JBHM Lesson 21: Analyzing Modifiers

Mrs. ClineEnglish I

Coordinate Adjectives

It was a cold, dreary Christmas Eve and the soldiers sat huddled in their damp, bleak trenches. The frozen, barren wasteland between the trenches did nothing to cheer the men. Even the experienced infantry officers felt the dull, depressing day weigh them down.

• Coordinate adjectives are adjectives of equal rank that modify the same noun. A comma is placed between coordinate adjectives.– To determine whether adjectives are coordinate,

try placing the word and between them. Also if the order of the adjectives can be reversed without changing the meaning of the sentence, then the adjectives are coordinate or equal.

In general, a comma is not needed after numbers and adjectives of size, shape, and age.• Example 1: It was a cold, dreary Christmas

Eve…• Example 2: Even the experienced infantry

officers…• Example 3: They saw a big round moon

hanging in the sky.

Directions

• The sentence strip you have contains a misplaced modifier. Fold a piece of typing paper in half and tape the sentence to the top half. Underline the misplaced modifier.

• On the bottom half of your paper, correctly rewrite the sentence.