Adjectives

Plot
Freddie and Adrianna explain adjectives.

Transcript
(Freddie is uploading photos on his blog)

Adrianna: That was in Canada, when we drove up for the summer.

Freddie: Yep. Wasn't it cool going camping and stuff?

Adrianna: You know, it's really hard reminiscing with you when you keep deleting photos you upload online.

Caption: Today's Lesson: Adjectives.

Narrator: Today, Freddie and Adrianna are going to explain adjectives.

Adrianna: Adjectives are words that describe people, places, and things. In other words, they describe nouns. Whether you're writing or speaking, adjectives add interesting details to your descriptions. I can use adjectives to help Freddie remember our trip to Canada.

(Freddie clicks on a photo of a lake surrounded by hills)

Freddie: We camped by a clear, blue lake.

Adrianna: "Clear" and "blue" describe the way the lake looks. They are adjectives that modify the noun, "lake".

Freddie: In English, adjectives can come either right before a noun - like in this example - or right after a verb. So we would never say "We camped by a lake clear, blue". But we would say, "The lake we camped by was clear and blue". That puts the adjectives right after the verb, "was".

Adrianna: By the way, you'll notice we stuck an "and" in there. When adjectives come after a verb, they tend to be separated by a conjunction - like "or", "and", or "but". When you have two adjectives in a row before a noun, you can usually just put a comma between them.

(Freddie clicks on a picture of a tent)

Freddie: Monarch butterflies kept landing on our tent. A "Monarch" is a type of butterfly, and here, I'm using that word to describe them. That makes it an adjective, modifying the noun, "butterflies".

Adrianna: Adjectives answer questions, like: What kind? Which one? How many? and How much? If you ask yourself, "What kind of butterfly?" the answer is Monarch.

Freddie: Uh, which butterfly?

Adrianna: What do you mean, "Which butterfly"? That one, right there in the picture.

Freddie: Oh. Right. But, how many butterflies landed on our tent?

Adrianna: I don't know. Five, okay? Five butterflies. Anyway, do you remember Canada now?

Freddie: Yep. Looking at these pictures restored my memory a little bit. Hey, who's that guy in the sunglasses?

(Freddie clicks on a picture of him wearing sunglasses)

Adrianna: What do you mean "Who's that guy?" How many guys in red-and-white striped shirts do you know?

Freddie: Oh, wait, that's me.

Adrianna: That's right. It's you. (sighs) Why do I always deal with morons like these?