Lesson 12, Words that Modify Nouns; "Rubber baby buggy bumpers":

In English, nouns can be described, modified or pointed out by Adjectives, Participles, Articles and Prepositional Phrases.  These descriptive words can tell us which noun we are referring to, how large or small it is, what type it is, what color it is, how many of them there are and many other qualities.

• Adjectives: blue, large, tiny, beautiful, shy, talkative, four, numerous, this, that, these, those
• Participles (-ed, -ing and other verb forms): grinning, broken, despised, dripping, torn
• Prepositional Phrases: with two heads, in the office, of the company, by Thomas Wolfe
• Articles: a, an, the
• Possessive pronouns: my, your, his, her, our, their, its

Adjectives come before the noun they describe or modify, but between the article and the noun. Examples: large feet, six copies, soft voice, the black Volvo, an awful odor.

Participles are verb forms that can be used as adjectives.  They usually come before the noun they modify, but some variation is allowed.  Examples: the floating leaves, a baked ham, the broken record.

Prepositional Phrases which modify nouns usually come after the nouns.  Examples: the man in the leather jacket, a cat with two heads, the author of the book.

Articles come before the nouns they point out.  Examples: a building, the door,  an apple 

Possessive Pronouns come before the noun they modify.  They tell us who or what the noun belongs to.  Examples: my car, your sister, his big mouth, their new house, our decision.

Exercise A: Circle all the words or groups of words in the following sentences that point out or describe nouns. 

1. The front door of that building has a large pane of glass in it.

2. Many green apples grow on the tree in the back yard.

3. The tall man in the leather jacket spoke with a soft voice.

4. The failing circus used a cat with two heads as its main attraction.

5. The quiet, young writer of the poem spoke about the sound of falling leaves.

Exercise B: Write the words and phrases you circled in Exercise A on the lines below and tell what kind of describing words they are.  Example: The = article, large = adjective

1. __________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________________________

5. __________________________________________________________________

Exercise C: Use  words from the following lists to modify the nouns in the  basic sentences below.  Write the sentences you make on the blank lines.  You may use the same word more than once; you may not need all the words from the lists.

• Example:  Boy rides bicycle.   =  The horrible boy in the back seat rides his worn bicycle.

1. Squirrels eat nuts.

_____________________________________________________________________

2. Driver was sleeping.

______________________________________________________________________

3. Farmers grow tomatoes.

______________________________________________________________________

4. Group plays baseball.

_______________________________________________________________________

5. Judge sits on the bench.

______________________________________________________________________

Examination:  In the following sentences, cross out the words inside the parentheses ( ) that are not correct.  Write the correct sentences on the blank lines.

Example: (A, An) (old, oldest) cowboy (from Texas, to Texas) rode (its, his) (gently, gentle) horse.

An old cowboy from Texas rode his gentle horse.

1. (A, The) loud voice (of the politician, by the politician) disturbed the (sleeping, asleep) audience.

______________________________________________________________________

2. (This, These) (five, fifth) (large, larger) (wreck, wrecked) trucks were sitting in the field.

_______________________________________________________________________

3. (Many, Much) (wealthy, wealthiest) people (from large houses, with large houses) pay (highest, higher) taxes.

________________________________________________________________________

4. (That, Those) (two, too) (young, youngest) girls (by the fountain, from the fountain) were singing Christmas songs.

_______________________________________________________________________

5. Mother cooked (some, a) (large, largely) turkey and (the, a) (sweet, sweat) apple pie.

______________________________________________________________________

-The End-

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