dim shiny spotted muted beautiful pretty fair moldy sharp frozen sour ugly nice bad wrinkled cracked hazy sweet sad mean good smooth fuzzy slick spicy anxious democratic boring What do these words have in common?

dim shiny spotted muted beautiful pretty fair moldy sharp frozen sour ugly nice bad wrinkled cracked hazy sweet sad mean good smooth fuzzy slick spicy anxious democratic boring They're all ADJECTIVES!

Adjectives What is an adjective? Tell what you think an adjective is: ____________.

Adjectives Adjectives are words that describe, or give more information about, nouns and pronouns. Adjectives tell which: this frog, that giant, those dwarfs. Adjectives tell what kind: the green frog, the lonely giant, the frozen lake. Adjectives tell how many: many frogs, several giants, one lake. Adjectives can also work together: this green frog, that lonely giant, those seven dwarfs.

Adjectives The blue adjectives at the beginning were concrete adjectives. They described using the five senses. The green adjectives were abstract adjectives. They described feelings or ideas.

Adjectives Practice I Rewrite the following sentences. Revise the adjective to make it more vivid. Underline the word you change. 1. On winter afternoons, I sometimes walk home after band practice rather than ride on a crowded bus. 2. I hardly even notice the heavy traffic that streams past me on the street. 3. The wet sidewalk glistens in the bright lights from the windows of stores.

Adjectives Practice I Rewrite the following sentences. Revise the adjective to make it more vivid. Underline the word you change. 4. The stoplights throw green, yellow, and red splashes on the pavement. 5. At last, I reach my peaceful home. 6. I know they are glad to see me. 7. The hikers went exploring in the dark forest. 8. In the afternoon, the tired hikers pitched camp in a clearing. 9. On one occasion, they almost turned back. 10. They kept going and were rewarded for their great effort.

Too Many Adjectives! Adjectives can help make writing clearer and more specific, but adjectives should be used sparingly. Too many adjectives will spoil the sentence. Example: We went into the big, old, dark, cold, scary, empty, rotten house. The adjectives in this sentence do not create a picture. They tell the reader what to think about the room, not what to see.

“Just Right” Adjectives! Revision Example: We stepped into the house. We saw wrinkled wallpaper, shattered windows, and a gaping hole where the staircase used to be.” The second sentence shows that the house was old and falling apart; it does not tell the reader what to think or how to feel. Remember: As a general rule, use adjectives that show, not ones that tell.

Word Wall Write down one of the following topics in your composition book: fairy-tale characters summer winter school birthdays holidays animals games friends family

Word Wall The category selected by the most students will be the topic of our word wall. Take two minutes. Brainstorm as many vivid adjectives you can think of to describe our topic.

Writing Activity I Replace the weak adjectives in the following sentences with stronger, more vivid ones. Example: Weak We saw the pretty lake. Strong We saw the shimmering lake.

Writing Activity I Replace the weak adjectives in the following sentences with stronger, more vivid ones. 1. Snow White bit the bad apple. 2. Jack hacked down the ugly beanstalk. 3. The goat sniffed the uneatable grass. 4. The princess gazed at the beautiful sunset.

Writing Activity II Some writers use adjectives in a special way. They put two or three of them together, and these adjectives all begin with the same sound. These are called alliterative adjectives. Here's and example from Edgar Allan Poe: “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day . . .” Notice all of the D sounds.

Writing Activity II Examples The curious, curved caterpillar crept across the cracked branch. The determined, dotted Dalmatian dragged the dizzy fireman to safety. The groaning, grumpy giant grabbed the sack of golden eggs. The tired, toothless troll tugged at the ropes of his tattered tent.

Writing Activity II In your composition book, compose two sentences that contain alliterative adjectives. Each sentence must contain at least three adjectives. If you have trouble beginning, select on of the topics below: Snow White Apples Twilight Justin Bieber Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk) Princess Dragon Monkey

Writing Activity III Adjectives cannot act alone. They have to work with other words, especially with nouns and verbs, like a team. Here's an example where these parts of speech do not work together: My room is a real mess. There's stuff everywhere. Things are all over the place. It doesn't even look like my room. This description is too general; it does not paint a picture with words.

Writing Activity III Here's what happens when general adjectives, nouns, and verbs are replaced with more concrete and specific ones: My room looks like a tornado hit it. Strewn on the floor are heaps and bundles of clothes. Crumpled and crinkled papers and torn and tattered candy wrappers litter the desk. Faded, dingy curtains hang like flags at half-mast; behind them a mud-splattered window filters the sun in blotches. The doors of the closet hang a deranged angles; inside, shoes and sweaters lay in piles beneath bent and twisted hangers.

Writing Activity III The previous description was better because it lets the reader see that the room is a “mess,” but it doesn't tell the reader directly.

Writing Activity III Step 1: Select one of the following topics: a pet a room a favorite place an animal a character from a story

Writing Activity III Step 2: Brainstorm a list of at least five details about your topic. Example: Dragon sweltering breath wings larger than tanks teeth as sharp as swords crimson, blood-colored eyes cavernous nostrils

Writing Activity III Step 3: Compose a topic sentence for your paragraph. Example: The dragon was a frightening beast. Your example: The __________ was __________.

Writing Activity III Step 4: Compose the rest of the paragraph. Include the details you brainstormed. Make your adjectives as vivid as possible! Example: The dragon was a dreadful beast. With sweltering breath that left human skin cracked and flaking, the dragon snarled viciously. Inside the scaly creatures mouth lay a torrent of jagged teeth, honed for ripping through armor. Cavernous nostrils exhaled sauna-like air, and the beast's beady, crimson eyes glared. Suddenly, with a quick flap of wings the size of tanks, the dragon exploded into the air.

Writing Activity IV Towards the end of his poem, “Pied Beauty,” Gerard Manley Hopkins puts together a string of adjectives in pairs of opposites: “swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim . . .” Your job: Create a poem that describes something using pairs of opposite adjectives.

Writing Activity IV Step 1: Select one of the following topics. Write this in your composition book: Christmas summer winter birthday food friendship

Writing Activity IV Step 2: List opposite adjectives that could describe your topic. Example: Summer Summer is hot and cool, dazzling and dim, lazy and lively.

Writing Activity IV Step 3: Give examples of each adjective you expressed. Example: Summer is hot days and cool nights, dazzling sun and dim moon, lazy afternoons and lively evenings.