Reviewing Pet Descriptions
2023-12-08
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1A few weeks ago, we asked our readers and listeners to describe their pets.
2We asked them to practice using multiple adjectives in a certain order.
3One reader, Maria from Argentina, wrote to us about her dog, Ceferina.
4In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will review Maria's message describing her dog. And we will give some grammar suggestions.
5I have five dogs, three cats and one rooster.
6I love animals very much but I am going to describe only one of them.
7My female dog called Ceferina.
8She is a senior big dog.
9I meet her at the street.
10She was very ill and sad. Now is a cute dog.
11Her colors is black and her eyes brown.
12She is a friendly dog.
13She looks like brave but she is lovely dog.
14Review of Maria's message
15Let's start with the first two sentences.
16I have five dogs, three cats and one rooster.
17I love animals very much but I am going to describe only one of them.
18These two sentences are almost perfect.
19Maria uses number adjectives to describe how many pets she has. Maria has nine pets total! She then says that she will only choose one.
20We suggest adding "my" before "animals" because Maria then refers to her animals as "them" in the second half of the sentence.
21The choice "my" is a more specific choice. We also suggest adding a comma before "but" to separate the two clauses.
22I love my animals very much, but I am going to describe only one of them.
23Let's move onto the next two sentences.
24My female dog called Ceferina. She is a senior big dog.
25In the first sentence, Maria describes the gender of the dog. We recommend adding "is" before "called."
26This is a passive sentence, so we must use a form of "be" plus the verb in the past participle form.
27My female dog is called Ceferina.
28The next sentence has two adjectives: "senior" and "big."
29This is where we should pay attention to the order of adjectives. When we use two or more adjectives from different categories, we must order them a certain way in the sentence.
30The order of the adjective categories is as follows: quantity, opinion, size, age, shape or length, color, origin, material, and purpose.
31We recommend changing the order of the adjectives "senior" and "big" based on the order of adjectives rule.
32Size adjectives come before age adjectives.
33She is a big senior dog.
34Note that we do not need a comma between the adjectives because these are cumulative adjectives.
35In other words, they build on each other.
36They are from different adjective categories so they cannot be separated by a comma.
37Let's look at the next few sentences.
38I meet her at the street. She was very ill and sad. Now is a cute dog.
39First, instead of "meet," you can use the verb "find" to say that you first discovered or saw your dog.
40You should use the past tense of "find" because you are talking about a time in the past.
41Next, we suggest changing the preposition "at" to either the preposition "in" or "on."
42"In the street" means that you found her in the middle of the street.
43"In" is used for talking about an enclosed space. "On the street" means that you found her somewhere along the street. "On" is used for general location.
44Maria did a great job separating the adjectives "ill" and "sad" with the conjunction "and."
45These are opinion adjectives and carry equal importance in the sentence.
46This makes them coordinating adjectives, so we can use "and" or only a comma to separate them. We can also change their order and keep the same meaning.
47In the next sentence, we need a subject. We can use the pronoun "she."
48We also suggest adding a comma after "now."
49I found her on the street.
50She was very ill and sad.
51Now, she is a cute dog.
52And finally, we have the last three sentences.
53Her colors is black and her eyes brown. She is a friendly dog.
54She looks like brave but she is lovely dog.
55In the first sentence, we have some subject-verb agreement issues.
56Since Maria's dog is black, "color" can be singular.
57We need the verb "are" in the second half of that sentence to go after "eyes."
58Her color is black and her eyes are brown.
59Finally, in the last sentence we suggest a different word for "brave."
60We want another word that is the opposite of "lovely." We could say that Ceferina looks "fierce," which is like "brave" and "intense" combined.
61We can also remove "like" because we are not making a comparison, just a contrast.
62And finally, we need to add the indefinite article "a" before dog.
63She looks fierce, but she is a lovely dog.
64Today, we looked at Maria's message about her dog, Ceferina.
65We talked about the order of adjectives, commas, and subject verb agreement.
66We learned about coordinating and cumulative adjectives and their connection to the order of adjectives.
67Thank you, Maria, for telling us about Ceferina! We are happy she found such a loving home.
68I'm Faith Pirlo.
69And I'm Anna Mateo.
