Adjective or adverb?
In English most (but not all) adverbs have a different form (spelling) than their corresponding adjective. It is important, therefore, that you know whether you need an adjective or an adverb in the sentences you want to say or write.
Generally, adjectives are used to describe nouns and adverbs are used with verbs to say how things are done.
In the following examples, the adjectives are red and the adverbs are blue:
- He's a beautiful singer.
- He sings beautifully.
- She's a very quick runner.
- She can run very quickly.
- He's a careless writer.
- He writes carelessly.
- She's a good worker.
- She works well.
Adverbs are also used to give extra information about adjectives (or other adverbs), as in the following examples:
- I am extremely happy in my new job.
- She's in hospital with a seriously injured neck.
- It's incredibly easy to make a mistake when knitting.
- The girl climbed dangerously high up the tree.
- Because of the thick fog I drove extremely carefully.
After certain verbs (e.g. be, become, seem, look, taste, smell, etc.) the adjective, not the adverb, is used:
- She doesn't seem happy today.
- Don't be stupid!
- This meat tastes bad.
- Those flowers smell strange.
0 Comments