Blossom Dearie
Unpack Your Adjectives
Got home from camping last spring
Saw people, places, and things
We barely had arrived
Friends asked us to describe
The people, places, and every last thing
So we unpacked our adjectives

I unpacked "frustrating" first
Reached in and found the word "worst"
Then I picked "soggy" and
Next I picked "foggy" and
Then I was ready to tell them my tale
'Cause I'd unpacked my adjectives

Adjectives are words you use to really describe things
Handy words to carry around
Days are sunny, or they're rainy
Boys are dumb or else they're brainy
Adjectives can show you which way

Adjectives are often used to help us compare things
To say how thin, how fat, how short, how tall
Girls who're tall get taller
Boys who're small get smaller
'Til one is the tallest and the other's the smallest of all
We hiked along without care
Then we ran into a bear
He was a hairy bear
He was a scary bear
We beat a hasty retreat from his lair
And described him with adjectives
(Whoa! Boy, that was one big, ugly bear!)

[Spoken interlude]
You can make even adjectives out of the other parts of speech, like verbs and nouns
All you have to do is tack on an ending like "-ic" or "-ish" or "-ary."
For example, this boy can grow up to be a huge man, but still have a boyish face
"Boy" is a noun, but the ending "-ish" makes it an adjective, boyish
That describes the huge man's face. Get it?

Next time you go on a trip
Remember this little tip
The minute you get back
They'll ask you this and that
You can describe people, places, and things
Simply unpack your adjectives
You can do it with adjectives
Tell 'em about it with adjectives
You can shout it with adjectives