1A few weeks ago, we asked our readers and listeners to describe their pets. We asked them to practice using multiple adjectives in a certain order. One reader, Maria from Argentina, wrote to us about her dog, Ceferina. 2In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will review Maria's message describing her dog. And we will give some grammar suggestions. 3Maria's Message about her Pet 4I have five dogs, three cats and one rooster. I love animals very much but I am going to describe only one of them. My female dog called Ceferina. She is a senior big dog. 5I meet her at the street. She was very ill and sad. Now is a cute dog. 6Her colors is black and her eyes brown. She is a friendly dog. She looks like brave but she is lovely dog. 7Review of Maria's message 8Let's start with the first two sentences. 9I have five dogs, three cats and one rooster. I love animals very much but I am going to describe only one of them. 10These two sentences are almost perfect. Maria uses number adjectives to describe how many pets she has. Maria has nine pets total! She then says that she will only choose one. 11We suggest adding "my" before "animals" because Maria then refers to her animals as "them" in the second half of the sentence. The choice "my" is a more specific choice. We also suggest adding a comma before "but" to separate the two clauses. 12I love my animals very much, but I am going to describe only one of them. 13Let's move onto the next two sentences. 14My female dog called Ceferina. She is a senior big dog. 15In the first sentence, Maria describes the gender of the dog. We recommend adding "is" before "called." This is a passive sentence, so we must use a form of "be" plus the verb in the past participle form. 16My female dog is called Ceferina. 17The next sentence has two adjectives: "senior" and "big." This is where we should pay attention to the order of adjectives. When we use two or more adjectives from different categories, we must order them a certain way in the sentence. 18The order of the adjective categories is as follows: quantity, opinion, size, age, shape or length, color, origin, material, and purpose. 19We recommend changing the order of the adjectives "senior" and "big" based on the order of adjectives rule. Size adjectives come before age adjectives. 20She is a big senior dog. 21Note that we do not need a comma between the adjectives because these are cumulative adjectives. In other words, they build on each other. They are from different adjective categories so they cannot be separated by a comma. 22Let's look at the next few sentences. 23I meet her at the street. She was very ill and sad. Now is a cute dog. 24First, instead of "meet," you can use the verb "find" to say that you first discovered or saw your dog. You should use the past tense of "find" because you are talking about a time in the past. 25Next, we suggest changing the preposition "at" to either the preposition "in" or "on." 26"In the street" means that you found her in the middle of the street. "In" is used for talking about an enclosed space. "On the street" means that you found her somewhere along the street. "On" is used for general location. 27Maria did a great job separating the adjectives "ill" and "sad" with the conjunction "and." These are opinion adjectives and carry equal importance in the sentence. This makes them coordinating adjectives, so we can use "and" or only a comma to separate them. We can also change their order and keep the same meaning. 28In the next sentence, we need a subject. We can use the pronoun "she." We also suggest adding a comma after "now." 29I found her on the street. She was very ill and sad. Now, she is a cute dog. 30And finally, we have the last three sentences. 31Her colors is black and her eyes brown. She is a friendly dog. She looks like brave but she is lovely dog. 32In the first sentence, we have some subject-verb agreement issues. Since Maria's dog is black, "color" can be singular. 33We need the verb "are" in the second half of that sentence to go after "eyes." 34Her color is black and her eyes are brown. 35Finally, in the last sentence we suggest a different word for "brave." We want another word that is the opposite of "lovely." We could say that Ceferina looks "fierce," which is like "brave" and "intense" combined. 36We can also remove "like" because we are not making a comparison, just a contrast. And finally, we need to add the indefinite article "a" before dog. 37She looks fierce, but she is a lovely dog. 38Final thoughts 39Today, we looked at Maria's message about her dog, Ceferina. We talked about the order of adjectives, commas, and subject verb agreement. We learned about coordinating and cumulative adjectives and their connection to the order of adjectives. 40Thank you, Maria, for telling us about Ceferina! We are happy she found such a loving home. 41I'm Faith Pirlo. 42And I'm Anna Mateo. 43Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 44________________________________________________ 45rooster - n. an adult male chicken 46cute - adj. having a pleasing, youthful appearance 47gender - n. the state of being male or female 48passive - adj. the quality of not being active or not taking action and letting things happen 49origin - n. the place that a person or thing comes from 50clause - n. (grammar) a part of a sentence that has its own subject and verb 51What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. Write to us at learningenglish@voanews.com or leave us a comment below. 52We want to hear from you. 53Our comment policy is here.