Adjectives & Adverbs

ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS

ADJECTIVES

Matching Pair Activity Beginners

Adjective Collocations

Adjective: a word hanging down from a noun

Adverb: an adjective with a tail on it

The Left Handed Dictionary

ETYMOLOGY

The prefix “ad” means “to, near, at”

in the sense of “regarding”.

Thus, ADVERB means “regarding the verb”

and ADJECTIVE literally means “thrown at”, but has the sense of “that which is added to the noun”.

ADVERBS

Midsentence Adverb

Comparative Adverb Exercise

ED vs. ING Video Exercise

Flat Adverbs

FLAT ADVERBS

Flat adverbs are informal but also very old in English. They can be difficult and have acceptance that varies with regions.

Look at the quiz and ask yourself if the numbered sentence is correct or incorrect before looking at the answers. You will also find a few links to resources providing more information.

1. You should go slowly.

2. You should go slow.

3. Don't go fast.

4. Don't go fastly.

5. I really love chocolate.

6. I real love chocolate.

7. This chocolate really tastes good.

8. This chocolate tastes real good.

9. We surely had a great time.

10. We sure had a great time.

11. We had a sure great time.

12. We had a surely great time.

13. Do it quick.

14. Do it quickly.

15. Do it more quickly.

Some of the sentences with flat adverbs might be considered informal and should be avoided in writing, However, unless noted below, they are correct.

4. Don't go fastly.

Fast, like hard, is both an ADJ and an ADV.

6. I real love chocolate.

Real, like good, does not work as a flat ADV and is only an ADJ.

11. We had a sure great time.

12. We had a surely great time.

11 is incorrect because it doesn't intensify great but modifies the noun "time". You could replace sure with really or truly to get an intensifying effect.

12 is technically correct, but very awkward as native speakers will want to "surely" at the beginning of the sentence or before the verb.

15. Do it more quickly.

Correct, but the meaning is changed to "quicker than that".

In addition to turning ADJs into ADVs, -LY can change NOUNS into AJDs, so words like friendly, brotherly, chilly, or earthly are only adjectives.

More Exercises at Grammerdefinition.com

History at Wikipedia.org

Irregular Comparatives & Superlatives

Adjective Order

Double Form Comparatives

sometimes

ex. sometimes I do my homework.

always Jill cooks at home in the evening.
always Jill is at work on the weekdays.
always We see Jane at the park on weekends.
probably I will go out on the town this weekend.
often William visits California for the holidays.
often William is in California for the holidays.
usually Jim comes by around five o’clock.
usually Jim is here by five o’clock.
probably Jim will be here at five o’clock.
finally My teacher answered my email.
finally The workday is over.

Jill ALWAYS cooks at home in the evening.
Jill is ALWAYS at work on the weekdays.
We ALWAYS see Jane at the park on weekends.
I will PROBABLY go out on the town this weekend.
William OFTEN visits California for the holidays.
William is OFTEN in California for the holidays.
Jim USUALLY comes by around five o’clock.
Jim is USUALLY here by five o’clock.
Jim will PROBABLY be here at five o’clock.
My teacher FINALLY answered my email.
The workday is FINALLY over.