The English language would be very boring without adjectives. They dress up our nouns whenever we need to punch things up a notch. So, that pain you're feeling is no longer just a "pain," it's a crippling pain or debilitating pain that is tearing you apart, or maybe just a small pain that you'll get over quickly.
Whenever you're speaking or writing, you may want to get your point across with a little extra oomph. When it's time to do so, call in the big dogs: the adjectives.
Adjectives Accentuate the Point
Adjectives help express the tone, feelings, and emotions of our words by accentuating the point. Let's take our example of heartache above. It would be difficult to quickly ascertain how severe (or minor) that heartache is without the use of those adjectives.
Of course, context clues would eventually reveal more, but adjectives allow us to succinctly describe a situation so we can continue along in our story, essay, or speech. Keep reading for some examples of these adjectives or download the printable page below.
English Grammar and 11 Guidelines for Making it More
Understandable.
Making the
Rules of Grammar Easy to Understand
Adjectives for Tone
Through tone, a reader is able to gain an overall sense of a character's personality or disposition. It can even shape an entire piece of writing, making it feel serious, funny, dramatic, or upsetting.
Without the adjectives in these examples, we wouldn't know if this was going to be a story about sadness or hope:
Tone-Setting (Negative): With a heavy heart, the girl walked to the mailbox and mailed her letter.
Tone-Setting (Positive): The excited girl walked to the mailbox and mailed her letter.
Everything you need to know about adjectives.
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about.html
60 Negative Adjectives For Describing
People.
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/negative-adjectives-for-describing.html
30 Positive Adjectives For Describing
People.
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/30-positive-adjectives-for-describing.html
Tips for Using Adjectives
It can be difficult to find just the right word to describe a tone or feeling being experienced by someone. You never want to come across sounding trite or use an adjective that's too weak to express the gravity of a particular situation.
It's a bit like building your vocabulary. The more you read, the more you'll discover new words and meanings, including adjectives, and how they are used to highlight emotions.
That said, like anything else that's good in life, keep it in moderation. Don't douse every noun in sugar. Instead, sprinkle a little sweetness on the situations or words that will truly benefit from a tasty addition.
Here are three things to remember when describing tone:
Clarity: Adjectives should help clarify your writing, not muddy the waters. So, take a quick scan through your work. Do your adjectives illustrate the point or situation? Are they at all unnecessary? For example, do you need to say "the hot, sweaty baseball player" or just "the sweaty baseball player"?
Overindulgence: Again, don't pick a slew of different adjectives: "The timid, nervous teacher slowly approached the noisy classroom with fearful trepidation." If you start using too many adjectives, your writing quickly becomes flowery. Not only are you going to confuse your readers, but your writing will appear choppy and even phony.
Time: Don't be afraid to take some time to figure out a situation. For example, you might have to analyze the tone of a short composition. Sit back for a while and let the words really sink in.
Descriptive Adjectives for Descriptive Writing
Hopefully, these tips will help you not only use adjectives in your own writing but also teach them to your children or students. Much like their cousin, the adverb, they add so much to our writing when used properly.
Here are some more examples of positive and negative tones:
To Describe a Positive Tone | To Describe a Negative Tone | To Describe Other Tones |
agreeable animated bright clever encouraging fresh gentle hopeful kind loving open pleased supportive sympathetic warm | annoyed bitter disgruntled disgusted evil guilty hostile hurtful nasty obnoxious oppressive overbearing resentful sarcastic sardonic | ambivalent anxious bashful candid cautious horrified intelligent mysterious pragmatic political quizzical religious secretive secular strong |
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