The Difference between Adjectives and Adverbs

Typical mistakes:

She sang beautiful.

I am terrible tired.

She's a typically Englishwoman.

Examples of adjectives: beautiful, tired, typical, old, complete, surprising. Adjectives say what something is or seems like. They can be used in 2 ways:

1. before nouns. This is called 'attributive position'. E.g. a beautiful song, a tired expression, a typical Englishwoman
2. in the complement of a sentence - that is to say, after is, seems and a few other verbs. This is called 'predicative position'. E.g. She is beautiful. He looks tired. That remark was typical of the way he talks to people...

Examples of adverbs: beautifully, tiredly, typically, completely, surprisingly, always, soon, however...

With verbs, we use adverbs to give more information about the action - to say how, where, or when it is done...

Examples:

She sang beautifully.

I am coming soon.

You always misunderstand me.

Adverbs can also be used in other ways:

To modify (affect the meaning of) adjectives. E.g. I'm terribly tired. A typically English artist...

To modify other adverbs: He went terribly quickly.

To modify a whole sentence: Actually, I can't come.

To modify a prepositional phrase: You're completely out of your mind. It's right on top of the cupboard.

Note that very many different kinds of words are called 'adverbs'...

Comments

Nouns Used As Adjective

It's very common to use nouns as adjectives by putting them before other nouns (in 'attributive' position). E.g. car door, cheese pie, disc box, table leg, ring finger. Note the following: It's not always possible to put 2 nouns together in this way. Sometimes it's necessary to use the construction with 'of' (E.g. a loaf of bread, not *a bread loaf) or the possessive (E.g. a miner's lamp, not *a miner lamp). When two nouns are used together like this, they are sometimes written as one word, especially when the words are short and the expression is very common (e.g. raincoat, housework). In other cases, hyphens are used (e.g. grave-digger), or the words are written separate4ly (e.g. bicycle chain). Expressions like these are often (but not always) pronounced with the main stress on the first nouns: 'raincoat, housework, 'table leg, shoe-repairer, but apple tart, garden gate. There are no very clear rules about the writing or pronunciation of the...

Position of Adverbs: General

Typical mistakes: Always you make the same mistake. Never I will understand this. I a couple of days ago ordered some seeds for the garden. Mr. Harrison on Tuesday called a meeting of the directions. I like very much skiing. She speaks well English. Verb and object It is unusual to put adverbs between the verb and its object. These are not generally separated in an English sentence. She speaks English well. I very much like skiing (Or: I like skiing very much). Normal positions for adverbs There are three normal positions for adverbs: Mid-position (before the verb, or part of the verb) He suddenly drove off. We have never been searched by the customs. End-position (at the end of a clause) He drove off suddenly. Jam arrived late. Initial position (at the beginning of a clause) Suddenly he drove off. Yesterday I had a bad headache. Not all adverbs can go in ...

Position of adverbs: end-position (details)

Typical mistakes: I went at once there. I think we should go early to bed. Come at four o'clock to my office. She went quickly home. 1 . The order of adverbs (and adverb phrases) in end-position depends partly on questions of rhythm and emphasis, so it is difficult to give exact rules. In general, however, we put adverbs of manner 'how' before adverbs of place 'where', and adverbs of time 'when' come last of all. I went there | at once. (place before time) Come to my office | at four o'clock. (place before time) I worked hard | yesterday. (manner before time) She sang perfectly | in the town hall | last night. (manner before place before time) With verbs of movement like come, go arrive, it is often more natural to put an adverb of place (destination) first, before and adverb of manner. 2 . Adverbs of place can refer to direction (like backwards) or position (like in London). Adverbs of direction usually come before adverbs of...

Contemporary English

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