Adjectives and Article Adjectives By Debbie Culver

Adjectives An adjective modifies, describes, or changes a noun or a pronoun. If you have ever been called or described in some way (like a NICE person, or a SMART kid), then someone has described you with adjectives.

Adjectives answer THREE VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: How many? What kind? Which one?

For example, look at the sentence below: The three friends ate six slices of pizza at the mall. What are the adjectives in this sentence, and what questions are they answering?

THREE friends SIX slices They are answering the question “how many”. They are describing the friends and the pizza.

Try this one: On Wednesday evenings, we hear that choir sing. What are the adjectives? What are they modifying or describing? What question are they answering?

Wednesday is the first adjective. It is describing the evenings. That is the next adjective. It is pointing to, or describing, the choir. Both adjectives are answering the question “which one”. Which evenings? Wednesday evenings. Which choir? That choir.

What about this sentence? Blue birds chirp in tall trees on golden afternoons. What are the adjectives? What are they modifying or describing? What question are they answering?

Blue describes the birds, tall describes the trees, and golden describe the afternoon. They are all answering the question “what kind”. What kind of bird? Blue bird. What kind of tree? Tall tree. What kind of afternoons? Golden afternoons.

What adjectives could you use to describe this picture? Be creative! Pretend like you can see it, smell it, touch it, hear it, even taste it! Good writers use many adjectives to describe. They want to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

What about this one? You could describe the setting, too!

Practice finding the adjectives in these sentences Practice finding the adjectives in these sentences. What are they modifying or describing? What question do they ask? 1. Three boys ran quickly home in new shoes. 2. That dog ate all of his sloppy, stinky food. 3. Yellow flowers bloom along the gravel road during hot, humid summers.

1. Three boys ran quickly home in new shoes. 2. That dog ate all of his sloppy, stinky food. 3. Yellow flowers bloom along the gravel road during hot, humid summers.

Article Adjectives There are only three article adjectives: a, an, the They are adjectives because they point to or describe a noun or pronoun. I climbed in the car. It was not just any car; it was the car. It is answering the question “which one”.

There are only a few rules to remember when using them. Use a when the word following a begins with a consonant. A book, a cat, a fish, a bright apple Use an when the word following an begins with a vowel or vowel sound. An orange, an umbrella, an interesting book, an honest person (because it has a vowel sound) Use the when you are speaking about something specific. I dropped some pencils, but Charlie picked up the red one for me.

Let’s practice when to use a and when to use an. Which would you add? 1. bowl of applesauce 2. old store receipt 3. famous quote 4. itchy sore 5. bike 6. icy street 7. street 8. orange blanket 9. F on the test 10. car 11. shiny fork 12. extremely fast runner

Here are the answers! 1. A bowl of applesauce 2. AN old store receipt 3. A famous quote 4. AN itchy sore 5. A bike 6. AN icy street 7. A street 8. AN orange blanket 9. AN F on the test (because it starts with a vowel sound) 10. A car 11. A shiny fork 12. AN extremely fast runner

Keep looking for adjectives and articles in your own text!