Comparing with Adjectives
Adjectives that compare two things are called comparative adjectives, where one person, place, or thing is being compared to another person, place, or thing. Adjectives that compare one person, place, or thing to two or more people, places, or things are called superlative adjectives. (Adjectives that describe one thing are called positive adjectives.)
Comparative Adjectives: If an adjective is just one syllable or two syllables ending with a y, then just add the suffix –er to the end to make it a comparative adjective. If it already ends with e, then remove the final e and just add –er to the end, so that little becomes littler. Note: don’t forget the y changing to i rule when adding suffixes.
Examples: fast becomes faster, mild becomes milder, sleepy becomes sleepier, and sturdy becomes sturdier
Some two-syllable adjectives and adjectives with three or more syllables add the word more before the positive adjective rather than adding a suffix.
Examples: modern becomes more modern, generous becomes more generous, and fortunate becomes more fortunate
Superlative Adjectives: If an adjective is just one syllable or two syllables ending with a y, then just add the suffix –est to the end to make it a superlative adjective. If it already ends with e, then remove the final e and then add –est to the end, so that little becomes littlest. Note: don’t forget the y changing to i rule when adding suffixes.
Examples: fast becomes fastest, mild becomes mildest,
sleepy becomes sleepiest, and sturdy becomes sturdiest
Some two-syllable adjectives and adjectives with three or more syllables add the word most before the base adjective rather than adding a suffix.
Examples: modern becomes most modern, generous becomes most generous,
and fortunate becomes most fortunate
Irregular Comparative and Superlative Adjectives (Comparing with good and bad)
Some adjectives are irregular and do not use –er, –est, more, or most. A handful of adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms. (Yes, I know you'll see more and most below, but you use more or most just by themselves, not as more bad or most bad.)
| positive | comparative | superlative |
|---|---|---|
| good | better | best |
| bad | worse | worst |
| many | more | most |
| little | less | least |
| much | more | most |
Commas in a Series
One way we use commas is to separate items in a series, a list of three or more items. Put a comma after each item in the series except the last one. Use and or or before the last item in a series.
You should always have one less comma than items in your series. For example, if there are five items in your series, you will only use four commas. If you only have two items, then it is not a series and you do not use a comma at all.
Examples:
- I like to read history, science, and mystery books.
- My dad said we could order French fries, baked potatoes, or potato salad.
Introductory Words and Direct Address (More Uses for Commas)
We also use commas to set off introductory words at the beginnings of sentences and to set off the names of people who are being directly addressed.
Introductory Words: Words like yes, no, and well which are used to start a sentence are separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
- Yes, you have to do your homework tonight.
- "Well, let me think about that," said Mr. Walker
Direct Address: When you are speaking directly to someone, you set off what you are calling them, usually their name, by using a comma. This can happen at the beginning of a sentence, in the middle, or at the end.
Examples:
- Jessica, would you collect the homework please?
- If I've told you once, young man, I've told you a thousand times to pick up your socks and put them in the laundry basket.
- Isn't that right, Claudia? and I don't want any more, honey.
Notice that there is a big difference between I don't want any more, honey. and I don't want any more honey. (Last year, Mr. Drum taped some science information to my whiteboard and put a note: Don't touch, Mr. Walker. which some comedian in my class decided was funnier if it read: Don't touch Mr. Walker. Ha ha.)
Both: You can also have an introductory word and a direct address in the same sentence. If that is the case, then set off both the introductory word and the name of the person being spoken to with commas.
Examples:
- No, you can't go to the movies tonight, Michael.
- Yes, Minh, I expect you to take out the trash.
Words Ending in -ed or -ing
Because both suffixes –ed and –ing start with vowels, there are some rules that we must follow when adding them to the ends of base words.
If the word ends with a silent e, then you drop the e and then add –ed or –ing.
Examples: hope becomes hoped or hoping, store becomes stored or storing
If the word ends with a consonant and then y, change the y to i and then add the suffix –ed. When adding –ing, you leave the y as it is. Note: all words that we're adding these suffixes to are verbs. Also notice that we do something similar with words ending with ie. When adding –ed, drop the final e and add the suffix. When adding –ing, drop the final e and change the y to i.
Examples: study becomes studied or studying, try becomes tried or trying, die becomes died or dying, lie becomes lied or lying
If the word ends with a consonant, there a couple of different rules to follow.
1) If the word ends with a consonant, and has a short vowel, double the final consonant and then add the suffix. Most of these words are just one syllable long.
Examples: hop becomes hopped or hopping, skip becomes skipped or skipping, control becomes controlled or controlling, submit becomes submitted or submitting
Of course, if the verb already ends in a double vowel, then you just add the suffix, so that kiss becomes kissed or kissing.
There is one important exception to this rule. If the verb ends with an x, then just add the suffix.
Examples: mix becomes mixed or mixing, box becomes boxed or boxing
2) If the word ends with a consonant and has two or more syllables, then just add the suffix.
Examples: offer becomes offered or offering, visit becomes visited or visiting
Interjections
An interjection, one of the eight parts of speech, is a word or phrase that expresses feelings. They almost always appear at the beginning of a sentence.
Mild interjections are followed by a comma.
