Adjectives (Review)
Adjectives can be found in various parts of a sentence. Some of them are important; others are not.
If an adjective is serving as the complement of an equative clause, then obviously we need to leave it alone. We cannot cancel such an adjective without damaging the underlying clause.
But adjectives that are placed before nouns can always be canceled. This lesson will show you how.
But first, let's do a mini-review:
What is an adjective?
Adjectives modify nouns.
- red dress
- fast car
- tall woman
- smelly dog
- a turkey dinner
Some adjectives are formed from verbs. They are called participial adjectives.
- a tempting cookie
- a fascinating book
- a frustrating experience
Adjectives | ||
---|---|---|
Ordinary Adjectives | Participial Adjectives | |
|
Past Participial | Present Participial |
|
|
Canceling Adjectives
Fortunately, adjectives (placed before nouns) do not change the underlying clause pattern, and therefore we can cancel them out, whenever we're trying to analyze a sentence.
Study the following sentences to see how each of them has been simplified by canceling all the adjectives.
Simplified Sentence | Clause Pattern | |
---|---|---|
1 | I like the |
transitive (SVO) |
2 | Linda kicked the |
transitive (SVO) |
3 | Freda rocked the |
transitive (SVO) |
4 | The |
transitive (SVO) |
5 | I baked my mother a |
ditransitive (SVOiOd) |
6 | Joey is a |
equative (S=C) |
7 | The |
intransitive (SV) |
8 | equative (S=C) |
Instructions for the Quiz
Find the base clause by canceling all the adjectives.
Quiz