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What Are Adjectives & Adverbs?

Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that add detail to sentences. Adjectives describe nouns (people, places, things), while adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

The Basic Function
Adjectives modify nouns: "The red car is fast."
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs: "She drives carefully."

Without descriptive words: "The car moves."
With descriptive words: "The red car moves quickly."

Quick Comparison

Adjectives Answer:

What kind? Which one? How many?

Examples:

• beautiful flower (what kind)

• that book (which one)

• three apples (how many)

Adverbs Answer:

How? When? Where? To what extent?

Examples:

• runs quickly (how)

• arrived yesterday (when)

• very tall (to what extent)

Adjectives

Describing nouns: beautiful, large, interesting, red

What Are Adjectives? Beginner

Adjectives are words that describe or modify nouns and pronouns. They provide information about qualities, quantities, or characteristics of the noun they're describing.

Adjectives Modify Nouns
Adjectives tell us what kind, which one, or how many.

Example: The tall woman bought three red apples.

Types of Adjectives

Descriptive
Describe qualities or characteristics

Examples:
happy, beautiful, tall, cold, delicious, difficult
Quantitative
Show quantity or amount

Examples:
three, many, few, several, some, enough
Demonstrative
Point out specific nouns

Examples:
this, that, these, those
Possessive
Show ownership

Examples:
my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Interrogative
Used in questions

Examples:
which, what, whose
Proper
Formed from proper nouns

Examples:
American, French, Victorian, Shakespearean

Examples in Sentences

Before Nouns

The beautiful garden has many flowers.

She bought a new laptop.

I need three pencils.

The large dog barked loudly.

After Linking Verbs

The cake is delicious.

She seems happy today.

The weather became cold.

He looks tired.

💡 Finding Adjectives
To find adjectives, ask these questions about the noun:

What kind? → red car, happy child
Which one? → this book, that house
How many? → two cats, several people
Whose? → her bag, my phone

Adverbs

Modifying verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs: quickly, very, always

What Are Adverbs? Beginner

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They provide information about how, when, where, or to what extent something happens.

Adverbs Modify Multiple Parts of Speech
Modify Verbs: She runs quickly.
Modify Adjectives: He is very tall.
Modify Other Adverbs: She speaks extremely carefully.
Modify Entire Sentences: Fortunately, we arrived on time.

Types of Adverbs

Type Answers Examples Sample Sentence
Manner How? quickly, slowly, carefully, well, badly She sings beautifully.
Time When? now, later, yesterday, soon, already I'll call you tomorrow.
Place Where? here, there, everywhere, outside, nearby The cat is sleeping upstairs.
Frequency How often? always, never, often, sometimes, rarely He usually arrives early.
Degree To what extent? very, quite, too, extremely, almost The test was extremely difficult.

Forming Adverbs from Adjectives

Add -ly to Most Adjectives
Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to adjectives:

quick → quickly
careful → carefully
beautiful → beautifully
slow → slowly
Adjective Adverb Example Sentence
quick quickly She finished the test quickly.
careful carefully Drive carefully in the rain.
happy happily The children played happily in the park.
⚠️ Irregular Adverbs
Some adverbs don't follow the -ly rule:

good → well (She sings well.)
fast → fast (He runs fast.)
hard → hard (They work hard.)
late → late (She arrived late.)

Degrees of Comparison

Comparing adjectives and adverbs: tall, taller, tallest

Comparative and Superlative Forms Intermediate

Both adjectives and adverbs have three degrees: positive (base form), comparative (comparing two things), and superlative (comparing three or more things).

Positive Comparative Superlative Rule
tall taller tallest Add -er/-est (1 syllable)
happy happier happiest Change y to i, add -er/-est
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful Use more/most (3+ syllables)
good/well better best Irregular
bad/badly worse worst Irregular
Comparative Examples

Tom is taller than Jerry.

She speaks more clearly than he does.

This book is better than that one.

Superlative Examples

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain.

She runs the fastest of all.

This is the best pizza I've ever had.

Word Order

Where to place adjectives and adverbs in a sentence

Adjective Order Advanced

When using multiple adjectives, they follow a specific order called OSASCOMP:

OSASCOMP Order
Opinion → Size → Age → Shape → Color → Origin → Material → Purpose

Example: A beautiful (opinion) small (size) old (age) round (shape) blue (color) French (origin) wooden (material) jewelry (purpose) box.

Key Differences

Understanding when to use adjectives vs. adverbs

Adjective vs. Adverb Beginner

Adjective Adverb Usage
She is quick. She runs quickly. Adjective after linking verb; Adverb modifies verb
The music sounds loud. He speaks loudly. Adjective describes noun; Adverb describes how
He is a careful driver. He drives carefully. Adjective before noun; Adverb after verb
💡 Quick Test
Use an adjective if: It describes a noun or comes after a linking verb (is, seems, looks, feels, sounds, smells, tastes)

Use an adverb if: It describes how, when, where, or to what extent an action happens