Transcript Using Adjectives and Adverbs

ADJECTIVES AND
ADVERBS
“MODIFIERS”
Using Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly
What are adjectives?
 Adjectives modify (describe) nouns or
pronouns
 These words are all adjectives
 A hot day
 A happy camper
 A silly twit
 A big, bloody mess (both “big” and “bloody”
modify “mess”)
 She is creative (the linking verb “is” connects
she with the adjective creative that describes
her.)
So what are adverbs?
 Adverbs modify (describe) verbs,
adjectives and other adverbs
 Many adverbs end with ly
 Many adverbs answer the question “How?”
or “when?”
 These are adverbs
 Eating quickly (modifying a verb)
 Trying very hard (modifying an adverb)
 A really big show (modifying an adjective)
Which one do I use?
 It is critical to identify which word is being
modified in order to determine whether to
use an adjective or an adverb as the modifier.
I: She runs slow.
C: She runs slowly.
I: He is real tall.
C: He is really tall.
Recognizing Adjectives &
Adverbs
 Many words have both an adjective and adverb form
Adjective
Adverb
Happy kids
Playing happily
Smooth rock
Running smoothly
Good night
Eating Well
Efficient workers
Working efficiently
Casual dress
Dressing casually
Quick meeting
Talking quickly
hopeful children
Waiting hopefully
Real butter
Really hot
Comparatives/Superlatives
 Most adverbs and adjectives also have a comparative
and superlative form
Simple
Comparative
Superlative
Hot
Hotter
Hottest
Good
Better
Best
Exciting
More exciting
Most exciting
Careful
Less careful
Least careful
• Use the comparative form to compare two things
 Sally is the larger of the twins (not largest)
• Use the superlative form to compare three or more
 August was the hottest month of the year
Double Comparatives
 Don’t use “more” or “most” with –er or –est
 Yesterday was more hotter than today
 That was the most dirtiest story I ever heard
 You are the bestest teacher
Fewer vs. Less
 In the comparative form
 Use less to compare non-count nouns (nouns that
cannot be divided).
 They play less music and more commercials on the
radio than ever before.
 I have less money in my bank account than my sister
has in hers.
 Use fewer to compare count nouns.
 There are fewer students in our class than when the
semester began.
 I have fewer pennies in my jar than my brother has in
his.
Don’t use adjectives when
adverbs are needed
 You did a real nice job
(an adjective can’t modify another adjective)
 You did a really nice job
(the adverb “really” modifies “nice”)
 He did good
 He did well
or He did a good job
 Fuel injection helps the car run efficient
 Fuel injection helps the car run efficiently
 Come quick!
 Come quickly!
 Hopefully, it won’t rain
 (an adverb explains how something will happen
 I hope that it won’t rain
Changing Adj to Adv
 Most just add –ly to the adjective
 Careful + ly= carefully
 If the adj ends in ic add –ally
 Basic + ally= basically
 If the adj ends in y, drop the y and add –ily
 happy= happily
 If the adj ends in le, change the le to –ly
 Gentle= gently
Compound Adjectives
 Two or more adjectives often appear together
separated with commas
 Brad’s tiny, tight swimsuit showed off his hairy belly
• The words “tiny” and “tight” each work separately to
modify “swimsuit”
 Connect the words with a hyphen when they
function together before a noun
 Brad’s gold-plated piercings stood out against his
bright-red sunburn
• “Gold-plated” and “bright-red” are compound
adjectives
Compound Adjectives
• Do not hyphenate the words when they
come after the noun they modify
• Notice the difference in these examples
Brad was well known along the
boardwalk (no hyphen)
Brad was a well-known jerk
(hyphenated)
His SUV was fully equipped
He drove a fully-equipped SUV
Brad worked full time on his tan
Brad was a full-time chick magnet
Misplaced Modifiers
 Put adjectives and adverbs close to the words
they modify
 Notice how the meaning is affected by the
improper placement
 An old pile of clothes is on the floor
 A pile of old clothes is on the floor
 I almost believe you are finished
 I believe you are almost finished
 The winners will only be contacted
 Only the winners will be contacted
 I can’t quite do this as well as Fred
 I can’t do this quite as well as Fred
Absolute Concepts
 Don’t use comparatives or superlatives with absolute
concepts
 Absolutes have only two possibilities, on or off, yes or no,
with nothing in between
 The most perfect student in the class
 A very unique idea (say “very unusual” instead)
 These words express absolute concepts that cannot be
modified
More priceless
Sort of dead
Quite on
A little bit pregnant
Very unanimous
Extremely perfect
Quite unique
Completely anonymous