Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun such as a person, place, thing or idea

An adjective can describe a noun or pronoun's color, size, shape, taste, odor, texture, sound, number, weather, etc.

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Using Adjectives to Compare.mp4

Comparative & Superlative Adjectives.mp4

Where to place an adjective in a sentence

An attribute adjective is placed before the noun it is modifying.

She is a pretty girl.

A predicative adjective is placed after the noun which it is modifying.

This sandwich is tasty.

You can also place an adjective after certain verbs in order to modify them. This does not apply to all verbs. When using an adjective to modify a verb, the verb should come before the adjective.

I feel amazing after my spa day.

You can also use an adjective after the verbs to smell, to taste, to sound and to look.

That pizza tastes fantastic.

Adjectives Without A Noun

It is possible to use an adjective as a standalone word without a noun. “He is rich.” The adjective can be used on its own as simply describing something as “rich.”

Adjectives In Pairs

You can use more than one adjective in order to give a sentence a very descriptive feel.

This is a large, red car.

Possessive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Adjectives that End in -ING

Adjectives that end in -ing are used to describe things and situations. They have an active meaning. They describe someone that is doing something (acting) or something that is causing something to us, making us feel in a certain way.

Adjectives that End in -ED

Adjectives that end in -ed are used to describe how people feel. They have a passive meaning. They describe someone ‘receiving‘ some kind of action, made to feel in a certain.

Examples of Adjectives Ending in -ED and -ING

Space science is very interesting to her.

She is interested in space science.

The -ing adjective tells you about something (space science) . The -ed adjective tells you how somebody feels about something (She is interested in space science because it is very interesting).

Other examples:

I was disappointed with the movie. I expected it to be much better. (I felt disappointed.)

The movie was disappointing. I expected it to be much better. (It was a disappointing movie.)

We were very shocked when we heard the news. (We felt shocked.)

The news was shocking. (It was a shocking news.)

Adjectives Ending in -ED and -ING

We can use adjectives ending in -ing for things or people. Remember that when we use adjectives ending in -ing, it is describing the person or thing.
We can use the -ed ONLY for people (or animals) because THINGS CANNOT FEEL.

A positive comparison adjective is used to describe something without making any sort of comparison to anything else.

"I am kind".

A comparative adjective is used in order to compare two things, and is often followed by the word "than".

“This movie is better than the first one.”

A superlative adjective is used as a way of comparing more than two things and is the ‘most’.

“This is the best movie out of the entire series.”

When you are going to use more than one adjective to describe a noun, it is important to be able to put the adjectives in the correct order.

If placed in the wrong order, numerous adjectives can sound misplaced, uneven, and confusing.

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that can modify a verb or adjective

An adverb is used to describe a verb, adjective or another adverb. It tells us how, where, when, how much, and with what frequency.

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Where to place an adverb in a sentence

It is important to remember to place an adverb as near as possible to the word it is going to modify.

If the word you are modifying is a verb, then the adverb should be placed in the middle of the sentence.

He swam effortlessly across the pool.

It is important to consider the adverb ‘only’ because it has the ability to change the meaning of the sentence.

I only fed my bird.
I fed only my bird.

The first sentence explains that I fed my bird but did nothing else with it, whereas the second sentence explains that I fed my bird and not any other birds.

The front position: before the subject of the sentence. It gives information in advance to set the scene for the action that follows.
The mid position: the adverb in this position is connected with the verb, generally placed immediately before it. In case there are two, it is placed between them.
The end position: at the end of the sentence.

How adverbs can modify words

Adverbs With Verbs

An adverb can be used to talk about how an action is happening. You might think about this as the adverb being used to answer the question “how does something happen?’ or ‘In what manner does it happen?’

My dog barks loudly.
He will seriously think about this idea.

We can see here that the adverbs answer the questions ‘how does your dog bark?’ or ‘how will you think about this idea?’ In the most simple terms, if you want to find out how an action has been performed, an adverb will answer this.

Adverbs With Adjectives And Other Adverbs

An adverb also has the ability to modify either another adverb or an adjective. This is a great way to cause the adjective to become more intense and descriptive.

An adverb can modify an adjective:

My sister is rather attractive.
The beach was unexpectedly busy.
My teacher is always well dressed.

An adverb to modify another adverb:

The food here is almost never good.

The adverb almost is being used to modify the adverb never, and both of these are being used to modify the word good.

Adverbs To Modify A Sentence

An adverb can be used to modify a sentence and will usually appear usually at the beginning. When used in this way, the adverb is not talking about any specific thing, but is rather being used as a way to give an overall feeling for all of the information presented.

Generally, people take the train into London.
Luckily, my family lives in a nice location.
Interestingly, the ancient people ate the same meats as we do.

Adverbs For Comparison

In some cases an adverb can make a comparison. You can do this by adding the words more or most in front of the adverb.

He ran quickly.
He ran more quickly
He ran the most quickly.

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