The Most Common Adjectives and Adverbs Mistake - CSET Practice Test On Adjectives

In this article we will focus specifically on adjectives and a CSET practice test will follow.

Teacher candidates studying for the CSET English and the CSET Multiple Subjects tests should becareful not to confuse adjectives with adverbs.

Adjective

An adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun.

It is very easy to confuse adjectives with adverbs. Remember, adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Unlike Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up almost anywhere in a sentence, adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify.

Examples:

1. That is a big car.
The adjective is big.

2. I saw a very young boy.
The adjective is young.

3. The quick, black horse jumped over the low fence.
The adjectives are: quick, black, and low.

4. Most horses do not like tropical areas.
The adjective is tropical.

5. That’s a very nice suit you are wearing.
The adjective is nice.

Adjective Clause

There are independent and dependent clauses. This means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some can’t. Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning. The subordinate clause is created by a subordinating conjunction or dependent word.

Adjective clauses are dependent clauses that tell us what is going on in the main (independent) clause.

Examples:

1. My father, who is a teacher, figured it out for me.
The adjective clause is “who is a teacher”.

2. The bridge that collapsed in the summer storm will cost millions to replace.
The adjective clause is “that collapsed in the summer storm”.

Adjectival Phrases

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or a pronoun. This noun or pronoun is called the “object of the preposition.” Prepositional phrases that function as adjectives are called adjective phrases. Adjective phrases modify nouns or pronouns. An adjective acts as the head of an adjectival phrase.

Examples:

1. A beautiful young girl won the contest.
The adjectival phrases are: “A beautiful young”, and “the”.

2. The very little girl broke her arm.
The adjectival phrases are: “The very little”, and “her”.