Example: No, I didn't do my homework.
Strong interjections are followed by an exclamation point. Don't forget to capitalize the word that comes after the exclamation point.
Example: No! I didn't do it, I tell you. I swear I'm innocent.
Here are a few common interjections: ah; aha; ahem; all right; fine; gee whiz; good grief; gosh; hello; help; hey; hooray; my goodness; no; no way; oh; oh, no; oops; ouch; phew; right on; super; ugh; well; whew; wow; yes; yikes; yippee; and yuck.
Quotations
A direct quotation gives a speaker's exact words. Set off exact words using quotation marks. Begin each quotation with a capital letter. Place end punctuation marks, like periods, question marks, and exclamation marks, inside the quotation marks.
Examples: "Why haven't you finished that yet?"
"Because I just got home, that's why!"
Use commas inside the quotation marks to separate quotations from the rest of the sentence. The only time you don't do this is if you are using a period, question mark, or exclamation mark; compare the first two examples below. Remember to begin each quotation with a capital letter, unless the quotation is interrupted by the name of the speaker, as in the third example below.
Examples: At dinner, I asked, "Would you pass the salt, please?"
"Would you pass the salt, please?" I asked at dinner.
"Well, certainly," my mother replied, "since you asked so politely."
"There may be hope for him yet," my father remarked.
If a quotation is two sentences, use a period after the speaker's name, and be sure to start the second quotation with a capital letter.
Example: "I'd really like to go," I said. "I just have to get my parent's permission first."
Do not use quotations with indirect quotations.
Example: My mom said I could go if I finished all my chores first.
Words with Suffixes -ly, -ness, -ment, -ful, -less
These suffixes are word parts that we put at the ends of base words. All of these suffixes are going to change the part of speech and meaning of the base word.
Unlike the suffixes –ed and –ing that we studied before, all of these suffixes begin with consonants so the rules for their use is a little simpler. Essentially, we're going to add these suffixes and not change the spelling of the base word. There is only one main exception to this rule. If the base word ends with a y, we're going to follow the y changing to i rule and then add the suffix.
We add –ly to adjectives to turn them into adverbs, so that quiet becomes quietly and scary becomes scarily. Usually we just add the –ly to words that end with a silent e, as safe becomes safely and late becomes lately, but horrible becomes horribly, incredible becomes incredibly, possible becomes possibly, and terrible becomes terribly. Notice that all of these exceptions end with –ible.
We add –ment to the ends of verbs to change them into nouns, so that enjoy becomes enjoyment and retire becomes retirement. For some verbs ending with a silent e, we drop the silent e when adding the suffix: acknowledge becomes acknowledgment, argue becomes argument, and judge becomes judgment.
We add –ness to the ends of adjectives and verbs to change them into nouns, so that forgive becomes forgiveness and soft becomes softness.
We add –ful to the ends of nouns or verbs to change them into adjectives, so that harm becomes harmful, power becomes powerful, and beauty becomes beautiful. Only the word full is spelled with two ls; all words with the suffix –ful are spelled with just one l.
We add –less to the ends of nouns or verbs to change them into adjectives, so that price becomes priceless, power becomes powerless, and speech becomes speechless.
Abbreviations
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word. Most abbreviations begin with a capital letter and end with a period. Do not use abbreviations as a word by themselves. For example, you would not write: I found a penny as I was walking down the St.
Many abbreviations refer to people's titles, like Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Jr., and Sr.
We also use abbreviations that refer to a type of business, as in Co., Corp., and Inc.
Many abbreviations are used in addresses on envelopes and are not used in general writing. The United States Post Office has assigned two-letter abbreviations for each of the fifty states. Both letters are capitalized and there is no period. CA stands for California and IN for Indiana, for example. We also use abbreviations for street names: St., Ave., Dr., Rd., Blvd., etc. (By the way, etc. is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase et cetera. It means "and so forth.") We also use Apt. for apartment and P.O. for Post Office, as in P.O. Box 3459.
Finally, we often use abbreviations for the days of the week and the months of the year, as in Fri. and Jan. These are all three letter abbreviations, though some people do use Sept.
Titles
Capitalize the first, last, and each important word in the titles of books, movies, and newspapers. Capitalize forms of the verb be, including is, are, and am. Capitalize words like and, in, of, to, a, an, and the only when they are the first or last word in a title.
Underline the titles of books, movies, plays, television shows, musical works, magazines, and newspapers or put them in italic type.
Examples:
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is one of my favorite picture books.
- James Cameron's Titanic is the top-grossing movie of all time.
- Mr. Walker reads the San Mateo County Times every morning.
- Wynton Marsalis, jazz musician and composer, won a Pulitzer Prize for Blood on the Fields in 1997.
Put the titles of shorter works, like short stories, poems, articles, songs, and book chapters, in quotation marks. Note that the period at the end of the sentence goes inside the second quotation mark.
Examples:
- We read "The Tortoise and the Hare" by Aesop.
- Robert Frost wrote the poem "The Road Not Taken."
- "The Junk Food Trap" in VegNews was a very interesting article.
- Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" won MTV Video Music Awards for direction and editing.
- The first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is called "The Boy Who Lived."
