✏️ WritingGrade 3Lesson 3
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Expand Sentences with Adjectives and Adverbs

How to use: Download the PDF to print the worksheet. Then use this page to repeat activities and check answers.

Learning Objectives

  • 1Add adjectives to describe nouns
  • 2Add adverbs to describe verbs
  • 3Expand a plain sentence so it is more vivid and specific
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Mini Lesson

A plain sentence tells the reader what happened. An expanded sentence tells them what happened, how it looked, and how it felt. Two types of words do that job: adjectives and adverbs.

Adjectives — Describe Nouns

  • A noun is a person, place, animal, or thing.
  • An adjective tells what kind, how many, or which one.
  • Plain: The dog barked.
  • Expanded: The small, brown dog barked.
  • Ask: What kind of dog? What color? How big?

Adverbs — Describe Verbs

  • A verb is an action or state.
  • An adverb tells how, when, where, or how often the action happens.
  • Plain: The dog barked.
  • Expanded: The dog barked loudly.
  • Many adverbs end in –ly: quickly, carefully, softly, fiercely.

Expand in Two Steps

  • Step 1: Find the nouns — add adjectives before them.
  • Step 2: Find the verbs — add adverbs near them.
  • Result: The small, brown dog barked loudly at the old wooden gate.
Vocabulary
Adjective
A word that describes a noun — tells what kind, how many, or which onee.g. The tiny yellow butterfly landed.
Adverb
A word that describes a verb — tells how, when, where, or how oftene.g. She ran quickly down the hill.
Noun
A person, place, animal, or thinge.g. dog, park, elephant, book
Verb
An action or state-of-being worde.g. run, jump, sing, is
Plain sentence expanded with adjectives and adverbsTwo boxes: the top shows a plain sentence about a dog, the bottom shows the same sentence expanded with adjectives and adverbs highlighted.Expanding a SentencePlain sentence:The dog barked at the gate.tells what happened — but nothing moreExpanded sentence:The small, brown dog barkedloudly at the old wooden gate.adjectives (blue) + adverb (orange) added
A plain sentence (top) expanded with adjectives in blue and an adverb in orange (bottom) to create a more vivid, specific sentence.
Adjective and adverb reference chartTwo side-by-side panels: left shows adjective examples describing nouns, right shows adverb examples describing verbs.Describing WordsAdjectivesdescribe NOUNSwhat kind / how manytinyfiercegoldenmuddythreewoodenAdverbsdescribe VERBShow / when / wherequicklysoftlycarefullyalwaysnearbyfiercely
Adjectives (blue) describe nouns — what kind, how many. Adverbs (orange) describe verbs — how, when, or where.
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Ask yourself: What type of word is an adjective and what type of word is an adverb — and what does each one describe?

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Guided Practice

Choose 3 sentences from the Trace menu and copy them neatly on paper. Then use the Tracing Pad to practice words, sentences, and marks.

Tracing Pad

Tip: As you trace each sentence, underline the adjectives and circle the adverbs to practise spotting them.

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Exercises

Tap the word chips to build each expanded sentence in order. Each sentence includes adjectives to describe nouns and an adverb to describe the verb.

Sentence 1

Sentence 2

Sentence 3

Sentence 4

Sentence 5

1. What type of word does an adjective describe?

2. What type of word does an adverb describe?

3. Which word is the adjective in "The golden leaves fell from the tree"?

4. Which word is the adverb in "She quietly whispered the secret"?

5. How do adjectives improve a sentence?

6. Which ending do many adverbs have?

7. Where are adjectives usually placed in a sentence?

8. What is the correct two-step process for expanding a plain sentence?

9. Which question does an adverb answer about a verb?

10. In "An enormous whale swam past," which word is an adjective?

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Assessment

Parent / Teacher Checklist

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