PLAIN ADJECTIVES ARE GOOD
Naked nouns alone can convey primitive meaning.
Adjectives “clothe and dress up” naked nouns and help turn them into more rounded communication just as adverbs do for verbs.
Both types of modifiers are essential for intelligent and fully informed communication. Any information to the contrary stems from a poor and inadequate knowledge of language, its growth and its purpose.
A naked noun, singular or plural, is little more than a grunt. Note how adjectives create a fuller form of communication.
Naked Nouns With adjective With several adjectives
1 - girl little girl little curly haired girl
2 - boy baby boy six month old baby boy
3 - mother alert mother sharp eyed, alert mother
4 - father strong father strong, protective father
5 - enemies mounted enemies savage, mounted enemies
6 - horse gray horse gray, lead horse
7 - spear sturdy spear sturdy, steel tipped spear
8 - river wide river wide, shallow river
9 - shore safe shore safe, distant shore
10 - relatives close relatives several close relatives
11 - house warm house cheerful, warm house
12 - food delicious food fresh, delicious food
You be the judge of the following:
Question: Does adding an adjective to a noun in the preceding list make a difference in terms of communicating an idea? Writers have to examine with critical and skeptical eyes information that “experts” give saying adjectives serve no purpose.
Question: Where there are multiple adjectives, does it make a difference if one of the adjectives is stripped out?
Question: What purpose is served by stripping down a sentence or passage?
Here is an example of the law of unintended consequences if writers follow a blanket commandment to avoid adjectives. Should the following also be avoided? Where does a writer draw the line?
This that these those a the few both another all either several each an what which thin any some fat another most many red white blue one two three
Writers must be proactive. Ask why and check out statements that are anointed as truth. Expect multiple examples that you can inspect at your leisure.
Words and language are a writer’s stock in trade just as athletic ability and proper sports equipment is an athlete’s stock in trade. They have to learn the rules, which exercises and diet are good and so on.
For their stock in trade, writers might want to refresh their knowledge of English and language even if it requires buying a grammar book to review rules from a while ago. Using them and knowing why you are using them offer some protection against suspect advice.
Some Advisors have those attending their lectures at various venues turn in short compositions that are stripped of adjectives. They claim it is the way to write.
But that is akin to riding a bicycle with out holding on to the handlebars. It can be done, but it doesn’t prove that it is a better way to ride a bike. Further more, just as riding a bike without holding on in no way proves it is the ONLY way to ride a bike, writing a statement without using adjectives in no way proves it is the a ONLY way to write effectively.
The claim is made that beginning writers use too many adjectives. What is too many?
1- Christine was a tall, beautiful, willowy girl.
She was tall. She was beautiful. She was graceful.
That is what the author wants to convey - a ballet or model type girl. Which adjective is “unnecessary”?
2- They owned a huge, sprawling Victorian house.
Huge means what it says. Sprawling means it was stretched out more than up and Victorian is Victorian not Colonial or any other type of type of architecture. So what does a writer do who is seeking informative advice? Do what athletes do – practice, practice, practice. That translates into reading things with a sharper eye.
A writer’s practice consists of reading the really good authors, those whose works have endured for twenty or so years. Read to see how they use language, how they inject rhythm and cadence in their work. That is probably how they learned.
For the sake of argument, look at the daily paper. Choose a front page story and strip out all of the adjectives. If we do that with a report of the 2012 Grammy Awards we find –
A NIGHT OF WINNERS
AND A TRAGIC LOSS
Stripped of all adjectives the headline reads:
NIGHT OF WINNERS AND LOSS.
All of the other words including a and the are adjectives.
The text of the lead paragraph of the story is as follows:
British pop singer Adele dominated the Grammy Awards on Sunday in a ceremony that was transformed into an emotion packed memorial to Whitney Houston who died a day earlier at the age of 48.
Once the adjectives are stripped out, we get the following:
(Don’t forget, numbers are adjectives, too, and 48 means 48 years old)
Adele dominated Awards on Sunday in ceremony that was transformed into memorial to Whitney Houston who died day earlier at age of.
If the adjective clauses are also removed, little is left.
In the third paragraph we read:
The rapper led the crowd in a prayer for the six-time Grammy winner and her family, calling Houston “our fallen sister.”
Stripped down this becomes:
Rapper led crowd in prayer for winner and her family, calling Houston our sister.
The passages are understandable and would give credit to any cave man or cave woman who was beginning to formulate the intricacies of language.
As an aside, if we follow the advice of Dubious Advisors who rail against both adverbs and adjectives, what would the lead paragraph above look like?
Adele dominated Awards that was transformed to Whitney Houston who died at age of.
That is the legacy of broad, sweeping statements or the law of unintended consequences.
