english grammar workbook for dummies: part 2

part 2 this book includes these contents: all you need to know about descriptions and comparison, writing with style, the part of tens. invite you to consult this book.
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english grammar workbook for dummies: part 2 Part IV<br /> <br /> All You Need to Know<br /> about Descriptions<br /> and Comparisons<br /> <br /> L<br /> <br /> In this part . . .<br /> <br /> isten to a little kid and you hear language at its most<br /> basic: Tommy want apple. Mommy go store? No nap!<br /> These “sentences” — nouns and verbs and little else —<br /> communicate effectively, but everyone who’s passed the<br /> sandbox stage needs a bit more. Enter descriptions and<br /> comparisons. Also enter complications, because quite a<br /> few common errors are associated with these elements.<br /> In this part you can practice your navigation skills, steering around such pitfalls as the choice between adjectives,<br /> adverbs, and articles. (Sweet or sweetly? Good or well? A<br /> or an? Chapter 14 explains all.) This part also tackles the<br /> placement of descriptions (Chapter 15) and the proper<br /> way to form comparisons (Chapters 16 and 17). Mastering<br /> all these topics lifts you out of the sandbox and places you<br /> permanently on the highest grammatical levels.<br /> <br /> Chapter 14<br /> <br /> Writing Good or Well:<br /> Adjectives and Adverbs<br /> In This Chapter<br /> 䊳 Choosing between adjectives and adverbs<br /> 䊳 Managing tricky pairs: good/well and bad/badly<br /> 䊳 Selecting a, an, or the<br /> <br /> D<br /> <br /> o you write good or well — and what’s the difference? Does your snack break feature<br /> a apple or an apple or even the apple? If you’re stewing over these questions, you have<br /> problems . . . specifically, the problems in this chapter. Here you can practice choosing<br /> between two types of descriptions, adjectives and adverbs. This chapter also helps you<br /> figure out whether a, an, or the is appropriate in any given situation.<br /> <br /> Distinguishing Between Adjectives and Adverbs<br /> In your writing or speaking, of course, you don’t need to stick labels on adjectives and<br /> adverbs. But you do need to send the right word to the right place in order to get the job<br /> done, the job being to communicate your meaning to the reader or listener. (You also need to<br /> punctuate strings of adjectives and adverbs correctly. For help with that topic, check out<br /> Chapter 5.) A few wonderful words (fast, short, last, and likely, for example) function as both<br /> adjectives and adverbs, but for the most part, adjectives and adverbs are not interchangeable.<br /> Adjectives describe nouns — words that name a person, thing, place, or idea. They also<br /> describe pronouns, which are words that stand in for nouns (other, someone, they, and similar words). Adjectives usually precede the word they describe, but not always. In the following sentence, the adjectives are italicized:<br /> The rubber duck with his lovely orange bill sailed over the murky bath water. (Rubber<br /> describes duck; lovely and orange describe bill; murky and bath describe water.)<br /> An adverb, on the other hand, describes a verb, usually telling how, where, when, or why an<br /> action took place. Adverbs also indicate the intensity of another descriptive word or add<br /> information about another description. In the following sentence, the adverbs are italicized:<br /> The alligator snapped furiously as the duck violently flapped his wings. (Furiously<br /> describes snapped; violently describes flapped.)<br /> Most adverbs end in -ly, but some adverbs vary, and adjectives can end with any letter in<br /> the alphabet, except maybe Q or Z. If you’re not sure which form is an adjective and which<br /> is an adverb, check the dictionary. Most definitions include both forms with handy labels<br /> telling you what’s what.<br /> <br /> 180<br /> <br /> Part IV: All You Need to Know about Descriptions and Comparisons<br /> Here I hit you with a description dilemma: which word is correct? The parentheses contain<br /> both an adjective and an adverb. Circle your selection.<br /> <br /> Q. The water level dropped (slow/slowly), but the (intense/intensely) alligator-duck quarrel<br /> went on and on.<br /> <br /> A. slowly, intense. How did the water drop? The word you want from the first parentheses<br /> must describe an action, so the adverb slowly wins the prize. Next up is a description of a<br /> quarrel, a thing, so the adjective intense does the job.<br /> 1. The alligator, a (loyal/loyally) member of the Union of Fictional Creatures, (sure/surely)<br /> resented the duck’s presence near the drainpipe.<br /> 2. “How dare you invade my (personal/personally) plumbing?” inquired the alligator (angry/<br /> angrily).<br /> 3. “You don’t have to be (nasty/nastily)!” replied the duck.<br /> 4. The two creatures (swift/swiftly) circled each other, both looking for a (clear/clearly)<br /> advantage.<br /> 5. “You are (extreme/extremely) territorial about these pipes,” added the duck.<br /> 6. The alligator retreated (fearful/fearfully) as the duck quacked (sharp/sharply).<br /> 7. Just then a (poor/poorly) dressed figure appeared in the doorway.<br /> 8. The creature whipped out a bullhorn and a sword that was (near/nearly) five feet in length.<br /> 9. When he screamed into the bullhorn, the sound bounced (easy, easily) off the tiled walls.<br /> 10. “Listen!” he ordered (forceful/forcefully). “The alligator should retreat to the sewer and<br /> the duck to the shelf.”<br /> 11. Ha ...