UNIT 10 (YOUR FREE TIME)

GRAMMAR ASPECT

USING MODIFIERS TO DESCRIBE HOBBIES AND INTERESTS

When talking about something we enjoy, we can use specific words to emphasize its characteristics or make its meaning more specific.
These words are known as modifiers.

Modifiers refer to any word (or phrase) that functions as an adjective or adverb and helps us describe a word or elaborate further on its
meaning.

TYPES OF MODIFIERS

 ADJECTIVES (modify nouns)

Examples:

I caught a small fish

This is a beautiful melody

He’s a young man

I love American music

 DETERMINERS (specify the element we’re talking about)

Examples:

Yesterday I ate an apple

Sam’s brother is really nice

The Eiffel Tower is astonishing

 ORDINALS (express the order of the element we’re referring to)

Examples:

This is the last time I discuss this with you

Is this the first party you’ve attended?

 QUANTIFIERS (specify the amount of elements we’re talking about)

Examples:

I have a few hours to get all this work done

How many secrets can you keep?

I bought three bottles of water

  INTENSIFIERS (adverbs that emphasize the degree of intensity of the quality we’re describing)

Examples:

A really interesting book

A considerably large round orange

 ADVERBS OF MANNER (describe the way in which an action is done)

Examples:

She accidentally bought an extra coke

He sings really well

I slowly opened the door

ORDER OF MODIFIERS

When trying to be extremely specific about what we’re describing, it is pretty common to find multiple modifiers before a noun. However, if we
want to use several modifiers at once, we have to follow a specific order.

1) Determiners (a, an, the, this, Judy’s, my)

2) Ordinals (first, second, third)
3) Quantifiers (one, a few, some, many, much)
4) Intensifiers (really, extremely, considerably, significantly, incredibly)
5) Adjectives (opinion or quality / size / age / shape / color / origin / material)
6) Noun (student, book, music)

Examples:

My first few beautiful antique Czech crystal sugar bowls

(My – determiner // First – ordinal // Few – quantifier // Beautiful – adjective (quality) // Antique – adjective (age) // Czech – adjective (origin) //
Sugar bowls – noun)

*** Notice that it is NOT NECESSARY to use all types of modifiers to describe an element. It’s just a matter of personal preference and the
amount of information/detail we want to give about what we’re describing. ***

I love my cute little white gloves

My friend lost a red, black, and white watch

Yesterday I watched an amazing new American movie