Grammar Notes
1. Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns and come before or after a noun.
- No more Canadian products are available here. (NOT Canada products)
- The annual festival is held in the city park.
Note: Adjectives never need to agree in number with the noun that they modify.
- He took a three-week vacation. (NOT three-weeks vacation)
- He carried two large files. (NOT two larges files)
2. Adverbs
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, or a sentence.
- The woman quickly showed the guests into the conference room.
- He is an extremely quick thinker.
- It is a difficult task to finish, even for an expert.
- All of the workers stated they were treated fairly.
Note 1: Linking verbs like sound, feel, and seem are followed by an adjective, NOT an adverb.
- Georgia seemed unhappy. (NOT seemed unhappily)
Note 2: Even though words like friendly, costly, deadly, and lively end with -ly, they are adjectives and NOT adverbs.
3. Determiners
Determiners are articles, possessive pronouns, quantifiers, numerical adjectives, and demonstrative adjectives that modify nouns.
- The local university will hold a career fair this Saturday. (article)
- My book was published last week. (possessive pronoun)
- All employees are required to attend the meeting. (quantifier)
- The president liked the first proposal. (numerical adjective)
- Despite support, the president rejected that proposal. (demonstrative adjective)
4. Noun Complements
Noun complements are adjectives, nouns, or pronouns that follow a linking verb. These can be either subject or object complements.
- Marta is the head of the research department. (subject complement)
- Colin called himself a failure after the project failed to impress management. (object complement)
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