Adjectives Explained / Foreign English Teacher Grammar 外籍英文家教老師

Adjectives Explained

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns in a sentence.

Adjectives are usually placed directly before a noun.

Examples:
He has an excellent voice.
I bought a comfortable chair.

Adjectives can also be placed at the end of a sentence if they describe the subject of a sentence.
Example:
My doctor is excellent.
The movie was terrible.

When adjectives are used in simple sentences with the verb 'to be', the adjective describes
the subject of the sentence.
Examples:
Jack is happy.
Peter was tired.

Adjectives are used with sense verbs or verbs of appearance (feel, taste, smell, sound, appear, seem, etc.) to modify the noun which comes before the verb.
Examples:
The fish tasted awful.
The meat smelled rotten.

When indefinite pronouns — such as something, someone, anybody — are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun.
Example:
Anyone capable of doing something horrible to someone nice should be punished.

There are certain adjectives that, in combination with certain words, are always "postpositive". (coming after the thing they modify).
Example:
The president elect, heir apparent to the Bush fortune, lives in New York proper.

The Articles — a, an, and the are adjectives.
Examples:
the tall professor
a handsome teacher
an enormous whale

Be careful!
Adjectives don't have singular, plural, masculine, feminine or neuter forms.
Adjectives are always the same! Never add a final -s to an adjective.
Examples:
I have five big books. √            I have five bigs books. χ
They are pretty girls. √            They are pretties girls. χ

If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adjective, it is called an Adjective Clause.
Example:My sister, who is much older than I am, is an engineer.

Degrees of Adjectives
Adjectives can express degrees of modification.
Example:
Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richer than Gladys, and Sadie is the richest woman in town.

The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.
(Actually, only the comparative and superlative show degrees.) We use the comparative for
comparing two things and the superlative for comparing three or more things. Notice that
the word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the precedes the
superlative. The inflected suffixes -er and -est suffice to form most comparatives and
superlatives, although we need -ier and -iest when a two-syllable adjective ends in y
(happier and happiest); otherwise we use more and most when an adjective has more
than one syllable.

Position of Adjectives
Unlike Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up almost anywhere in a sentence,
adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify.
Sometimes they appear in a string of adjectives, and when they do, they appear in a set order
according to category.

The chart below shows the order that adjectives must be written in a sentence.

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
Determiner	Observation	Physical Description				Origin	Material	Qualifier	Noun
		Size	Shape	Age	Color
a	pretty	small	short	new	red	Italian	silk	party	dress

Below are examples of the different kinds of adjectives in use.

 1.       Opinion
Example: an interesting book, a boring lecture
2.       Dimension
Example: a big apple, a thin wallet
3.       Age
Example: a new car, a modern building, an ancient ruin
4.       Shape
Example: a square box, an oval mask, a round ball
5.       Color
Example: a pink hat, a blue book, a black coat
6.       Origin
Example: some Italian shoes, a Canadian town, an American car
7.       Material
Example: a wooden box, a woolen sweater, a plastic toy

Here are some examples of nouns modified with adjectives in the correct order based on the list above.
(Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas.)
A wonderful old Italian clock. (opinion - age - origin)
A big square blue box. (dimension - shape - color)
A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion - color - material)
Some slim new French trousers. (dimension - age - origin)

Only insert commas between adjectives if the adjectives can be easily reversed and put 'and'
between them.
Example of when you can add a comma.
He is a strong, healthy man.
You can add ‘and’ and say: He is a strong and healthy man.
You can reverse the adjectives and say: He is a healthy, strong man.

Example of when you cannot add a comma.
He has a small red bicycle.
You cannot add ‘and’ and say: He has a small and red bicycle.
You cannot reverse the adjectives and say: He has a red and small bicycle.

Before I finish this lesson, I would like to make an important point about the use — or over-use — of adjectives. Adjectives are frail; don't ask them to do more work than they should. Let your broad-shouldered verbs and nouns do the hard work of description. Be particularly cautious in your use of adjectives that don't have much to say in the first place. It is your job as a writer to create beauty, excitement and interest to whatever you are writing. When you continually use adjectives in an attempt to show the readers how interesting and exciting  your story is, — you're convincing no one and wasting everyone's time.

REMEMBER!!!
If you have a question, ASK!
The squeaky wheel gets the grease!

Foreign English Teacher Grammar 外籍英文家教老師 

Adverbs Explained / Foreign English Teacher Grammar / 外籍英文家教老師

Adverbs Explained

Adverbs of manner describe how something happens. Where there are two or more verbs in a sentence, adverb placement affects the meaning.

Examples:

She decided to write her paper. (no adverbs)

She quickly decided to write her paper. (her decision was quick)

She decided to write her paper quickly. (her writing was quick)

Some commonly used adverbs of manner include:

carefully / correctly / eagerly / easily / fast / loudly / patiently / quickly / quietly / well

Adverbs of place describe where something happens. Most adverbs of place are also used as prepositions.

Examples:

I wanted to go upstairs.

She travelled abroad last June.

Some commonly used adverbs of place include:

abroad / anywhere / downstairs / here / home / in / nowhere / out / outside / somewhere / there / underground / upstairs

Adverbs of purpose describe why something happens.

