TABE Level D English: Sentences with Descriptive Words

Words to Know

A complete thought must have a subject and a verb.
Then we should ask ourselves if that complete thought gives the reader enough information.

My car chugs.
What information can we add to this sentence to give the reader more information and a better picture of the car?
My old car chugs noisily.
Now we have a better picture of the car and what it does. The word old describes car, the subject/noun, and is called and adjective. The word noisily describes the verb, chugs, and is called an adverb. Both old and noisily add information to the picture the sentence forms. The question, of course, is this: If both adjectives and adverbs have the same job, that is describing other words, why do they have different names? This is the reason:
The strong nest held three eggs easily.

Answer these questions.

1. What is the subject of the sentence? Nest is the subject.

2. What is the verb in the sentence? Held is the verb.

3. What word describes the subject? Strong describes nest. This is the adjective. Adjectives describe subjects/nouns.

4. Which word describes how the nest held the eggs? Easily describes held. This is the adverb. Adverbs describe verbs.

Adverbs are very useful words. They describe verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
The above is easy to understand, but we need to add two items to the adverb’s job.
The strong nest held the three eggs very easily.
How easily did the nest hold the eggs? It held the eggs very easily. Very is also an adverb and it describes another adverb, easily. So, you need to know that adverbs can describe other adverbs.
And one more thing…
The extremely strong nest held the three eggs very easily.
How strong was the nest? It was extremely strong. Extremely is an adverb and it describes an adjective, strong.

Tip:
Many adverbs are easy to recognize because they end in –ly. Can you think of some examples of adverbs that end in –ly?
 

Examples:
Neatly
Brightly

Use Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly
Some adjectives and adverbs are often misused. You will want to study them in order to avoid these common errors.

Well versus Good

Well can be used as an adjective when you talk about health.
I feel well now. (Well describes I.)
At all other times, well is an adverb and, as such, describes the action word.
My friend builds furniture well. (Well describes builds.)

Important: Good never describes an action. What kind of word does it describe in the next three sentences?
My boyfriend is a good driver. (Not, “My boyfriend drives good.” Good cannot describe the action, drives.) A. good reader usually has a larger vocabulary. A. good place to live is not always that easy to find.
Use good paper to print that report.
You read these phrases: good driver, good reader, and good paper. The word good obviously describes people, places, and things. They are all nouns.

Real versus Really
Really describes another descriptive word. Did you notice the –ly? Yes, this is an adverb. and it describes other descriptive words.
It is really cloudy today. (Really describes the adjective, cloudy.)
Manrillo’s computer is really outdated. (Really describes the adjective, outdated.)
Aaron’s excuse for being late was really lame. (Really describes the adjective, lame.)
Real describes a person, place, or thing—a noun.
This is a real antique. (Real describes the noun, antique.)
The house’s siding is made of real wood. (Real describes the noun, wood)
The movie mystery had a very real script. (Real describes the noun, script.)

Nice versus Nicely
This is one of the most common errors in the use of descriptive words. Don’t make this error!
The senator spoke nice at the town meeting.
Once again, you need to decide what job each word performs. Nice describes a person, place, or thing—a noun. Nicely describes an action. In the sentence above, what does nice try to describe? The answer, of course, is spoke. But nice cannot describe a verb; nicely, the adverb, does.
The council chairman spoke nicely at the yearly meeting.
If you wanted to describe the chairman as nice, what would you say?
The nicely chairman spoke at the yearly meeting.
OR
The nice chairman spoke at the yearly meeting.
Nice is an adjective and, as you know, adjectives do describe nouns or persons, place, or things. The second choice is correct.

Comparison of descriptive words:
The commuter bus is fast.
My friend’s new car is faster.
That racecar is the fastest one of all.

Obviously, each sentence talks about the degree of speed. The first sentence simply states a fact—a bus is fast. Sentence two states a comparison: the friend’s car is faster than the bus. The important fact here is that two things are compared. In the English language, we add an –er to indicate that of the two, one is faster. Look at the third sentence and you read a higher level of comparison. Now it is clear that of the three kinds of transportation being compared, the racecar is the fastest. The word ending, -est, is used to show that comparison of three or more.

Troublesome comparisons:
We tend to run into trouble in comparisons in two ways:

1. Sometimes adjectives change spelling in ways other than the addition of –er or –est to the base word. Some describing words are too long and become awkward when we place an extra syllable on the end. Consider this:

That is the advancedest English course I’ve ever taken.

The writer or speaker compared all of the courses in a program. The person decided that one of many courses was the most advanced. Advanced becomes a very awkward word when you add –er or –est to it. What is a good choice here? The solution is to add more or most and keep the base word, advanced.
That course is the most advanced I’ve ever taken. (The sentence indicates a comparison among three or more courses. The word most is used instead of adding –est.)
OR
That course is more advanced than the one I took last semester. (The sentence indicates a comparison between two courses. The word more is used instead of adding –er.)
We sometimes, mistakenly, use more or most plus the –er or –est ending and that is too much of a good thing.

That TV show is more funnier now than it was in the past.
Corrected:
That TV show is funnier now than it was in the past.

Here are some other words that need to use more and most in comparisons.


2. Some adjectives are spelled entirely differently when they are used to compare two or more things.

Look at the chart below.


What’s wrong with this sentence?
That was the worse meal I’ve ever had.
Worse is used to a comparison of two things. I think we can assume that the writer has had more than two meals. How would you correct the sentence?
That was the worst meal I’ve ever had.

Try this:
That book is the better of the group.
If the book is part of a group, you can assume there are more than two.
Corrected:
That book is the best of the group.

A. descriptive word or phrase should take its place next to the word it describes.
When descriptive words or phrases are misplaced, confusion results.

Example:
The child yelled at her mother on the swing.
Who was on the swing, the child or her mother? You cannot say for sure after reading this sentence. Rewrite it:
The child on the swing yelled at her mother.

Try this:
Tom ran down the newly polished hallway in slippery boots.
Who was wearing slippery boots, Tom or the hallway? Be more precise by placing the descriptive phrase closer to the word it describes. You can do this in more than one way.
In slippery boots, Tom ran down the newly polished hallway.
OR
Tom, in slippery boots, ran down the newly polished hallway.