Adjectives Describe Worksheet

Adjectives describe nouns. They tell a reader about size, shape, colour, texture, smell or sound, so a pumpkin becomes an enormous pumpkin and a room becomes a silent room. Third graders are expected to choose describing words on purpose and to say which noun a describing word belongs to, and those two skills are what this Adjectives Describe Worksheet practises. The first half asks the child to pick the adjective that fits a sentence; the second half turns the question around and asks which noun the adjective is telling about.

Part A puts six describing words — enormous, golden, prickly, silent, smooth and sweet — in a word bank at the top of the page, with six sentences below it. Each sentence carries a clue that only one of the six words can answer: a cactus has sharp spines, ripe peaches fill a kitchen with a smell, a pumpkin too heavy to lift is not merely large. The child reads, chooses and writes the word on a full-size line. In Part B the child underlines the adjective in each of three sentences and then writes the noun it tells about, which is the step that turns recognising a describing word into understanding what it is doing. Used as a 3rd grade adjectives worksheet, this page works as a grammar warm-up, as independent work at a writing centre, or as a quick check before a parts-of-speech quiz. The answer key is on the second page.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• A six-word bank with six sentences to complete
• Three sentences to underline and label with the noun described

This Adjectives Describe Worksheet helps children in three ways. First, every sentence carries a clue rather than a blank that any word would fill, so the child has to read for meaning instead of guessing — the spines, the smell and the weight each rule the other five words out. Second, Part B makes the adjective–noun link visible: a child who can underline shallow and then write creek has understood that a describing word always points at something. Third, all six words sit on the page at once, so the child weighs describing words against each other, which is exactly what real writing asks for.

Keep the describing words going after the page is finished. Walk through the house and take turns adding one adjective to whatever you point at — the wobbly chair, the cold window. Read a favourite chapter book and stop on a page to find an adjective and name the noun it describes. Play a guessing game in the car where one person gives three adjectives and the other names the thing. Ask your child to write one sentence about supper using two describing words, then read it aloud at the table and try swapping in stronger ones.

Related Resources

• Writing Adjectives Worksheet
• Sorting Adjectives Worksheet
• Adjectives Pictures Worksheet
• Adjective Song (Have Fun Teaching)