Unit 3: Reading More – Describing
In Unit 3, you'll learn how adjectives are used to add a description to the things we read and write. Building your vocabulary with descriptive words will help you explain yourself more clearly and understand more of what you read. In academic reading and writing, it's important to know many describing words to both understand what we read and write for a college-level audience. In this unit you'll practice recognizing and using adjectives and adverbs, and see how these words can offer more detail about a topic. This unit concludes with a WebQuest activity where you'll build your vocabulary of describing words.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- enlarge your vocabulary of Standard American English terms commonly used in academic contexts.
3.1: Understanding Descriptions
Descriptions add detail to what we read and help the reader "see" what the writer is thinking. When we know how different descriptive words are used, we can better understand their meaning and build our vocabulary. In this article, you will read about descriptions and adjectives. An adjective is a word that describes a noun (a person, a place, or a thing). Read this article for an understanding of how adjectives give us information about something so we can better understand it.
Similar to an adjective, an adverb describes a verb and offers the reader more information about an action. As a writer, adjectives and adverbs let you give your reader more information so your ideas are clearer. This article discusses how adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, and how adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
3.2: Do I Use an Adjective or an Adverb?
Since adjectives and adverbs are both describing words, you can use them the same way, right? Nope! Adjectives and adverbs have different uses and tell the reader different things. Knowing when each is used helps you understand what you're reading and write more clearly. Building your vocabulary of describing words will also help you use them correctly. Read this article about comparing adjectives and adverbs, and complete the exercise at the end to practice using adjectives and adverbs correctly.
This exercise is called a WebQuest. To complete this activity, you’ll review three links related to writing a business plan, complete three tasks that require descriptions, and reflect on what you learn. These tasks will help you build a stronger vocabulary by showing you how descriptions can help you learn new words.
Unit 3 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.