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Found 155 articles matching: Cumulative Adjectives

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3 Instinctive Grammar Rules
Most native English speakers are not English majors and have never studied grammar. Most of us do not know the underlying rules that govern the structures and usage of the English language. We speak …
Frequently Asked Questions
A lot or Alot?
A or An?
Accept or Except?
Acronyms and Initialisms?
Active or Passive Verbs?
Affect or Effect?
All Ready or Already?
Allusion or Illusion?
Among or Am…
Adjectives - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples
Welcome
Below you’ll find links to our discussion on adjectives. We recommend that you start with the first topic,Adjectives - Words That Describe. At the bottom …
Punctuation - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples
Welcome
Below you’ll find links to our discussion on all punctuation marks. We have broken some of the longer topics into multiple pages. So watch for references to “Pages 1-2-3” …
States of Adjectives: -er or more, -est or most
Adjectives Comparative and Superlative
You ask, therefore, how to tell when to use the ‑er and ‑est endings and when to use the helping words more and most? There’s no hard and fa…
States of Adjective: -er or more, -est or most
How to Form the States of Adjectives
You ask, therefore, how to tell when to use the ‑er and ‑est endings and when to use the helping words more and most? There’s no hard and fast…
A Summary of Adjectives
In this section, we introduced ourselves to the adjective, which comes in a one-word form that either precedes or follows the noun it modifies.
When the adjective precedes the noun, it’s in the at…
Adjectives - Phrases and Clauses
It’s SHOUTING time again. Wake up. This stuff is important.
There are two main types of word chunks, clauses and phrases. A clause is a bunch of words with a conjugated verb in it. A phrase is a b…
Compound Adjectives
Hyphens in Compound Adjectives
The English language is remarkably versatile, for it allows us to make up words and expressions that don’t otherwise appear in the dictionary. One t…
Adjectives - Words That Describe
We’ve learned about nouns. Now we’ll look at words that describe or modify nouns. We call these words or groups of words adjectives. In this section, we’ll also learn about articles—a, an, and the.
A Final Summary of Verbs
Summary of Verbs
Verbs fulfill five functions in our language. In their conjugated form, they enable us to form clauses, either as complete sentences or as dependent clauses. They…
Positive, Comparative, Superlative
Postive, Comparative, Superlative - Good, Better, Best
Recall how we defined nouns as words capable of having plurals and possessive endings. Adjectives (and their first cousin, t…
Compound Adjectives - Decision to Hyphenate
Facilitate Reading
We hyphenate words to facilitate reading and prevent ambiguity. For example, one rule says to hyphenate adjectives formed by a noun plus an -ing verb when it co…
Comparative and Superlative forms of Adjectives and Adverbs
The English language uses adjectives and adverbs in a sentence to describe the quality of a noun or a verb. In other words, some words that add meaning to the noun or verb of a sentence are called ad…
Adjectives and Adverbs
Simply put, Adjectives describe nouns. Remember this. Always. What does it mean to say ‘describe’? Let us take an example – “My brother is a good student.” There are different parts of speech in th…
Only One State, e.g., Unique
Please notice that some adjectives have only one state, the positive state. Put another way, some adjectives cannot display the degrees shown by the comparative and the superlative states or through …
Hyphens and Compound Words
Introduction
In chapter 3 of the eBook Understanding the Parts of Speech, you’ll learn about compound adjectives, those multiword, often made-up adjectives that enliven our writin…
Commas and Coordinate Adjectives
Long, Hot Summer
When each of two adjectives modifies the same noun, put a comma between them. As a test, put the word and between the two adjectives. If it fits, then the adjecti…
4. What Are the Comparative and Superlative Forms?
Recall in the section on adjectives that we can show various degrees of the descriptive qualities of adjectives: hot plate (positive) hotter plate (comparative)
coordinate adjective
Coordinate adjectives are two adjectives, of equal weight, modifying the same noun. Generally, you should separate the adjectives with a comma. A good test to use: Put the word and between the two ad…
Made-Up Adjectives
Pay special attention to those compound adjectives you make up. Most people incorrectly leave out the hyphens: product-liability lawsuit employment-discrimination claim sexual-harassment suit child-s…
Adverbs - More Words That Describe
We’ve learned about verbs. Now let’s study those words or groups of words that describe or modify verbs. We call them adverbs. Sometimes they end in ‑ly, and sometimes they don’t.
Just as adjectiv…
Hyphens and Compound Adjectives
Introduction to the Complicated Topic of Hyphenating Phrasal Adjectives
Some general observations should help you understand the principles behind the rule on hyphenating compound…
4. Demonstrative Pronouns
Four Important Words: This, That, These, and Those
These four words can serve as demonstrative pronouns or as demonstrative adjectives. This, That, These, Those - Pronouns
compound adjective
A compound adjective comprises two or more words. The unit formed then serves as an adjective. These are also called phrasal adjectives. The vast majority of writers have no clue about spelling these…


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Identify the sentence with correct use of the past perfect continuous tense:
A They have been studying for hours.
B We will be finishing our meal by the time they arrive.
C She had been working for hours before taking a break.
D He finished his book before the movie started.

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