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'...