Adverbs and Adjectives

Adverbs and
adjectives
Adjectives describe the qualities
of people and things. Words like
poor, blue and interesting are
adjectives. Adverbs indicate the
time, place, manner, degree or
frequency of an event or action.
Adverbs have many different
functions and can have different
positions in a clause.
Differences
An adjective is a word that describes nouns,
such as large or beautiful, and an adverb is a
word that describes verbs, adjectives, and
other adverbs, such as silently or really.
That’s the basic difference between
adjectives and adverbs, but there’s more to
it than that
Adjectives describe only nouns, including
pronouns. So if you have a noun like dog, you
can give more details about it by adding
01.
adjectives.
the smelly, wet, brown dog
Sometimes multiple words work together to
describe a noun. This is called an adjective
phrase, and you can treat these groups of words
the same as individual adjectives.
Adjectives and adverbs are • Quantum physics is too complicated to

understand
often confused in grammar

because they’re both words
that describe other words. The
difference between adjectives
and adverbs is which types of
words they describe. Adverbs commonly describe verbs. They add
details to show how an action is done, as with
02.
the adverbs quickly or slowly, or the frequency
of the action, as with the adverbs often or
sometimes.
She worked quietly all afternoon.
He always showers after the gym.
Additionally, special adverbs like really
or very can also describe other adverbs.
When adverbs are used like this, they
usually describe the degree of intensity
or frequency.
She worked very quietly all
afternoon.
He almost always showers after the
gym.
Likewise, adverbs can also describe
adjectives, again typically specifying the
degree of intensity or frequency.
The often rude manager eats lunch
alone.
The very large man sat in a really small
chair.
In the last example, the adjective
largedescribes the noun man, and the
adverb very describes the adjective large.
Similarly, the adverb really describes the
adjective small, which describes the noun
chair.
The best way to tell the difference
between an adjective and an adverb
is to identify the word it describes. If
the word being described is a noun,
then it’s an adjective; if the word
being described is a verb, adjective,
or another adverb, then it’s an
adverb.
Sometimes you can use a shortcut to
tell the difference between
adjectives and adverbs. If you see a
word with –ly at the end, it’s usually
an adverb.
For example, words Because adjectives and adverbs are
so closely related, some root words
like curly, elderly, can be used for both. That makes it
easy to turn some adjectives into
friendly, and lovely adverbs and vice versa.
For many adjectives, all you have to
are all adjectives that do is add -ly to the end to make an
end in –ly adverb.
Be careful,
However, most words ending Adjective Adverb
in –ly are adverbs, and Loud Loudly
remembering this can help

you distinguish between
though, because perfect
hopeful
perfectly
hopefully
adjectives and adverbs that this isn’t always

have the same root word.
true.
If the adjective ends in a –y, drop

adjective: calm
the –yand add –ily to make an
The calm morning passed. adverb.
adverb: calmly Adjective Adverb
easy easily
The morning calmly happy happily
passed. lucky luckily
If the adjective ends in –ic, add -ally to make
an adverb.
Adjective Adverb
specific specifically
tragic tragically
energetic energetically
If the adjective ends in -tle or -ble, replace

the –e with a –y to make an adverb
Adjective. Adverb
gentle gently
comfortable. comfortably
terrible. terribly
Adjectives that end in –ly, like silly, ugly, or friendly, don’t
have acceptable adverb counterparts. You’d have to use
a synonym or phrase the sentence a different way.
Salvador introduced himself friendlily.
Salvador introduced himself amicably.
Salvador introduced himself in a friendly way.

Moreover, the common adjective
good has an irregular adverb
counterpart: well. This can lead to
some accidental mistakes, so
always be aware of which type of
word you’re describing.
She played well last night.
She played a good game last
night.
Identical adjective and adverb examples
There’s another source of potential adjective vs.
adverb confusion: Some words stay the same whether
they’re used as an adjective or an adverb. It can be
difficult to figure out how the words below are used, so
pay special attention to the word they describe to
determine whether they’re adjectives or adverbs.
hard
fast
rough
straight
wrong
far
lively
left, right
inside, outside
early, late
daily, weekly, monthly, yearly
first, second, third, etc.

Adverbs and Adjectives

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Adverbs and

Adjectives and adverbs are • Quantum physics is too complicated to

often confused in grammar

remembering this can help

adjectives and adverbs that this isn’t always

If the adjective ends in a –y, drop

If the adjective ends in -tle or -ble, replace

Salvador introduced himself amicably.

Salvador introduced himself in a friendly way.

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