- Adjectives and Adverbs

I. ADJECTIVE

An adjective is a word which modifies a noun. Adjectives are used before nouns and after a
linking verbs such as be (am, is, are, was, were) look, get, become, go, taste, smell, remain, sound, keep, grow, turn, seem, appear.

Examples:

- Tom is a diligent student. (before noun, student)
- Be careful, please. (after linking verb be)
- She is beautiful. (after linking verb, be (is))
- I feel happy. (after linking verb, feel)
- The dinner smells good. (after linking verb, smell)
- Your friend seems very nice. (after linking verb, seem)

II. ADVERB

An adverb tells us more about a verb. We also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs.
many adverbs are made from an adjective + -ly:

adjective : quick serious careful quiet heavy bad
adverb : quickly seriously carefully quietly heavily badly

Examples:

- Tom drove carefully along the narrow road. (not ‘drove careful’)
- Speak quietly, please! (not ‘speak quiet”)
- We didn’t go out because it was raining heavily. (not ‘raining heavy’)
- The examination was surprisingly easy. (adverb + adjective )
- Oh, I’m terribly sorry. ( adverb + adjective)
- Mary learns languages incredibly quickly. (adverb + adverb)

NOTE: NOT ALL WORDS ENDING IN -LY ARE ADVERBS. SOME ADJECTIVES END IN -LY.

Examples: friendly, lively, elderly lonely, silly, lovely.

Compare!

- Your English is very good. (adjective)
You speak English well. (adverb)

- Susan is a good pianist. (adjective)
She plays the piano well. (adverb)

- Jack is a very fast runner. (adjective)
Jack can run very fast. (adverb)

- Ann is a hard worker. (adjective)
Ann works hard. (adverb) , not ‘works hardly’)

- The train was late. (adjective)
I got up late this morning. (adverb)

The adverb lately = recently.

Example:
- Have you seen Tom lately.