Modifier Madge

Madge finds this very satisfying. She really likes adjectives. They don't shout, but they are strong. They don't change the noun. A ball is still a ball. But they make it special. Knowing details is important. It helps you picture things better.

Madge grew up like Mike. Her family decorated houses too. They lived in the same city. Their families even owned rival shops. Mike's parents sold chairs and curtains. Madge's parents sold paint and wallpaper. Their shops were only two blocks apart. Mike and Madge knew each other a little as kids. But they were not close friends.

Both Mike and Madge learned something important. Decoration was all about details. A wall was just a wall. A red wall was a certain wall. A velvety red wall was even more special. A velvety red wall in a fancy old room told you a lot. Each new layer of decoration made things clearer. It gave things more character.

Mike and Madge both came to GrammarForge academy. They were both twenty-one. The head of the academy, Master Clause, saw how similar they were. He put them together. He gave them offices next to each other. He told them to teach lessons together. "You two grew up the same way," he said. "You will understand each other. Students will learn about decorating words from both of you."

At first, Mike and Madge were shy. They kept to themselves. But by the end of that first year, they were friends. Really good friends. Not boyfriend-girlfriend friends, just good work friends. They have been friends for seventeen years. They share an office. They eat lunch together. They visit each other's families on holidays. Even Madge's parents and Mike's parents became friends! After years of rival shops, they now eat dinner together every few months. No more rivalry. Just real friendship.

Madge starts every first lesson the same way. She has a small wooden ball on her desk. It is painted plain white. It is about the size of a tennis ball. She puts it down carefully. "This is a ball," she says. Her voice is warm. "It is just a ball. It does what a ball does." The children watch her.

Then she pulls out a red paint-pen. She carefully adds a small red dot to the ball. The children lean forward. "Now it is a ball with red," she says. "Or, we can say, a red ball. The word red is an adjective. It describes the ball. It tells you the ball's color. The ball is still a ball. But now it has a detail." She holds it up. The red dot shines.

She writes on the board: The ball. Then she adds: The red ball. "Red answers 'what color?'" she explains. "It is an adjective."

She keeps going. The big red ball. "Big answers 'what size?'" she says. The big bouncy red ball. "Bouncy answers 'how does it feel?'" she adds. She bounces the ball gently. It makes a soft thud. The big bouncy red ball that the dog chased. "That the dog chased" tells us which ball. She makes a playful barking sound. (Clause-Chief Carla will teach you more about these later. Madge just mentions them now.) The ball gets more and more details. But it is still the same ball. It just has more information.