Home » Word classes » Adjective

Topic: Adjective

An adjective is a word which can go before a noun and modify its meaning (the ancient tower) or go after a linking verb like be (The tower is ancient).

Adjectives and meaning

A starter activity, where students are asked to replace the given adjectives and discuss the changes in meaning

What are other ways of expressing the meanings conveyed by adjectives? In this starter activity, students are asked to replace the adjectives in the given examples with some other means of expressing the general meaning of the sentence.

The Activity page appears in the menu entitled 'This Unit' in the upper right of this page. It can be displayed on a projector or smart board. The slide in the Activity page presents four example sentences with adjectives. Ask the students to do the following:

»

02: Adjectives and expanded noun phrases

Year 2 Guided Grammar Lessons #2

This is Lesson #2 of a unit of 10.

Go to the Start

Teacher Slide

Objective: grammar

To understand the grammatical characteristics of adjectives and expanded noun phrases.

Objective: writing

To explore the roles that adjectives and expanded noun phrases play in writing, and to apply this to the pupils' own writing.

»

Adjective identification

In this activity, students work through the criteria for identifying adjectives.

»

Adjective identification: Activity 1

Which words do you think are adjectives?

»

Adjective identification: Activity 2

Somehow, it didn't seem wise.

Is wise an adjective?

»

Antonymy 2

Plan

Activity 1

Explain to learners that they will continue to look at antonyms, but this time by looking at adjectives. Make sure they understand these key terms by discussing the three example pairs. 

In the next slide, show the learners the five sentences. Each sentence has a gap which can be filled with an adjective or its antonym. Have learners copy the sentences and fill the gap with two possibilities. Reveal the answers and accept any other reasonable options.

»

Antonymy 2

Lesson

Objective

To examine how adjective antonyms are formed and used.

Activity 1

Adjectives commonly have opposite words, or antonyms. When we think of an adjective, we often immediately think of its opposite. For example: 

  • rich - poor
  • old - young
  • easy - difficult

For each of these five sentences, write down the pair of adjective antoynms that could fill the gap. 

»

Derived nouns and composition

In this activity we will look at suffixes that can change adjectives and verbs into nouns.

»

Derived nouns and composition: Activity 1

Complete the examples with nouns which are derived from the highlighted adjectives. The first answer is provided for you.

Anna was late. It annoyed me. → Anna's lateness annoyed me.

Jeff is shy. I didn’t notice this until the party. → I didn’t notice Jeff’s ___ until the party. I didn’t notice Jeff’s shyness until the party.

»

Derived nouns and composition: Activity 2

Complete the examples with nouns which are derived from the highlighted adjectives. The first answer is provided.

The peacekeeping forces withdrew. It led to civil war. → The withdrawal of the peacekeeping forces led to civil war.

»

Homonyms

Plan

Please note: there are two pages of activities for this lesson.

Activity 1

Show the learners the two example words. Ask them to discuss with a partner how many different meanings they can think of. In the next two slides, show possible solutions. 

Next, explain that words with multiple unrelated meanings are called homonyms. Ask learners to identify the word class of the two example words.  

»

Homonyms 1

Lesson

Objective

To identify the different meanings of homonyms of various word classes. 

Activity 1

Look at these two words. How many meanings can you think of for each? 

  • bank 
  • pupil

  • bank 
    1. an organization or a building that handles money and provides financial services. 
    2. the land on the side of a river or a lake

    »

    Homonyms 2

    Lesson

    Activity 3

    This lesson continues our look at homonyms. 

    Take for example the word fast

    How many different meanings and word classes can you think of?

    Look at these two sentences: 

    1. Katie works very fast
    2. Katie is a fast worker.

    They have very similar meanings, but in one sentence fast is an adverb and in the other an adjective.

    »

    Noun endings

    Exploring suffixes and how they affect word class

    In this activity we will look at suffixes which change verbs and adjectives into nouns. This process is a part of derivational morphology. 

    »

    Polysemy

    Plan

    Activity 1

    Explain that the word polysemy refers to the idea that words can have more than one meaning.

    Ask the learners to think of more than one meaning for the words football and mouse and discuss with a partner or small group. Show the next slide to reveal some possible answers.

    As an extension, see if learners can come up with any other words with multiple meanings. 

    »

    Polysemy

    Lesson

    Objective

    To understand how polysemy applies to different word classes.

    Activity 1

    Some words may have only one meaning, but most tend to have more.

    Let's take for example the words football and mouse.

    How many meanings can you think of for each? 

    football can mean:

    »

    Prefixes in adjectives

    In this lesson, students will look at some common prefixes that can be added to adjectives and see how they change meanings.

