Five Top Tips for Describing Nouns
When we are learning a language, we learn about nouns and adjectives before anything else. Usually, we learn to name and describe ourselves, our family and pets because we are very familiar with these things.
In this blog, we are going to share some tips for using the right adjectives, so that you have more to say the next time you speak in English! Adjectives are great for giving extra information about people, animals and things!
Let’s go.
1. Size and Colour
Let’s describe a pet. Pets are great for practising your English because most people have a pet or had one in the past. You can say ‘I have a dog’ but it is more interesting to add some adjectives. For example:
I have a big dog, his name is Bernard and he is black.
We now know three things about this pet, which is much better than knowing only one!
2. Age
Next, you might want to say something about Bernard’s age. Is he young or old? How old is he? If Bernard is very young, then he is a puppy (a baby dog). Or, if he is more than one year old, he is an adult dog. For example:
“My dog is young, he’s two years old.”
3. Character
Firstly, let’s think of some adjectives to describe character. Happy, funny, clever and more words like that.
Then you can say something about Bernard’s character – “He’s very funny. He’s happy all the time”.
4. Abilities
What are abilities? These are things we can do. For example, a rabbit can jump and a horse can run. Another good idea for describing people, pets or other animals is to use adjectives of ability.
We can do this in two ways. Firstly, by using the word ‘can’ as we have already. What do you think Bernard can do? He is a young dog, so he can run fast. Which word is an adjective, run or fast? That’s right, to run is a verb and fast is an adjective.
When you use a verb and adjective together, it makes the sentence more interesting. Can a rabbit jump high? Yes it can (sometimes). Can a horse run fast? Yes it can!
The second way you can use adjectives of ability is shorter – “Bernard is fast.” This means he can run fast. What would be the opposite? “Bernard is slow”, and this means Bernard is lazy, maybe!
5. Silly Sentences
This is an activity and a tip together. We want to show you a fun way to practice putting adjectives and nouns in the correct order. Take a look. Choose an adjective from the first column then make a silly sentence using a noun and a verb or action. Example: The funny frog sits on a little chair! We hope you have enjoyed this blog. As always, you will progress more by reading, listening and practising your English so make sure you check out IQ Global for free resources and our YouTube channel. See you next time!