1. Students should write the chart of comparisons in their grammar exercise books and add more words of their choice.
2. Students can practise comparative and superlative forms orally.
Suggest a word for which students add the comparative and super- lative forms. They can put them into sentences.
3. A large chart may be made by the students to hang on the wall. If the chart is laminated, students can add new words using whiteboard pens.
4. Students select words from boxes to match with suitable nouns (see following page).
swift scary winding gifted glamorous
gripping rickety cunning rusty brave
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AdjectiVes
Colin’s voice is the loudest of all.
A Answers are written to increase vocabulary and spelling ability.
a. . . . path b. . . . footbridge c. . . . soldier d. . . . arrow e. . . . tank f. . . . monster g. . . . model h. . . . fox i. . . . tale j. . . . artist
5. Students find more meaningful words than ‘nice’ or ‘good’ for the following.
a. . . . party b. . . . boy c. . . . person d. . . . race e. . . . house f. . . . pear g. . . . dog h. . . . tune i. . . . garden
They then find an adjective for each of these which means the opposite (i.e. not good).
6. Students complete an adjectives flowchart.
ADjEctivES
Descriptive new
Proper Ford (car)
Demonstrative that (car)
Possessive my (car)
comparative newer
Superlative newest
Checklist: adjectives C
The student should now be able to:
• give the meaning of the word adjective
• define the word adjective – what is an adjective?
• give examples of adjectives
• qualify given nouns with appropriate adjectives
• pick out adjectives from written material
• apply adjectives to nouns to make a sentence more meaningful
• explain the function of adjectives
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AdjectiVes
The way it’s done!
Definition: Remembering that the word ‘verb’ is derived from Latin verbum meaning ‘word’ we see that adverb must mean some- thing added to a word.
Before learning about adverbs, students should:
• understand the term ‘verb’
• be able to describe the function of a verb – What is a verb?
• be able to form simple sentences using a noun or pronoun together with a verb
An adverb is a word that adds meaning to any other word, except a noun or pronoun (that being the job of an adjective).
Adverbs are best understood as being of two kinds, those that add to the meaning of a verb and those that add to the meaning of other parts of speech and other adverbs.
The English language includes an immense range of adverbs, and while flowery writing can result from an over-lavish use of either adjectives and adverbs, they do enable us to be wonderfully imaginative and subtly descriptive. Henry James remarked in one of his letters, ‘I’m glad you like adverbs – I adore them; they are the only qualifications I really much respect.’3
Adverbs are best taught first, as their function is readily under- stood by young children. In order to establish a clear distinction between the functions of adverbs and adjectives it is preferable to use a term other than ‘qualify’ for adverbs. The term ‘limit’
3 Crystal, David & Crystal, Hilary 2000, Words on words: Quotations about language and languages, Penguin Books, Middlesex, UK.
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can confuse young students by implying diminished meaning, although that, of course, it does in fact do. For instance, if you attribute one quality to a verb such as ‘He ran quickly’, you have denied it an opposing or conflicting quality – he did not run slowly.
However, to avoid any confusion for learners we have chosen the term ‘modify’ for the function of adverbs.
While acknowledging that students may come up against kinds of adverbs not mentioned here, the following are those commonly used and easy to comprehend. Adverbs add meaning in a number of different ways.
Adverbs of time (‘when’ adverbs)
These adverbs tell us when the action of the verb does or does not occur.
For example:
tomorrow, never
The show is on tomorrow. I have never been to the show.
Adverbs of place (‘where’ adverbs)
These tell us where the action of the verb does or does not happen.
For example:
here, somewhere
It isn’t here. It must be somewhere!
Adverbs of manner (‘how’ adverbs)
These tell us the way in which the action of the verb does or does not happen.
For example:
well, rudely
You speak well. That boy spoke rudely.
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AdVerbs
Interrogative adverbs (‘question’ adverbs)
These adverbs are the question words that apply to the verb in a sentence.
For example:
how, why, where How did he escape?
Why did you leave the gate open?
Where can he be?
Comparative adverbs (‘comparing’ adverbs)
Adverbs of comparison follow a similar pattern to comparative adjectives while maintaining their function of modifying words.
For example:
fast, faster [comparing two], fastest [comparing more than two]
The cake disappeared fast.
Your buns went faster.
But the pizza went fastest!
In the case of longer adverbs we use more and most – again to avoid clumsiness.
What a colourful tie. This one’s more colourful.
But that one is most colourful.
Irregular adverbs of comparison
These irregular forms cause difficulty for some students who use them wrongly and use an adjective instead (He did it good – or performed real bad).
It is a good idea to teach these and establish them in the minds of students early. Use a display, which can be made by the students themselves.
A
Adverbs comparative Superlative
well better best
badly worse worst
much more most
little less least
As some of these words can also be adjectives, you may remind students to think about their function in a sentence.
For example:
This is the worst firewood we have had. [adjective qualifying the noun ‘firewood’]
It burns worst in wet weather. [adverb modifying the verb ‘burns’]
For adverbs modifying other parts of speech, see page 130.