Overview: Why Modifiers?
If sentences consisted of only nouns and verbs, they would be telegraphic and lack color and specific information. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, and adverbs modify verbs, other adverbs, and adjectives. They make writing more vivid and more clear. While choosing the right word may be the difference between lightning and the lightning bug, choosing the right adjectives and adverbs often make the point complete.
Adjectives in Review
Adjectives are words that clarify nouns and pronouns. They answer questions about quantity, kind, and description. In English, they usually come before the words they modify, but they sometimes come after. (In other languages, such as Spanish, French, and Hebrew, they often come after the nouns.) Sometimes nouns can also be used as adjectives, such as “bullet train” or “geometry class”. Some proper nouns and possessives can also act as adjectives, such as “Olympic medal” or “Canada’s provinces”. In addition, adjectives can be compound words, such as “well-tempered clavier” or “railroad crossings”.
Pronouns Used as Adjectives
Possessive pronouns serve as adjectives because they can modify a noun by showing ownership. In the sentence “Her beaker contained the solution” the word her specifies which beaker. Similarly, pronouns such as this, that, these, and those can give more information about the nouns they modify. A phrase such as “these calculators” shows which ones are meant.
Adverbs in Review
When adverbs modify verbs, they specify particular kinds of information, such as place, time, in what way, or to what extent. When adverbs modify other adverbs or adjectives, they define what extent. Sometimes adverbs can be strung together without adding much meaning. For example, a description such as “The sunrise was really very tremendously incredibly beautiful” doesn’t add much intensity to the beauty of the sunrise.
Forming Adjectives and Adverbs
While adjectives modify only nouns and pronouns, adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Sometimes words are the same whether they are adjectives or adverbs. The adjective late in a late evening is the same word as the adverb in the sentence “I awoke late”. Sometimes adjectives and adverbs take different forms, such as in the phrase “the bright sun” and “The sun shone brightly”.
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