It? section to practice using adjectives correctly in a sentence.