Appear

1. Typical mistake: S/he appears very angrily today. 

'Appear' has two meanings, and the grammar is not the same in the two cases. 

a. It can mean 'seem'. In this case, it can be used with adjectives, but not adverbs. 

S/he appears (to be) very angry today. 

S/he appears quite normal. 

'Appear' can be followed by a noun (subject complement), but we very often use 'appear to be' in this case. 

S/he appears (to be) a very religious person. 

b. The other meaning of 'appear' is 'come into sight' or 'arrive'. In this case, adverbs are used, not adjectives. 

S/he suddenly appeared from under the bed. 

S/he often appears unexpectedly and invites himself to lunch. 

2. Note that 'appear' is one of the verbs (like 'be', 'seem') that can have 'there' as an introductory subject. The construction is usually 'There appears to be...' 

There appears to be a misunderstanding. 

There appears to be no point in our continuing. 

'Appear' is not usually used in progressive tenses. 

Another

Typical mistakes: 

We need an other chair. 

I've got other three days holiday. 

1. 'Another' is written as one word. 

We need another chair. 

2. Normally, 'another' is followed by a singular noun: we can say 'another day', but not 'another days'. However, 'another' can be followed by 'few' or a number with a plural noun. 

I've got another three days holiday. 

There's room for another few people in the back of the bus. 

Note that instead of 'another three days, we could say 'three more days', but not (in this sense)'three other days'. 

Aloud Vs Loudly

'Loudly' is used (like 'loud') to talk about the strength of a noise. The opposite of 'loudly' is quietly'. 

When they are arguing, they talk so loudly that the people in the next flat can hear every word. 

'Aloud' is often used with the verbs 'read' and 'think', to say that words are spoken, not just 'said' silently in the head. 

S/he has a very good pronunciation when s/he read aloud. 

'What did you say?' - 'Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about.' 

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: 

1. 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). 
2. 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 these combinations: look in the dictionary for information about particular expressions. 
3. When a noun is used as an adjective before another noun, it is almost always singular (even if the meaning is plural). People who repair shoes are called shoe-repairers; people who sell houses are called house agents; packets that you put cigarettes in are called cigarette packets; a brush for teeth is a toothbrush. Plural expressions with numbers also become singular when they are used as adjectives. Compare the following: Five pound > A five-pound note, Ten miles > A ten-mile walk, Three men > A three men-man expedition, Ninepence > A nine-penny stamp
4. Note the use of the ending -ed to turn nouns into adjective in certain expressions. In these cases, the meaning is similar to 'with' or 'having'. Examples: Wheeled transport, A one-eyed sailor A broad-shoulder, Blue-chinned truck-driver...
5. There are some pairs of nouns and adjectives (e.g. gold, golden) which can both be used as adjectives with different meanings. Examples: A god watch > Golden memories, Silk stockings > Silken skin, A lead pipe > leaden sky (= grey and depressing), A stone roof > A stoney silence (= Unsympathetic) 

Adjectives with And

When 2 or 3 adjectives come together, we sometimes put 'And' with them and sometimes not. It depends partly on their position in the sentence. 

When the adjectives come in 'predicative' position (after 'Be, Seem, and similar verbs'), we usually put 'And' before the last one. 

He was tall, dark and handsome. 

 You're like a winter's day: Short, dark and dirty. 

In a very literary style, 'And' is sometimes left out. 

My soul is exotic, mysterious, incomprehensible. 

        When the adjectives come in 'attributive' position (before a noun), 'And' is not so often used. 

                    A tall, dark, handsome cowboy 

                    A small, shiny, black leather handbag 

            However, 'And' is possible when the adjectives say the same kind of thing (e.g. when 2 adjectives both describe character, color or material): 

                    A cruel (and) vicious tyrant         A yellow and black sports car 

                    A tall (and) elegant lady             A concrete and glass factory

Adjectives: Order

When several adjectives come before a noun, they usually have to be put in a particular order. For instance, we say a fat old lady, not *an old fat lady; a small shiny black leather handbag is good English, but *a leather black shiny small handbag is not. Unfortunately, the rules for adjective order are very complicated, and different grammars disagree about the details. Here are some of the most important rules: 

            Just before the noun come adjectives that tell you what something is for - its purpose: 

an expensive tennis racket (a racket for tennis)

a large conference hall (a hall for conference) 

            Just before these, we put adjectives that say what something is made of. 

                    an expensive steel and nylon tennis racket 

                    a large brick conference hall 

                    a plastic garden chair 

            Before these are words that tell you the origin of something - where it comes from: 

                    A venetian glass ashtray 

                    Spanish leather boots 

                    A Chinese writing desk 

Before these come color adjectives: 

                    A green Venetian glass ashtray 

                    Black Spanish leather boots 

                    A brown and white German beer-mug 

            Words for age, shape, size, temperature and other adjectives, come before all these: the exact order is too complicated to give practical rules. 

                    An old wooden boat 

                    A big round conference table 

                    A large antique brown and white German beer-mug  

Adjectives: Special word order with As, How, So, Too

Typical mistakes: 

Your so beautiful country.    They are so strange people.    They are too kind girls to refuse. It's too high meat.    How pretty clothes the wears. 

