When words are used for this purpose-to modify the meaning of a noun or a pronoun-they are adjectives. The word originally meant "thrown near," and this part of speech is so named because it is usually placed beside the noun: sour apples, happy children, several days, the boy, an egg Sometimes, however, the adjective stands at some distance from the noun or pronoun to which it belongs. The APPLE is extremely sour. MARY sat in the shade of a beautiful tree, happy and contented. Even in such cases, it is easy to decide with which nouns or pronouns the adjective modifiers belong. Most adjectives denote qualities. Thus, an honest boy is a boy that has the quality of honesty; a strong man is a man that has the quality of strength. Adjectives that denote qualities are called qualifying adjectives. Many adjectives are used to denote the material of which an object is made. Some examples are: a gold watch, a leather apron, a cotton dress, a silver spoon Definition.-An adjective is a word used to modify the meaning of a noun or a pronoun. 29. Compound Adjectives.-Adjectives are often composed of two or more words joined by hyphens. Sweet-scented flowers, rosy-fingered morning, a never-to-be-forgotten event. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE 1. As shown in the model below, write in sentences each of the following words, preceded by two or more adjectives. Model.—Rain—A cool refreshing rain fell in the evening. tree, wind, flower, time, ocean, health, grove, storm, road, rest, forest, soldier, stream, dog, day, house, picture, business, cloud, bird, work, city, orange, fortune. 2. Copy each sentence following, and then underscore the adjectives and doubly underscore the words they modify. Model.-(a) My father brought twelve beautiful sweet oranges from the city market. (6) The arbutus is a fragrant delicate flower that blooms during the early days of spring. (c) A beautiful butterfly spread its wide fragile wings in the golden sunlight. (d) Once there lived in the bottom of the deep dark sea a beautiful goddess whose home was a wonderful silver palace. (e) A cunning fox stole up to a lazy careless goose one still dark night and found her in a deep dreamless slumber. (f) The whirling snowflakes covered with a soft white blanket the saddening nakedness of the autumn landscape. THE ADVERB 30. First Function of Adverbs.-The word adverb means "to a verb" (ad, "to"). This part of speech is so named because it is usually placed near the verb. Its use as a modifier of a verb is to denote when, where, why, or in what manner the action expressed by the verb takes place. The adverb does for a verb exactly what the adjective does for a noun or a pronoun-modifies its meaning. Thus, ADJECTIVES ADVERBS agreeable speech He spoke agreeably Besides showing the time, the place, the cause, or the manner of an action, the adverb may denote any one of a great many circumstances relating to the action. Whenever we find in a sentence any word that modifies a verb, any word that makes us know more exactly the manner in which the action was performed, we may be sure that the word is an adverb. The following are examples of adverbs that modify the meaning of verbs, which is the first and most important function of this part of speech: 31. Second Function of Adverbs.-Adjectives are mostly words that denote qualities. There are numerous degrees of most qualities, and in order to denote these different degrees, adverbs are joined to the adjective so as to show in what measure or degree the quality is to be understood. Thus, different degrees of goodness among good boys might be indicated by using with the adjective good various adverbs of degree, such as very, extremely, quite, and many others. We should then have expressions like the following, in which the meaning of the adjective is modified by the adverb that precedes it: VERY good boys, EXTREMELY good boys, REMARKABLY good boys This is the second function of adverbs-to modify the meaning of adjectives. The following are additional illustrations: 32. Third Function of Adverbs.—Adverbs are sometimes used to modify the meaning of other adverbs. Not many adverbs are used in this way; a few of the most common are so, too, not, just, almost, most, very, more, less, quite. so nearly done, ALMOST completely open, SOMEWHAT sourly told, NOT entirely happy, QUITE recently arrived, VERY prettily said Definition. -An adverb is a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. 33. Phrase Adverbs.-There are many adverbial expressions consisting of two or more words that are called phrase adverbs; these are easily recognized from the use made of them in sentences. Some examples are the following: by and by, sooner or later, time and again, far and near, to and fro, backward and forward, again and again. The end will come sooner or later. Time and again he was reprimanded for misconduct. The italicized phrases in these sentences are phrase adverbs denoting time. Such expressions should be treated as if they consisted of but one word. EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE 1. Write a list of the adverbs used in the following sentences, and tell what each adverb modifies: (a) The rain fell steadily and heavily yesterday. (b) Why should one man judge another hastily or harshly? (c) Speak slowly and distinctly, and you will be more easily understood. (d) "Do your work neatly and carefully," the teacher always said. (e) I never before saw a rainbow quite so brilliant. (f) Why did you go there, and where had you worked before? (g) He walked much faster than I, but I was not so very much outstripped (h) When we go to the beach I sometimes find very great pleasure in collecting the exquisitely beautiful shells. 2. Write five sentences in each of which two or more of the following words shall be used as adverbs: once, then, sooner, brightly, sometime, presently, never, thus, early, lightly, otherwise, everywhere, ever, most, lately, steadily, afterwards, somehow, soon, rather, yonder, strongly, eastwards, occasionally, always, forward, nowhere, perhaps, probably, frequently. 3. Write sentences in which shall occur the following words used as adverbs: rightly, gladly, kindly, openly, frequently, occasionally, sweetly, gleefully, gracefully, beautifully, neatly. 4. Use in sentences the following words as adverbs: entirely, often, when, where, how, why, however, whence, whither, so, as, very, quite, almost. 5. Use the following as adverbs: today, tomorrow, yesterday, forever, one by one, in groups, side by side, back and forth, up and down, now and then, by and by, as soon as possible. 6. Construct five sentences in which adverbs modify adjectives, and five in which adverbs modify adverbs. THE PREPOSITION 34. Word Bridges.-Words may stand together without bearing to one another any relation in meaning-without helping one another to become useful in expressing thought. The words in a list for spelling are of this kind; they are without connection or relation in meaning. But words may be so arranged that, if their meanings are suited to one another, they seem to belong together. They form what may be called a compound idea, and without. rearrangement may enter a sentence as one of its elements. This is the case when suitable modifiers are joined to nouns, adjectives, or adverbs; as, good boy, very sorry, quite soon. Again, ideas may seem to be so widely separated-so unlike that nothing could ever bring into relation the words. denoting these ideas. Yet they may often be joined and brought into relation by means of a kind of word bridge between them. Examples of this are shown below: These word bridges are called prepositions. They are so named because they are nearly always placed before (pre, before) the noun or pronoun to which they connect some preceding word. The work done in sentences by prepositions is twofold: (1) they connect words; (2) they bring words into relation. The preposition, with the noun or pronoun joined to it, forms a prepositional phrase. The noun or the pronoun in a prepositional phrase is called the object of the preposition. Phrases of this kind are used as modifiers, just as if they were adjectives or adverbs consisting of only one word. Thus, in the expressions a silk dress and a dress of silk, silk and of silk are both adjective modifiers of the noun dress. Again, in Examine with care and Examine carefully, the verb examine is modified in meaning both by the adverb carefully and by the prepositional phrase with care. The functions of these two modifiers are the same-they are both adverbial in the work they do. The number of prepositions is considerably less than one hundred, but they form a very useful class of words. Indeed, it is not easy to see how we could get along without them, for some of the shortest of them, such as, to, for, in, with, from, by, at, on, of, occur in nearly ever sentence. Definition.—A preposition is a word used to connect words and bring them into relation. |