Using Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly

What are adjectives?

•Adjectives modify 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 (“creative” is a subject complement that
follows the linking verb “is”)
A boring course (present participle used as an adjective
So what are adverbs?
•Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs
•Many adverbs end with ly
•Many adverbs answer the question “How?”
•These are adverbs
Eating quickly (modifying a verb)
Trying very hard (modifying an adverb)
A really big show (modifying an adjective)
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

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 Comparatives and Superlatives
•Mostadverbs 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
XYesterday was more hotter than today
XThat was the most dirtiest story I ever heard
XYou are the bestest teacher

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
XThe most perfect student in the class
XA very unique idea (say “very unusual” instead)
•These words express absolute concepts that cannot be
modified
More priceless Sort of dead Quite unique
Quite on A little bit pregnant Completely anonymous
Very unanimous Extremely perfect Most favourite

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 Don’t use adjectives when adverbs are
needed
XYou did a real nice job
–(anadjective can’t modify another adjective)
You did a really nice job
–(the adverb “really” modifies “nice”)
XHe did good
He did well
XFuel injection helps the car run efficient
Fuel injection helps the car run efficiently
XCome quick!
Come quickly!
XHopefully, it won’t rain
(an adverb explains how something will happen)
I hope that it won’t rain

Don’t use needless adverbs

•Beforeusing any of these words, check to see if they add
anything to the sentence
•Really,very, absolutely, extremely, quite, actually,
somewhat, rather
•I am really happy to see you
•Grammar is very boring
•You are absolutely correct
•Her language was extremely crude
•You are quite intelligent
•Context will help you decide whether to retain the
underlined words
•Keep them only if they add to the meaning
XBill
Gates is very rich. I hope he gives me some money.
Most college instructors are poor; their students are very
poor.

•Note: the terms “good success” and “real good

success” have been reserved for sports broadcasters; do
not use them

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 Compound Adjectives
•Two or more adjectives often appear together separated
with commas
Lance’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
Lance’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
No Hyphen Hyphenated
Lance was well known Lance was a well-known
along the boardwalk jerk
His SUV was fully He drove a fully-
equipped equipped SUV
Lance worked full time on Lance was a full-time chick
his tan magnet

Misplaced Modifiers
•Put adjectives and adverbs close to the words they
modify
•Notice how the meaning is affected by the improper
placement
XAn old pile of clothes is on the floor
A pile of old clothes is on the floor
XI almost believe you are finished
I believe you are almost finished
XThe winners will only be contacted
Only the winners will be contacted
XI can’t quite do this as well as Fred
I can’t do this quite as well as Fred

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