Using adjectives 2

Using adjectives 2

Online interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about using adjectives in a sentence.
I went to see some fireworks at the weekend.
fireworks display 2.jpg
 

The fireworks were dramatic, colourful, and noisy.

Question Change answer

Here are some more adjectives to describe the fireworks. Some describe the fireworks' colour, some describe the fireworks' sound, and some describe my opinion - how I felt about the fireworks.
Can you help me sort the adjectives into the boxes?  
Decide whether each one describes colour, sound, or an opinion.
 
glowing
sparkly
crackly
wonderful
rainbow-coloured
scary
magical
noisy
booming
red
silver
hissing
spitting
horrible
amazing
Colour
Sound
Opinion

Question 2Change answer

Sparklers
Thanks!  Now choose three adjectives to describe these sparklers.
   Choose one adjective that describes colour.                        rainbow-colouredglowingredsilversparkly
   Choose one adjective that describes sound.                         cracklyspittinghissingnoisybooming
   Choose one adjective that describes your opinion.              wonderfulamazinghorriblescarymagical  
 
Now write one of your adjectives in each box, to complete this sentence. 
The  ,   ,   sparklers lit up the night.
Read your sentence out loud. Do the adjectives sound as if they are in the right order? Change them around until your sentence sounds right.

Question 2Change answer

Fireworks in the sky
Imagine you are watching these fireworks.
Write one or two sentences to describe them. Use adjectives to describe the fireworks' colour and sound, and to show your reader how you feel about the fireworks.  

Question 2Change answer

Now edit your text. Think about these questions:
  • Have I used adjectives?
  • Have I used punctuation?
  • Will my reader be able to tell what the fireworks were like?

Question 2Change answer

Share your writing with a partner. Ask them to answer the questions by writing in the boxes.
 
Which adjective did you like most in the writing?     
What is another adjective the writer could use to describe the fireworks?   
Task administration: 
This task is completed online. It is NOT automarked.
 
This resource is one of three with a similar format: Using Adjectives, Using Adjectives 2 and Using Adjectives 3. These resources provide information on students’ ability to write a string of adjectives in the correct order. All three resources have a shared task at the end, where students comment on their partner’s work.
 
Teachers could work through one resource with the class or a group of children, before students move on to complete the other resources individually or in pairs.
Copyright: 
Images purchased from Dreamstime
Level:
2
Curriculum info: 
English, Creating meaning, Writing
Key Competencies: 
Thinking, Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
adjectives, description, vocabulary
Description of task: 
This resource provides information on students’ ability to write a string of adjectives in the correct order.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Writing:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:

  • use vocabulary that clearly conveys ideas
  • use sentences that are mostly correct grammatically

as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Writing at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions. 
 

Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Writing meaningful text: text features, sets 3
Writing meaningful text: vocabulary knowledge, sets 2-3
within the Writing Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
This resource was trialled by approximately 30 Year 7 and 8 students.
 
The table below shows the difficulty level of each task, based on the results of this trial.
 

Task Student response
1
Sorting adjectives into categories

Sorted all the adjectives correctly – medium
Sorted most of the adjectives correctly – easy
Sorted over half of the adjectives correctly – very easy 
 
2
Placing adjectives in the correct order in a sentence

Put adjectives in order (with opinion first)  - difficult
3
Writing sentences with appropriate adjectives, including adjectives of opinion

Chose appropriate adjectives – very easy
Placed adjectives in appropriate order in sentences - easy  
Included adjectives of opinion – medium
Used commas appropriately in lists of adjectives - difficult
4
Giving feedback on partner’s work

Identified an effective adjective – very easy
Suggested an additional adjective – easy

 

Teaching and learning: 
Adjectives fall into different groups or categories, depending on the aspect of the noun that they describe (for example, colour, shape, or size).
If two or more adjectives describe a noun, they are usually placed in a particular order, depending on which category they belong to. Here are some of the more common categories, in their suggested order:
 
opinion size sound colour shape noun
wonderful enormous crackly sparkly exploding fireworks
 
Here are some of the student responses to each task from the trial, with suggested next steps for teaching and learning.
 
