Friday, July 25, 2008

more about adjectives

Compound adjectives
A compound adjective has two parts. We usually write it with a hyphen(-)
e.g. red-haired green-eyed


form:

the second part of the compound adjective is often:
1- present participle:
Good-looking tight-fitting
2- a past participle:
Old-fashioned well-built
3- a preposition:
Broken-down well-off
4- another adjective:
brand-new duty-free

use:

we can use compound adjectives to describe :
1-physical appearance:
Broad-shouldered dark-haired good-looking
2- personality:
Good-tempered open-minded
3- places:
Wide-open built-up
4- everyday objects:
Worn-out hand-made man-made

assignment:
Match items from the two lists to make compound adjectives.try to use some of the compound adjectives in sentences.

A-Broad- narrow-well- red-good-bad-left-absent-open-long-kind

B-Minded-built-dressed-eyed-haired-looking-handed-tempered-hearted-known-fingered

You can take a look at the following links :

http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/hyphens_lessons.htm

Monday, July 7, 2008

comparison

Comparison


Various words and structure can be used for comparing
Here I am going to introduce 2 ways
First:
Making comparisons with AS………AS

We use as……….as to say that two things or people are equal in some way
Ex: Maha is 160 cm. Sara is 160 cm.
Maha is as tall as Sara

Make it into negative: to negate the previous sentence we say:
Not as……..as
Rasha is 150 and Maha is 160
Rasha is not as tall as Maha


We can use (as much/ as many…..as) to talk about quantity
Ex: we need as many people as possible
I don't have as much money as I need
I ate as much as I could

Second:

Comparative and superlative adjectives
We use comparative adjectives to compare the qualities of two people or two things
Bill is richer than John


And the superlative is used to compare somebody/something with the whole group
Maha is the tallest girl in the class

Basically, with comparative adjectives we add –er/more ……….than
Ex: clever Ali is cleverer than Sami
Successfull Ali is more successful than Sami

And with superlative we add -est/the most
Ali is the cleverest student
Ali is the most successful student

*At this point we are going to learn when to ad –er/-est and when to add more / the most

One syllable adjectives like old --> simply add –er / -est

With most two-syllable adjectives we use more and most

Famous--> more famous the most famous


Exception: two syllable adjectives that end in –y use –er and –est after changing the –y to –i
Ex: happy--> happier the happiest

Some two syllable adjectives can use either –er/-est or more/the most
Ex: clever--> clever er or more clever
The cleverest or the most clever

Adjectives with three or more syllable… more and the most are used with long adjectives

There are some irregular adjectives like*
Good better best
Bad worse worst


For more information you can visit the following sites:
http://www.eflnet.com/tutorials/adjcompsup.php

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/adjektive_steig.htm

To test yourself see:

http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/naturalenglish/pre/a_grammar/unit06/nepre_grammar06_1/


http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/compare1.html


Your homework for this lesson is:
Download a picture of tow thing or two people and compare using either as …..as or comparative or superlative adjectives



Friday, June 27, 2008

Participles Used as Adjectives

-ed and -ing adjectives
Both present and past participles are used with the verbs to be and to have to
create common verb tenses, but they can also be used as adjectives. Since
there is a slight difference in meaning between the present and the past
participles when they are used as adjectives, it is very important to choose the
appropriate form.

Present participles are formed by adding –ing to the verb .
As an adjective, a present participle adjective tells us about the affects someone or
something has on us.
Example:
The new song is interesting.

Past participles are formed by adding –ed, to the verb , but some of the
irregular forms may end in –d, –en, –n, or –t. As an adjective,
a past participle adjective tells us how a person feels.
Example:
The fans are interested in the new song.

►Participles generally come before the noun they describe. They may also be linked to the subject of the sentence by a linking verb such as to be or to feel.
The park is a frightening place at night.
Steve felt frightened as he walked alone in the park at night.

Practice Exercise
In the sentences below, fill in the correct participles of the verbs in parentheses.

1. People who constantly complain are very __________ (annoy) to me.
2. Whenever Adrian gets __________ (bore), he goes fishing.
3. The students were __________ (confuse) by the Professor’s lecture.
4. Most of the news on television is __________ (depress).
5. The Ruttles were very ________ (excite) to learn that their concert was
sold out.
6. Babysitting young children can be __________ (exhaust) for many people.
7. Steve was so __________ (fascinate) by the book that he finished it in one
evening.
8. Would you be __________ (frighten) if you saw a vampire?
9. After eating a __________ (satisfy) meal, the cat washed her face.
10. When Dagmar looked in the mirror, she was __________ (surprise) to
see that she had a leaf in her hair.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

assignment

now that you read and understand the lesson I am going to move to the assignment
in this assignment , you are going to take a photo ( you might use a digital camera or your mobile phone's camera)
after takin the photo , upload it toyour blog in a new subject called assignment.
then you need to write a small paragraph using adjectives to describe the photo.
Note : you should use two or more adjectives to describe the noun( example: instead of saying she is wearing a black dress you can say she is wearing a beautiful long black simple party dress .)
Good luck with your assignment

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Lesson 1: adjectives

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. (By "noun" we include pronouns and noun phrases.)

An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a noun (a big dog).

Adjectives can be used before a noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain verbs (It is hard).

We can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady).

Adjective Order
There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:
1-before the noun
2-after certain verbs (be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste)


adj. noun verb adj.

I like big Cars. //My car is big.


Adjective before Noun

We sometimes use more than one adjective before the noun:

I like big black dogs.
She was wearing a beautiful long red dress.

What is the correct order for two or more adjectives?

1. The general order is: opinion, fact:
a nice French car (not a French nice car)
("Opinion" is what you think about something. "Fact" is what is definitely true about something.)
2. The normal order for fact adjectives is size, age, shape, colour, material, origin:
a big, old, square, black, wooden Chinese table
3. Determiners usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:
articles (a, the)
Possessives (my, you’re...)
Demonstratives (this, that...)
Quantifiers (some, any, few, many...)
numbers (one, two, three)
Here is an example with opinion and fact adjectives:
adjectives noun
deter-miner /opinion /fact
age/ shape/colour

two nice old round red candles

When we want to use two colour adjectives, we join them with "and":
Many newspapers are black and white.
She was wearing a long, blue and yellow dress.
Adjectives after verbs:

Look at the examples below:
Subject verb adjective
EX:
Ram is English.
Because she had to wait, she became impatient.
Is it getting dark?
The examination did not seem difficult.
Your friend looks nice.
This towel feels damp.
That new film doesn't sound very interesting.
Dinner smells good tonight.
This milk tastes sour.
Now check your understanding
Add as many adjective as you can to complete the description:

I lost a __________________________ bag
I met____________________________ people at the conference
The clown was wearing a ___________________________hat
This course is ____________________
I wore a _____________________________dress




to my students

Our lesson will go through some steps , so I will list them down for you
1- Take a look at my blog and comment on one or more subjects
2- create your own blog and wrire a small paragraph to introduce yourself( name,age,hobby..etc)
3-Read the lesson about adjectives and check your understanding by doing the exercises
Note: you have to do the exercises in a new subject in your blog .(the lesson will be in my blog under the name of lesson1 adjectives)
4- then you are going to do the assignment , you will find it in a new subject in my blog

Thanks and good luck

Sunday, May 4, 2008

the best spot in the world


If you are seeking peace and serenity, this is a place you need to visit.

Here you can throw all your burdens away and raise your palms to The One and Only who can help you when no one can and be in your side when every one abandoned you.

Here and only here i feel safe and happy.