Adjectives: Delicious Descriptors

Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to describe a noun or a pronoun.  It tells which one, how many, and what kind.

• juicy melons
• spicy peppers
• refreshing soda

The underlined words answer the question what kind.

• that lemon
• first purchase
• last crate

The underlined words tell which one.

• several varieties
• one morning
• some friends

The underlined words tell how many/ how much.

Articles

A, an, and the are the most frequently used adjectives. 

A and an are called indefinite articles because they refer to a general noun mentioned.

• An apricot
• A peach

The is a definite article because it refers to the specific noun mentioned.

• The market

Demonstrative Adjectives

This, that, these, and those are demonstrative adjectives and pronouns.  When used in the place of a noun, it is a pronoun, when used to point our which one, they are adjectives.

• I would like this pomegranate and those oranges.

In the sentence above, this and those are demonstrative adjectives.

• May I have that, too?

In the sentence above, that is a demonstrative pronoun.

Proper Adjectives

A proper adjective is formed from proper nouns and always begin with a capital letter.

• I often shop at the Moroccan market.

Moroccan - A proper adjective formed from the proper noun Morocco.

• Italian food is one of my favorites. 

Italian - A proper adjective formed from the proper noun Italy.

• I would love to vacation in the French countryside.

French - A proper adjective formed from the proper noun France.

Most proper adjectives are formed from proper nouns by adding one of the endings listed below. 

However, some have irregular formations.

• -an

Mexico- Mexican; America - American; Hawaii - Hawaiian

• -ese

China - Chinese; Japan- Japanese; Bali- Balinese

• -ian

Canada - Canadian; Italy - Italian; Asia - Asian

• -ish

Spain - Spanish; Ireland - Irish; England - English

• irregular

Phoenix - Phoenician; Nice (France) - Niçois; Switzerland - Swiss; Venice -Venetian; Naples - Neapolitan

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

The comparative form of an adjective compares two things or people.  For most comparative adjectives with one or two syllables, you ad an -er to the ending. For other two syllable adjectives, or adjectives with more than two syllables, you use the word more.

• The apple basket is heavier than the basket of lemons.
• The fruit market was older than the one we visited yesterday.
• That hand painted tile is more colorful than these.

The superlative form of an adjective compares more than two things or people.  For most superlative adjectives with one or two syllables, you ad an -est to the ending. For other two syllable adjectives, or adjectives with more than two syllables, you use the word most.

• This apple basket is the heaviest one.
• The oldest market in town has the best fruit.
• That are the most colorful hand-painted tiles that I have seen.

Never use the words more or most with adjectives that already end in -er and -est.

Irregular Comparative and Superlatives

Hyphens, Dashes and Parentheses

Hyphens, Dashes, and Parentheses

v  Use a hyphen (-) to show the division of a word at the end of a line.  Always divide the word between its syllables.  Since many word processing programs do not hyphenate words, this rule mainly applies in handwritten and typewritten documents.   There are a few rules that you must follow:

§  Do not divide one syllable words.

§  Do not divide words so that one letter remains alone.

§  Divide hyphenated words at a hyphen.

Ø  Because she spent many summers helping on her grandparent’s farm, Samantha en-

joyed baking cakes using fresh ingredients.

v  Use a hyphen in compound numbers.

Ø  It took her forty-three days to perfect the batter's new recipe.

v  Use a hyphen in a fraction that is spelled out.

Ø  The new recipe calls for a one-half pint of cream.

Ø 

v  Use a hyphen or hyphens in certain compound words.

Ø  My great-grandmother really liked using her churned butter.

Ø  Peggy’s sisters-in-law want me to cater their mother’s party.

v  Hyphenate a compound modifier only when it precedes the word it modifies.

Ø  She stores her recipes in a well-worn binder.

Ø  Her finger-worn pages have great notes about different family members.

v  Use a hyphen after the prefixes all-, great-, ex-, and self­-.

Ø  Laura’s chocolate cake won an all-American ribbon at the fair.

Ø  It was my great-grandmother’s recipe.

Ø  Winning the medal gave Laura the self-confidence she needed to pursue her dream of owning a bakery

v  Use a hyphen to separate any prefix used before a proper noun or proper adjective.

Ø  Many of the recipes date back to the pre-Civil War era.

Ø  It will be mid-November before our building is complete.

v  Use a hyphen before the suffixes -elect, and -free.

Ø  None of them are sugar-free, so we will have to make adjustments.

Ø  The president-elect of our organization wants to help with advertising.

v  Use a dash (— ) or dashes to show a sudden break or change in thought or speech.  Dashes are longer than hyphens.  When using a word processing program, type two hyphens for a dash.  Many programs recognize this and make the automated correction.

Ø  “I have no idea—excuse me, Samantha—why you would want to add more sugar,” said Laura.

Ø  Laura—she burned her hand—will be happy to know that the mixers are automatic.

v  Use parentheses to enclose material that is added to a sentence and is not considered important.

Ø  Julia Child (1912-2004) was a great inspiration to Samantha.