    Goals

    • Identify some common prefixes in adjectives.
    • Describe the meanings contributed by common adjective prefixes.
    • Experiment with acceptable and unacceptable prefixes for particular adjectives.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will look at adjectives with distinctive prefixes.

    »

    Synonymy

    Plan

    Please note: there are two pages of activities for this lesson.

    Activity 1

    Start by explaining the meaning of the term synonym. For an example, ask learners to think of some synonyms for the word 'argument'. 

    In the next slide, show the two possible examples. Ask learners if these two words have the exact same meaning or if there are any subtle differences. Try asking learners in what situations they would/would not use each word.

    »

    Synonymy 1

    Lesson

    Activity 1

    A synonym is a words that has the same, or a very similar, meaning to another. 

    Take for example the word argument.

    How many words can you think of that have the same or a very similar meaning? 

    For the word argument, some synonyms are quarrel or row.

    The words quarrel and row have the same general meaning.

    »

    Synonymy 2

    Lesson

    Activity 5

    Just like with nouns, there are also many synonyms which are adjectives. These have the same, or very similar, meanings to each other, and are used in different contexts.

    What does the term adjective mean? What examples can you think of? Can you think of any synonyms?

    Find the synonymous adjective in these two sentences:

    »

    Verb endings

    In this activity we will look at suffixes which change adjectives and nouns into verbs. This process is a part of derivational morphology. 

    »

    Words

    Plan

    Activity 1

    Show learners the image in the first slide. Ask them to work with a partner and write down as many words as they can see. Share back with the whole class and accept any valid answers. 

    Activity 2

    Show learners the list of actions. Ask them to put the letters a-f in the appropriate order. Circulate and accept any reasonable answers. On the next slide, disucss possible solutions as a whole class. 

    »

    Words

    Lesson

    Objective

    To explore the meaning of simple, everyday words and how they relate to your experience of the world.

    Activity 1

    There are many kinds of words.

    Do you know the words for what you see in the picture? Talk to a partner and write down as many words as you can.

    »

    Writing an advertisement with adjectives

    In this activity, you will write a brief entry advertisement that describes a product and makes it sound as attractive as possible.

    Goals

    • Identify the adjectives in an online advertisement.
    • Write an original advertisement using an array of descriptive and effective adjectives.

    Lesson Plan

    The teacher explains that today, we will write Ebay advertisements to sell products. To make your item sound attractive you will need to describe it in detail, using a range of adjectives. 

    »

    Writing an advertisement with adjectives: Activity

    Fairydolls Toy Peapod Family

    Approximate heights 16cm, 12cm and 8cm.

    These little figures have a dense staple polyester filling. All felt used here is a good-quality wool blend. Heads are natural beechwood beads.

    Suitable for gentle play or lovely Christmas stocking fillers.

    All natural materials. Original hand-crafted items.

    »

    Adverb or adjective?

    Work out whether the highlighted word is an adverb or an adjective

    In each of the following examples, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb or an adjective:

    »

    Identify the adjectives

    Click on the words that you think are adjectives to select or deselect them.

    »

    Y2 GPaS Test: Identify the adjectives

    Identify the adjectives in each of the following examples. Click on the word (or words) to select or deselect them.

    »

    Y6 GPaS Test: Adjective or adverb?

    Work out whether the highlighted word is an adjective or an adverb

    In each of the following examples, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adjective or an adverb:

    »

    Y6 GPaS Test: Article or adjective?

    Work out whether the highlighted word is an article or an adjective

    In each of the following examples, indicate whether the highlighted word is an article or an adjective:

    »

    Y6 GPaS Test: Identify the adjectives

    Find the adjectives in a range of examples

    Identify the adjectives in each of the following examples. Click on the word (or words) to select or deselect them.

    »

    Adjectives

    A very simple definition of adjectives that has sometimes been used is that they are ‘descriptive’ words. But this isn’t really very helpful. Lots of word classes can be ‘descriptive’: a noun like funeral is fairly descriptive, as is the verb leap. We might also say that the adverb quickly describes the verb ran in a sentence like He quickly ran.

    »

    Adjectives: Avoiding adjective overuse

    Many writers of fiction use adjectives as a quick way of telling us what a character is like: how they appear, how they feel, how we should view them. Look at the following examples of how adjectives are used to provide a basic description:

    »

    Nouns, adjectives and determiners

    This short film introduces some basic ideas of grammar that everyone should know.

    In this film Professor Bas Aarts introduces three basic categories: nouns, adjectives and determiners.

    »

    Englicious contains many resources for English language in schools, but the vast majority of them require you to register and log in first. For more information, see What is Englicious?

    Englicious (C) Survey of English Usage, UCL, 2012-21 | Supported by the AHRC and EPSRC. | Privacy | Cookies