Participial Adjectives--Video

This video explains the difference between participial adjectives ending in -ed and those ending in -ing:

Participial Adjectives--Bored or Boring?

There's a difference between participial adjectives that end in -ed and those that end in -ing, as these cartoons show:

Rules for Comparative and Superlative adjectives

When do you simply and the -er (comparative) or -est (superlative) ending to the adjective, and when do you have to use more or most instead? 

Here are some charts from onestopenglish.com that show some of the basic rules (I have not provided a link to the site itself because you have to register before you can view material on this website:

Quizzes on Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Click the first link below to take a quiz on comparative adjectives. The second link will take you to a similar quiz on the superlative form of adjectives.

For each quiz, you will see an empty box with a sentence underneath. Choose the adjective from the box at the right of the page and put it in the proper form (comparative for the first quiz and superlative for the second) to complete the sentence.

LINK: Comparative adjectives quiz

LINK: Superlative adjectives quiz

REALLY NICE Explanation of Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns, Chart Showing the Different Kinds of Pronouns

Oh, I like this post at myenglishpages.com!

• There is a lesson that explains the difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.
• There are links to lessons on the different types of pronouns (subject, object, possessive, reflexive).
• There's a lovely chart that lists these different types of pronouns for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, singular and plural.
• There are links to quizzes and related topics.
• There's a link to a silly poem that uses possessive adjectives. You can click on the link and read the poem, but BEWARE! If you then click on the link to the YouTube video, you'll be watching big purple Barney the Dinosaur and his friends sing the song. Some of us watched plenty of Barney on tv when our children were little--no more, please!

Notice that I practiced using "There is," "There are," and the contraction "There's" in the above list. But I did not use "There're" as a contraction for "There are," because that contraction does not exist in English--BEWARE!


My suggestion: Read the lesson on possessive adjectives  and review the pronoun charts by clicking the first link below. 

LINK: Lesson on Possessive Adjectives

Then try this quiz on possessive adjectives and check your answers:

LINK: Grammar Exercises--Possessive Adjectives

To review possessive pronouns, click this link:

LINK: Lesson on Possessive Pronouns

Then try the exercises at this link:

LINK: Grammar Exercises--Possessive Pronouns
 

Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns--Listening Lab

To follow up on yesterday's class, practice recognizing possessive pronouns or adjectives in speech! The website www.learnamericanenglishonline.com has a Listening Lab section. You can read and listen to (at the same time) sentences that show how to use many elements of grammar: verb tenses, various kinds of pronouns, comparative adjectives and adverbs, prepositions, modal verbs, negative verbs, passive voice, etc.

Clicking on an exercise brings up a page on which you will see a rectangular box with a picture of Teacher Paul. Click the arrow beside Teacher Paul's picture to hear him read the sentences that are printed below the box, filling in the answer blanks as he reads. Further down the page you can look at the answers he used for the blanks. Below the answers there is a link that you can click on for further help understanding the topic.

My suggestion: Click on the link below and then choose an exercise to listen to (the possessive adjectives listening exercise is #3, and the possessive pronoun exercise is #9).

LINK: Listening Lab Exercises

Wednesday, May 13, 2020 Announcements and Assignments

Wednesday, 5/13/20

Announcements

1) Below is some information Ann O'Leary sent to the teachers, about testing and registration for fall classes. Please read it carefully:

Registration and Testing for Fall Classes

IF we can be at school

Outreach Center

301 Avenue of the Cities, East Moline, IL

309-796-8245

You must register and test to attend fall classes. We hope to be at school for registration and for classes. IF we cannot be at school, we will let you know what you can do.

Only 10-15 people will register at a time. We will practice social distancing when possible. Plan to wait or come back. You must wear a face mask.  No children under 18 allowed.

 

If we are full, we will ask you to wait or come back another day.

More registration dates will be added.

Registration will be at 9:00, 2:00, and 5:30. Please be on time.

July 6, 8, 13, 15

August 3, 5

If there is room in your class, you will start on Monday, August 17. If the class is full, I will call you when you can begin class.

2) Our last online class is Friday, 5/15/20. I appreciate your patience and attendance as I was learning how Zoom meetings work. I am also very happy that many of you have been practicing on Burlington English regularly. Please continue to do so this summer, for as long as you have access (you should be able to use it at least through June).

3) The answers to all class assignments through Monday, 5/11/20 (except for those on Burlington English), are now posted in the Homework Answers section.

Assignments from Wednesday, 5/13/20 (due Friday, 5/15/20)

1) Future English 3 textbook, pp. 190-192 

p. 190--Study the grammar boxes at the top of the page (on participial adjectives). Do exercises A and B

p. 191--Do exercises A and B

p. 192--Study the words for internal parts of the body in the box. If you don't know what a word means, look up the definition in your language. Do Exercise A: write the number of the body part next to the name for it in the box.

2) Future English 3 workbook, p. 112

p. 112--Do exercises A and B

You do not have to send me the above two assignments. We will go over the answers in class, then I will post the answers on this blog.

3) Burlington English Lower Intermediate Core
    
Do Lesson 5 (Health), section 6 (Grammar: Adjectives with -ed and -ing)

4) Extra (optional) work:

I have two posts on this blog which help you understand the difference between an adjective with an -ed ending and an adjective with an -ing ending. Click the links below:

LINK: Cartoon and examples of using adjectives ending in -ed and -ing

LINK: Participial adjectives--short animated video

Do You Have Trouble with Parts of Speech? Here's a great game!

