Adjectives & Adverbs

Adjectives

In order to understand adverbs, you must first understand adjetives: Adjectives are one of the four major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adverbs. Examples of adjectives are: big, small, blue, old, rich and nice. They give us more information about people, animals or things represented by nouns and pronouns (e.g. big tree ➡️ big gives you more information about the tree, which is a noun).

Adverbs

Adverbs are one of the four major word classes, along with nouns, verbs and adjectives. We use adverbs to add more information about a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a clause or a whole sentence and, less commonly, about a noun phrase. Simple regular adverbs are formed by adding “ly” at the end of the adjective (e.g. quick ➡️ quickly). Sometimes, you must change the spelling a little bit (e.g. happy ➡️ happily), and sometimes, you must learn a new word altogether (good ➡️ well).

Adverbs Identical to Adjectives

These adverbs have the same form as their adjective counterparts:

• Fast (e.g., He runs fast.)

• Hard (e.g., She works hard.)

• Early (e.g., We arrived early.)

• Late (e.g., He came late.)

• High (e.g., The bird flew high.)

• Low (e.g., He aimed low.)

• Straight (e.g., Go straight ahead.)

• Far (e.g., She traveled far.)

Adverbs with Completely Different Forms

These adverbs do not resemble their adjective counterparts at all:

• Well (adjective: good; e.g., She sings well.)

• Better (adjective: better; e.g., You performed better.)

• Best (adjective: best; e.g., They behaved best.)

• Worse (adjective: worse; e.g., He did worse.)

• Worst (adjective: worst; e.g., That was handled worst.)

• Much (adjective: much; e.g., I like it much.)

• More (adjective: more; e.g., I like it more.)

• Most (adjective: most; e.g., He enjoyed it most.)

• Little (adjective: little; e.g., I slept little.)

• Less (adjective: less; e.g., They cared less.)

• Least (adjective: least; e.g., He studied least.)

Adverbs with Different Meanings from Adjectives

These words may have the same spelling as adjectives but differ in meaning:

• Hard (adjective: solid; adverb: with effort)

• Late (adjective: not on time; adverb: after the expected time)

• Pretty (adjective: attractive; adverb: somewhat or fairly, e.g., It’s pretty good.)

• Right (adjective: correct; adverb: directly or exactly, e.g., Go right there.)

• Wrong (adjective: incorrect; adverb: in a mistaken way, e.g., He guessed wrong.)

Adverbs Without Standard -ly Formation

These do not follow the usual -ly rule:

• Fast

• Hard

• Straight

• Well