Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives
Adjectives Modify Nouns • Adjectives are placed directly before a noun: Examples: Tom is an excellent singer. I bought a comfortable chair. She's thinking about buying a new house. • Adjectives are also used in simple sentences with the verb 'to be'. In this case, the adjective describes the subject of the sentence: Examples: Jack is happy. Peter was very tired. Mary'll be excited when you tell her. • Adjectives are used with sense verbs or verbs or appearance (feel, taste, smell, sound, appear and seem) to modify the noun which comes before the verb: Examples: The fish tasted awful. Did you see Peter? He seemed very upset. I'm afraid the meat smelled rotten.
Adverbs
Adverbs Modify Verbs, Adjectives and Other Adverbs • Adverbs are easily recognized because the end in '-ly' (with a few exceptions!): Examples: Adjective -> careful / Adverb -> carefully Adjective -> quick / Adverb -> quickly • Adverbs are often used at the end of a sentence to modify the verb: Examples: Jack drove carelessly. Tom played the match effortlessly. Jason complained about his classes constantly. • Adverbs are used to modify adjectives: Examples: They seemed extremely satisfied. She paid increasingly high prices. I was suddenly surprised by Alice. • Adverbs are also used to modify other adverbs: Examples: The people in the line moved incredibly quickly. She wrote the report unusually neatly.
LINKING VERB
Some verbs can only be used with adjectives, others might change their meaning when used with an adverb.
|verb |used with an adjective |used with an adverb |
|look |look good (= appearance) |look well (= healthy) |
|feel
Adjectives Modify Nouns • Adjectives are placed directly before a noun: Examples: Tom is an excellent singer. I bought a comfortable chair. She's thinking about buying a new house. • Adjectives are also used in simple sentences with the verb 'to be'. In this case, the adjective describes the subject of the sentence: Examples: Jack is happy. Peter was very tired. Mary'll be excited when you tell her. • Adjectives are used with sense verbs or verbs or appearance (feel, taste, smell, sound, appear and seem) to modify the noun which comes before the verb: Examples: The fish tasted awful. Did you see Peter? He seemed very upset. I'm afraid the meat smelled rotten.
Adverbs
Adverbs Modify Verbs, Adjectives and Other Adverbs • Adverbs are easily recognized because the end in '-ly' (with a few exceptions!): Examples: Adjective -> careful / Adverb -> carefully Adjective -> quick / Adverb -> quickly • Adverbs are often used at the end of a sentence to modify the verb: Examples: Jack drove carelessly. Tom played the match effortlessly. Jason complained about his classes constantly. • Adverbs are used to modify adjectives: Examples: They seemed extremely satisfied. She paid increasingly high prices. I was suddenly surprised by Alice. • Adverbs are also used to modify other adverbs: Examples: The people in the line moved incredibly quickly. She wrote the report unusually neatly.
LINKING VERB
Some verbs can only be used with adjectives, others might change their meaning when used with an adverb.
|verb |used with an adjective |used with an adverb |
|look |look good (= appearance) |look well (= healthy) |
|feel