English II - Unit 4: Speaking and Listening Choosing the Language ( 1 )

Strive for specific nouns and verbs first before you even consider using adjectives or adverbs.

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Be careful not to confuse adjectives with adverbs.

Adjective Adverb real really sure surely

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Adjectives can be used to clarify what you say, but using too many adjectives can cause confusion. This statement is especially true when the adjectives repeat something already mentioned. Jackie slid on the frozen ice. (Ice is already frozen.) The doctor noticed my nervous anticipation. (Anticipation implies nervousness.) Susan was more prettier than Jane. (Prettier is already a comparative, therefore, more is not needed.) Remember to use adjectives effectively and selectively.

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Adjectives can be very effective if used carefully and in moderation. An adjective makes the difference between a chair and an old chair, a stately chair, a broken-down chair, or a neatly upholstered chair. Always try to be as specific as possible. Choose the adjectives that most clearly describe what you have in mind.

Adjectives.

An adjective modifies or changes a noun or pronoun. It points out, limits, or describes. It usually answers the questions "which one?", "how many?", or "what kind?"

Rewrite the following sentence by removing as many unnecessary words as possible. A limited amount of seating space was available.

There is limited seating.

Rewrite this paragraph, omitting the unnecessary words and replacing them with a definite adjective or noun whenever possible. Tuesday was really quite a lovely day. It was sort of a sunny day. The weather was OK. We went to a very nice picnic. We had a good time. The food was terrific. We did various things and obviously had a nice time.

Tuesday was a lovely day. It was sunny. The weather was ok. We went to a picnic. We had a nice time. The food was good. We did things and had a nice time.

Unnecessary words.

Unnecessary words are called vague words or overused words. They include any words that do not contribute to your description. These words are fillers that detract from your subject. The problem is that these words are perfectly good words, which have a place of their own. Overuse, however, has made them meaningless in many contexts.

These words should be avoided when they are unnecessary:

almost in fact so awful keen sort of by the way kind of splendid certainly lovely stunning cool lousy sure cute man! surely especially marvelous sweet exactly needless to say swell fine nice terrible frankly obviously terrific funny of course then get particularly thing gorgeous pretty too grand quite unquestionably great really various honestly relative very incidentally remarkable wonderful indeed sincerely you know?

The unnecessary adjective in the following sentence is _____. The mother's face was tense with anxious worry.

anxious

Choose the adjective that best describes the italicized word. The car chugged and wheezed to the stop light, where it finally quit.

battered

Choose the adjective that best describes the italicized word. The volcano eventually covered the entire island with a layer of fresh lava.

erupting

Match the adjective to the appropriate noun.

food - tasteless silver - tarnished hat - flowered question - puzzling discussion - lively

Choose the adjective that best describes the italicized word. The cat scrambled up the tree.

frightened

Avoid using clichés. Clichés are trite phrases which had a clever turn when they were first used, but which have lost much of their meaning today through overuse.

in my humble opinion a red letter day hungry as a bear center of attention few and far between stand out from the crowd nose to the grindstone smart as a whip hit the nail on the head

The unnecessary adjective) in the following sentence is _____. His nervous fidgeting upset the others.

nervous

The unnecessary adjective in the following sentence is _____. A small trickle of water crept down the road.

small

The unnecessary adjective in the following sentence is _____. Many varied courses are offered in college.

varied