Playing games at sheppardsoftware.com is a fun way to get more comfortable with parts of speech.

To play, click on the word "Play" on the right side of the curtain.

The next screen tells you what a noun is and gives example. Click the button that says
"Choose a noun."

On the next screen, choose a noun by clicking on it:

Then, click   PLAY   ,  read about what an adjective is, and click the "choose an adjective" button.
On the next screen you will click on an adjective to describe the noun you chose:

Finally, you will follow the same procedure to choose a verb. You can click on all the choices to see what actions your noun character can take. In the picture below, the boy is sleeping:

Click on the link below to begin.

LINK: Who will be the star of the show?

You can also try some of the other games at the same website:

                          
       

                             

          

What Do Adverbs Do?

Below is a link to a short review of what adverbs are and how to use them.

My suggestion: Click on the link below and read the chart to review adverbs. Then click on the second link to try a quiz--can you tell the difference between adjectives and adverbs?

(NOTE: The chart at the first link shows how adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. However, it does not tell you about the use of adverbs to modify other adverbs).

LINK: Parts of Speech--Adverbs

LINK: Quiz--Adjective or Adverb?

Three Adjectives Describe One Noun--What Order Do I Put Them In?

We usually do not use more than three adjectives in front of one noun. I bought a new pink silk dress. We can add more, but then the reader or listener begins to lose track of all the descriptive words: My expensive new pink silk dress is gorgeous. The adjectives begin to pile up and run into each other like race cars on a greased track (Note: I just used a simile--do you remember what that is from our lesson a couple of weeks ago?).

When more than one adjective describes a noun, the adjectives must follow a pattern (order). The pattern is based on the category of each adjective. The website www.esl.about.com lists the order by dividing adjectives into seven categories (kinds).

1. Opinion (interesting, boring, fascinating)
2. Size or dimension (big, thin, tiny)
3. Age (new, modern, ancient)
4. Shape (round, square, oval)
5. Color (red, blue, greenish)
6. Origin (Spanish, Canadian, Indian)
7. Material (wooden, metal, plastic)

Look at our sentence from above: I bought a new pink silk dress. The three adjectives that describe the noun dress belong to these categories: New describes its age, pink describes its color, and silk is the material out of which the dress is made.

• Age--category 3
• Color--category 5
• Material--category 7

Are the numbers of the categories in numerical order (like when we count from 1 to 7)? YES! But if I say, I bought a pink new silk dress,the category numbers are in this order: 5, 3, 7. Is that the order in which we count? Nope! So we have to shift the adjectives around to get them into numerical order: I bought a new pink silk dress.

This is advanced, challenging grammar for people who are learning English. Don't even TRY to bring commas into the discussion yet! When we follow this order for putting adjectives in front of a noun, we usually don't need commas--unless (oh, no!) there is more than one adjective from the same category. But knowing how and when to separate adjectives with commas is a topic for another day.

My suggestion: Click on the link below and review the placement order for adjectives and the examples (you can watch the video if you like; if not, stop it or mute the sound). 

Adjective Placement Patterns for English Learners 

Then try putting a series of adjectives in the right order here:

Adjective Placement Quiz

Word Lists for Growing Your Vocabulary--Adjectives

Today in class we reviewed adjectives--words that modify (describe or limit) nouns. In the English language, many words can be used as more than one part of speech. You can use some words as either a noun or an adjective, depending on what the word does in a sentence. In the following sentences, the word in red is a noun when its job (its task) is to name a person, place, or thing. It is an adjective when its job is to describe a noun--to tell us what kind, how many, which one, etc.--so that we know more about that person, place, or thing.

I am studying grammar. (grammar is a noun that names the thing that I am studying)

I am reading a grammar book. (grammar is an adjective that tells what kind of book I am reading)

John loves to play soccer. (soccer is a noun that names an activity--a thing--that John loves to do)

John watches a soccer game on TV every weekend. (soccer is an adjective that tells what kind of game John watches--not a baseball game, not a basketball game, but a soccer game)


Many adjectives turn into nouns by referring to persons that have a certain quality. For example, The rich has the job of a noun in the following sentence, because it means rich people or rich ones: "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Other examples: the poor, the famous, the young.


My suggestion: Click on the link below for a list of 58 adjectives you can use to describe people. Under the "Things You Can Do with This Word List" menu, select "Dictionary Flashcards." If you don't know what the first word means, click on one of the dictionary link buttons to look it up. English dictionary links are on the right and links to dictionaries in a few other languages are on the left (note: not all of the links work!). If you already know what the word means, click the "Get a Word" button to bring up another word from the list. You can also type in your own word and click a dictionary link to get a definition.

58 Adjectives to Describe People

Then test your knowledge of opposite pairs of words. Review the list of opposite words at the link below (most are adjectives, but there are a couple of pairs of prepositions in the list--can you find them?). From the "Things You Can Do with This Word List" menu, select "Speedwords." After you select your speed you will see a word in blue. You have to click on the yellow letters underneath to spell out the opposite of the word in blue (only letters that are actually part of the answer are listed).

Opposite Words (38 pairs)