Across the Disciplines
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Adjectives and adverbs modify, limit, or describe other words. Adjectives describe or modify nouns or pronouns. Adverbs describe or modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
Adjectives:
The green grass is tall. (Here, green describes the noun grass.)
Adverbs:
Daniel dances gracefully. (Gracefully describes the verb dances. How does Daniel dance? He dances gracefully.)
Many adjectives can be changed into adverbs by adding an ly ending. The chart below shows some examples.
| Adjectives | Adverbs |
| normal | normally |
| awful | awfully |
| quick | quickly |
| intense | intensely |
| bad | badly |
| poor | poorly |
| real | really |
A normal winter in Los Angeles is quick and not very intense.
(All three of these adjectives modify the noun "winter.")
She normally moves quickly.
(The adverbs "normally" and "quickly" modify the verb "moves.")It was an intensely boring game.
(The adverb "intensely" modifies the adjective "boring.")
The Queen whispered very softly.
(The adverb "very" modifies the adverb "softly.")
Exercise:Circle the correct adjective or adverb in parentheses. Remember that adjectives modify nouns or pronouns; adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.
1. Have you ever seen (real, really) emeralds?
2. Arpine always dresses (neat, neatly).
3. Jose, a college student, is a (high, highly) gifted person.
4. Are you (sure, surely) this train stops in Santa Barbara?
5. She will (glad, gladly) help you with your homework.
6. Sarah (haste, hastily) wrote the essay, leaving out the thesis.
Most adjectives and adverbs have three forms: positive, comparative, and superlative. The positive form is the form that appears in the dictionary.
The living room is very large.
The comparative of an adjective or adverb compares two persons or things, indicating a more or less scenario.
Nancy is more studious than Brian.
The superlative of an adjective or adverb compares three or more persons or things, indicating a most or least situation.
Homer is the laziest of the three brothers.
Adjective Comparative Superlative fast faster fastest beautiful more beautiful most beautiful happy happier happiest good better best bad worse worst well better best
Exercise:
Write the comparative or the superlative form of the words in parentheses.
Remember: Use the comparative to compare two items, the superlative
to compare more than two. Use er or est
for one-syllable words; use more or worst
for words of more than one syllable.
1. The music is ________________ (loud) than we thought it would be.
2. Please read your lines again, _________________ (slowly) this time.
3. She is the ________________ (young) sister of the three.
4. You read that novel______________ (quickly) than last time.
5. Today is ___________________ (warm) than yesterday.
Exercise:
Proofread the following paragraph for adjective and adverb errors. Correct
errors by writing above the lines.
Julia Morgan, Architect
(1) Julia Morgan was one of San FranciscoŐs
most finest architects, as well as the first woman licensed as an architect
in California. (2) In 1902, Morgan became the first woman to finish
successful the program in architecture at the School of Fine Arts in
Paris. (3) Returning to San Francisco, she opened her own office and
hired and trained a very talented staff that eventually grew to thirty-five
full-time architects. (4) Her first major commission was to reconstruct
the Fairmont Hotel, one of the cityŐs bestest-known sites, which had
been damaged bad in the 1906 earthquake (Fawcett 415).
This handout is based on the following book:
Fawcett, Susan and Alvin Sandberg. Evergreen with Readings: A Guide
to Writing. 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. 326-9.
For further reference, see the following
book:
Raimes, Ann. How English Works: A Grammar handbook with
Readings. New York: St. MartinŐs Press, 1990. 172-5.
The above text is available in The Writing Center.