Task Student response and next steps
1 Sorting adjectives into categories
This task asks students to sort adjectives relating to fireworks into different categories: those that describe colour (e.g., ‘red’), those that describe sound (e.g., ‘booming’), and those that describe opinion (e.g., ‘wonderful’).
 
Most students in the trial found this task easy. They were able to sort the majority of the adjectives into appropriate categories. Many students, however, had difficulty deciding on a category for the adjectives ‘glowing’, ‘sparkly’, ‘scary’, and ‘spitting’.  
 
Next steps
To help students generate adjectives in different categories, bring in or choose an object to focus on, for example, a colourful scarf or an interesting vase or mug. Choose a category of adjective, for example ‘colour’, and brainstorm as many adjectives as you can in that category. Then move on to another category, for example ‘material’.  Repeat with other objects. Notice that some adjectives can fit in multiple categories. If you want to focus on adjectives to describe sound or smell, you could describe a video clip with interesting sound, or an item of food with a strong smell or perfume.
2
Placing adjectives in the correct order in a sentence
This task scaffolds students towards writing a sentence that includes a string of adjectives. They then place the adjectives in an order that sounds correct.

Only a few students in the trial placed the adjective of ‘opinion’ at the front of the string.
Adjectives of opinion (such as ‘awful’ or ‘excellent’ or ‘nasty’) are usually placed first in a list of adjectives.
 
Next steps 
Help students to notice the order in which adjectives are usually written.
 
Brainstorm a list of ‘opinion’ adjectives. Use these with the adjectives that you brainstormed in (1) above. Experiment with placing three or more adjectives, including an adjective of opinion, in different orders in front of the noun. Discuss the different phrases and which ones sound right.
 
For example, compare ‘nasty old yellow shoes’ with ‘yellow old nasty shoes’. Which sounds best? What do you notice about the categories of adjectives and their order?
3
Writing sentences with appropriate adjectives, including adjectives of opinion
This task asks students to write two sentences of description about fireworks, using adjectives.

Nearly all students in the trial were able to choose appropriate adjectives to describe the fireworks. Some students chose to write two or more adjectives in a series, for example:

‘Red, sparkly fireworks blowing up like bombs.’
‘The magical glowing fireworks light up the dark night sky.’
Fewer students included adjectives of opinion. Those that did used them appropriately, placing them before other adjectives in a string, for example:

‘The scary booming colours flash across the sky.’

Few students used commas appropriately in lists of adjectives.

Next steps
Discuss and practise using commas in lists of adjectives.
 
We use a comma between two adjectives that are coordinate (each has equal weight in describing the noun).
 
To test whether the adjectives are coordinate:
 
  • Test 1: Try swapping them around. If the sentence still sounds right, the adjectives are coordinate and you need a comma between them.
  • Test 2: Try putting ‘and’ between them. If the sentence sounds right, the sentences are coordinate and you need a comma between them when the 'and' is not there.
 
For example

Sentence 1: ‘He is a kind handsome boy’.
  • Test 1 (swapping around): ‘He is a handsome kind boy’.  This sounds right, so the adjectives are coordinate and need a comma between them.
  • Test 2 (adding ‘and’): ‘He is a kind and handsome boy’. This sounds right, so the adjectives are coordinate and need a comma between them.
 
Sentence 2: ‘I’d like a large blueberry muffin’.
 
  • Test 1: ‘I’d like a blueberry large muffin.’ This doesn’t sound right. The adjectives are not coordinate, and a comma is not needed.
  • Test 2: ‘I’d like a large and blueberry muffin.’  This doesn’t sound right, so the adjectives are not coordinate and don’t need a comma.
4
Giving feedback on partner’s work
In this shared task, a partner gives feedback on the adjectives used to describe the shoes, and suggests an additional adjective.
Most students were able to provide appropriate feedback and to suggest an appropriate addition.