Examples:

Jenny intentionally pushed her little brother.

Bob accidentally broke the vase.

Some commonly used adverbs of purpose include:

so / so that / to / in order to / because / since / accidentally / intentionally / purposely.

Adverbs of frequency describe how often something happens.

Examples:

The children sometimes play in the park.

The dog usually chases the cat.

Some commonly used adverbs of frequency include:

always / every / never / often / rarely / seldom / sometimes / usually

Adverbs of time describe when something happens.

Examples:

He came home after school.

Jessica has already finished her homework.
Some commonly used adverbs of time include:

after / already / during / finally / just / last / later / next / now / recently / soon / then / tomorrow / when / while / yesterday

Recognizing the various adverbs used in the English language will take practice. However, using them properly can make writing and speaking far more interesting.

Now you understand adverbs because you read this article carefully and thoroughly.

I created this blog to help ESL students.

All of the articles on this blog are just basic rules.

If you leave comments, I will know what you want me to post.

If you are not sure about something on my blog, or English in general, ask.

Remember!
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
(You’ll only get help if you ask for it.)

Foreign English Teacher Grammar 外籍英文家教老師

A Brief Explanation of Conjunctions / Foreign English Teacher Grammar 外籍英文家教老師

A Brief Explanation of Conjunctions

A conjunction is a word that links words, phrases, or clauses. There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions may join single words, or they may join groups of words, but they must always join similar elements: e.g. subject + subject, verb phrase + verb phrase and sentence + sentence. When a coordinating conjunction is used to join elements, the element becomes a compound element.

Correlative conjunctions also connect sentence elements of the same kind: e.g. subject + subject, verb phrase + verb phrase and sentence + sentence. However, unlike coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions are always used in pairs.

Subordinating conjunctions, the largest class of conjunctions, connect subordinate clauses to a main clause: e.g. subordinate verb phrase + main verb phrase and subordinate sentence + main sentence. These conjunctions are adverbs used as conjunctions.

The following tables show examples of the various types of conjunctions and some sample sentences using the conjunctions. Since coordinating conjunctions and correlative conjunctions are closed sets of words, all are included in the list. Subordinating conjunctions are a larger class of words; therefore, only a few of the more common ones are included in this list.

Coordinating Conjunctions

	F	A	N	B	O	Y	S
	for	and	nor	but	or	yet	so

An easy way to remember these six conjunctions is to think of the word FANBOYS. Each of the letters in this somewhat unlikely word is the first letter of one of the coordinating conjunctions. Remember, when using a conjunction to join two sentences, use a comma before the conjunction.

Examples and Sentences Using Coordinating Conjunctions

Conjunction	What is Linked	Sample Sentences
and	noun phrase + noun phrase	We have tickets for the movie theater, and the roller coaster.
but	sentence + sentence	I like coffee, but she likes tea.
or	verb + verb	Have you seen, or heard, the fireworks?
so	sentence + sentence	I wanted to sit in the front of the plane, so I ordered my tickets early.

CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

both...and

not only...but also

either...or

neither...nor

whether...or

Remember, correlative conjunctions are always used in pairs. They join similar elements. When joining singular and plural subjects, the subject closest to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural.

Examples and Sentences Using Correlative Conjunctions

Conjunction	What is Linked	Sample Sentences
both...and	subject + subject	Both my sister and my brother are tall.
either...or	noun + noun	They will either watch TV or go swimming.
neither...nor	subject + subject	Neither Nina nor Cindy like tea.
not only...but also	sentence + sentence	Not only does Sue like to play golf, but she also likes to watch it on TV.

Subordinating Conjunctions

	Time	Cause & Effect	Opposition	Condition
	after	because	although	if
	before	since	though	unless
	when	now that	even though	only if
	while	as	whereas	whether or not
	since	in order that	while	even if
	until	so		in case (that)

Subordinating conjunctions, (subordinators) are most important in creating subordinating clauses. These adverbs that act like conjunctions are placed at the front of the clause. The adverbial clause can come either before or after the main clause. Subordinators are usually a single word, but there are also a number of multi-word subordinators that function like a single subordinating conjunction. They can be classified according to their use in regard to time, cause and effect, opposition, or condition. Remember to put a comma at the end of the adverbial phrase when it precedes the main clause.

Examples and Sentences Using Subordinating Conjunctions

Conjunction	Sample Sentences
after	We are going out to eat after we finish taking the test.
since	Since we have lived in Taichung, we have gone to every exhibit at the Taichung Art Museum.
while	While I was waiting in line to buy movie tickets, I ate my snack.
although	Although the line was long and I had to wait over two hours, the movie was well worth it.
even if	Even if you have already bought your ticket, you will still need to wait in line.
because	I love action movies because they are very exciting.

I created this blog to help ESL students. All of the articles on this blog are just basic rules. If you leave comments, I will know what you want me to post. If you are not sure about something on my blog, or English in general, ask.

Remember!

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

(You’ll only get help if you ask for it.)

Foreign English Teacher Grammar 外籍英文家教老師