Naked nouns alone can convey primitive meaning.
Adjectives “clothe and dress up” naked nouns and help turn them into more rounded communication just as adverbs do for verbs.
Both types of modifiers are essential for intelligent and fully informed communication. Any information to the contrary stems from a poor and inadequate knowledge of language, its growth and its purpose.
A naked noun, singular or plural, is little more than a grunt. Note how adjectives create a fuller form of communication.
Naked Nouns With adjective With several adjectives
1 - girl little girl little curly haired girl
2 - boy baby boy six month old baby boy
3 - mother alert mother sharp eyed, alert mother
4 - father strong father strong, protective father
5 - enemies mounted enemies savage, mounted enemies
6 - horse gray horse gray, lead horse
7 - spear sturdy spear sturdy, steel tipped spear
8 - river wide river wide, shallow river
9 - shore safe shore safe, distant shore
10 - relatives close relatives several close relatives
11 - house warm house cheerful, warm house
12 - food delicious food fresh, delicious food
You be the judge of the following:
Question: Does adding an adjective to a noun in the preceding list make a difference in terms of communicating an idea? Writers have to examine with critical and skeptical eyes information that “experts” give saying adjectives serve no purpose.
Question: Where there are multiple adjectives, does it make a difference if one of the adjectives is stripped out?
Question: What purpose is served by stripping down a sentence or passage?
Here is an example of the law of unintended consequences if writers follow a blanket commandment to avoid adjectives. Should the following also be avoided? Where does a writer draw the line?
This that these those a the few both another all either several each an what which thin any some fat another most many red white blue one two three
Writers must be proactive. Ask why and check out statements that are anointed as truth. Expect multiple examples that you can inspect at your leisure.
Words and language are a writer’s stock in trade just as athletic ability and proper sports equipment is an athlete’s stock in trade. They have to learn the rules, which exercises and diet are good and so on.
For their stock in trade, writers might want to refresh their knowledge of English and language even if it requires buying a grammar book to review rules from a while ago. Using them and knowing why you are using them offer some protection against suspect advice.
Some Advisors have those attending their lectures at various venues turn in short compositions that are stripped of adjectives. They claim it is the way to write.
But that is akin to riding a bicycle with out holding on to the handlebars. It can be done, but it doesn’t prove that it is a better way to ride a bike. Further more, just as riding a bike without holding on in no way proves it is the ONLY way to ride a bike, writing a statement without using adjectives in no way proves it is the a ONLY way to write effectively.
The claim is made that beginning writers use too many adjectives. What is too many?
1- Christine was a tall, beautiful, willowy girl.
She was tall. She was beautiful. She was graceful.
That is what the author wants to convey - a ballet or model type girl. Which adjective is “unnecessary”?
2- They owned a huge, sprawling Victorian house.
Huge means what it says. Sprawling means it was stretched out more than up and Victorian is Victorian not Colonial or any other type of type of architecture. So what does a writer do who is seeking informative advice? Do what athletes do – practice, practice, practice. That translates into reading things with a sharper eye.
A writer’s practice consists of reading the really good authors, those whose works have endured for twenty or so years. Read to see how they use language, how they inject rhythm and cadence in their work. That is probably how they learned.
For the sake of argument, look at the daily paper. Choose a front page story and strip out all of the adjectives. If we do that with a report of the 2012 Grammy Awards we find –
A NIGHT OF WINNERS
AND A TRAGIC LOSS
Stripped of all adjectives the headline reads:
NIGHT OF WINNERS AND LOSS.
All of the other words including a and the are adjectives.
The text of the lead paragraph of the story is as follows:
British pop singer Adele dominated the Grammy Awards on Sunday in a ceremony that was transformed into an emotion packed memorial to Whitney Houston who died a day earlier at the age of 48.
Once the adjectives are stripped out, we get the following:
(Don’t forget, numbers are adjectives, too, and 48 means 48 years old)
Adele dominated Awards on Sunday in ceremony that was transformed into memorial to Whitney Houston who died day earlier at age of.
If the adjective clauses are also removed, little is left.
In the third paragraph we read:
The rapper led the crowd in a prayer for the six-time Grammy winner and her family, calling Houston “our fallen sister.”
Stripped down this becomes:
Rapper led crowd in prayer for winner and her family, calling Houston our sister.
The passages are understandable and would give credit to any cave man or cave woman who was beginning to formulate the intricacies of language.
As an aside, if we follow the advice of Dubious Advisors who rail against both adverbs and adjectives, what would the lead paragraph above look like?
Adele dominated Awards that was transformed to Whitney Houston who died at age of.
That is the legacy of broad, sweeping statements or the law of unintended consequences.