Lesson Notes
English
Parts of Speech
4
LESSON
Teacher Guide
More about adjectives
In this lesson we extend our discussion of adjectives by looking at some trouble spots which learners often
encounter when using adjectives.
Lesson Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
• identify and use adjectives to describe nouns
Lesson notes
Trouble spot 1: Confusion between there and their
• “There” means over there (a demonstrative
adjective). It refers to a place.
e.g. We live over there, down the street.
• “Their” is a possessive adjective that is used to
describe who owns something. e.g. This is their food;
please don’t eat it.
Curriculum Links
LO 4: Language
• identify and use parts of speech such as nouns,
verbs, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs in
selected texts accurately and meaningfully
Trouble spot 4: Using nouns as adjectives
• We can use nouns as adjectives.
e.g. A New York restaurant.
New York is a city so it is a proper noun, but here
the word New York describes the location of the
restaurant, so it is used as an adjective.
• Adjectives can sometimes be made out of nouns by
adding a -y or -ey to a noun.
Tip!
Trouble spot 2: Confusion between its and it’s
• “Its” means belonging to it.
e.g. My dog has hurt its tail.
• “It’s” is the shortened form of it is, and is not an
adjective.
e.g. It’s hot today.
Here is a spelling rule you might find useful:
• If the word ends in an “e” that is silent, the “e”
is usually dropped when adding the “y”, e.g.
nosy, mousy.
• Other suffixes:- ous (dangerous) -ious
(ambitious) –ful (helpful, careful) –ly (friendly)
– are just added to the root word
• If the word already ends in a “y”, an “e” is
inserted, e.g. clayey.
Trouble spot 3: Deciding which indefinite adjective to
use
• An indefinite adjective indicates an indefinite number
or quantity, e.g. few, several, some, any.
• Indefinite adjectives have slightly different meanings
and so the reader will understand something slightly
different depending on which indefinite adjective you
choose.
?
TASK
Choose the right option from each of the pairs given
below:
a. (It’s / Its) easy – just follow the rules!
b. (There / Their) seems to be a problem here.
c. (There / Their) home is lovely.
d. (It’s / Its) battery is flat, that is why it won’t
turn on.
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