In a formal style, it is possible to use as, how, so and too in a special structure with an adjective and a noun, but only when there is an indefinite article. The word order is as/how/so/too + adjective + a/an + noun. If there is no indefinite article, this structure is possible. 

    It was as pleasant a day as I have ever spent. 

    Miss A arm in arm with Mr. B - how astonishing a sight!

    How accomplished a pianist is he? 

    However good a stereo you have, you will never get absolutely perfect reproduction. 

    It was so warm a day that we decided to go to the sea. 

    She is too kind a girl to refuse. 

Instead of so and how we can use such and what in ordinary structures with adjective + noun. 

    such a nice day

    such strange people

    What pretty clothes!

    What an astonishing sight!

Adjectives and Adverbs: Position in Expressions of Measurement

Typical mistake: Everest is high 9,000 meters. 

In expressions of measurement, the adjective or adverb comes after the measurement-noun. 

Examples: 

Six feet high    Ten feet down    ten years old    Two miles long    Six feet deep

Notice the difference between ten feet square (= 10 ft x 10 ft) and ten square feet (= 2 ft x 5 ft, or 10 ft x 1 ft). 

When expressions like these are used as attributive adjectives (before the noun), the measurement noun is normally singular: Compare the following: a bole six feet deep     Vs     a six-foot-deep bole

Position of adjectives: Special Problems

A few adjectives are used only or mostly in attributive position - i.e. with a noun. After a verb, other words must be used. 

Elder and eldest are used in expressions like elder brother, eldest daughter (older and oldest are also possible). After a verb, only older and oldest can be used. Ex: My brother's three years older than me. 

Live /laiv/ (meaning the opposite of 'dead') is only used attributively, mainly to talk about birds, animals etc (e.g. a live fish). In predicative position, we use alive (e.g. That fish is still alive). When live has other meanings, it can also be used predicatively (e.g. This broadcast comes to you live from Buenos Aires; You'll get an electric shock if you touch that wire - it's live). 

When old is used with words like friend, it can mean that a relationship has lasted for a long time. In this case, it can only be used attributively. An old friend is one you have known for a long time; if you say My friend's quite old, you can only be talking about the person's age. 

Little is mostly used in attributive position. We can say A nice little bouse, but we would probably say 'The house is small', not *The house is little. Learn later the difference between Little and Small. 

 Adjectives which are used to intensify (emphasize or strengthen) the meaning of a noun can only be used attributively. We can say 'He's a mere child; It's sheer madness; You bloody fool'; but mere, sheer (in this sense) and bloody (in this sense cannot normally be used after a verb. 

Compound adjectives like one-eyed are usually used attributively, and adjectives made from nouns (like sports, in a sports car) are also mostly used attributively...

A few adjectives are used only or mostly in predicative position - i.e. after a verb.  

 A number of adjectives beginning with a- come in this group. For stance, you can say She's awake, but not *an awake girl. Other adjectives like this are afloat, afraid, alike, alight, alive, alone, asleep. Before nouns, other words usually have to be used: e.g. floating, instead of afloat, frightened instead of afraid, live /laiv/ instead of alive, sleeping and waking instead of asleep and awake. Note that very is not often used with some of these adjectives. Instead of *very awake we say wide awake; instead of *very asleep we say fast asleep; instead of *very alone we say very much alone or all alone or very lonely. 

Ill and well are generally used only in predicative position. We can say*He's very well or You look ill, but not normally *a well man or *ill people. Instead, we would say a heathy man or sick people. 

Two other words that are generally used only in predicative position are content and lit (e.g. I am feeling quite content; The candle's lit). On the other hand, contented and lighted can both be used in any position in a sentence. 

Some attributive adjects come immediately after the noun, instead of before it. This happens in the following cases: 

Present follows the noun when it means 'here' or 'there'. Compare the following: 

the members present (= the ones who are there at the meeting)

the present members (= those who are members now) 

Proper follows the noun when it means 'itself' or 'themselves'. Before the noun it means 'real', 'genuine'. Compare the following: 

After the introduction we started the meeting proper. 

Snowdon's not very high, but it's a proper mountain, not a hill. 

Participles can be used as adjectives. When they are put with nouns, they sometimes come before and sometimes after, depending on the exact meaning. Compare the following: 

There's a broken window in the kitchen. 

 The window broken yesterday will have to be paid for. 

In the first example, broken is more like an ordinary adjective that it tells you what the window looks like, but does not really talk about the action of breaking. In the second example, broken is more like a verb which was broken yesterday. Here are some more expressions in which the participle must go after the noun:  

 the only place left    the people taking part     any person objecting    

                     all children wishing to compete     the success obtained in the first six months 

                     Most of the people singing were women. 

Some participles change their meaning according to their position. 

Words ending in -ible or -able may also come after the noun that they are with. The rules for position are similar to those for participles. 

It's the only solution possible. (or ...possible solution.)

Are there any tickets available? 

I'd like to speak to the person responsible. 

When an adjective is part of a longer expression, like clever at games, it normally comes after the noun. We would say Any boy clever at games... or Any boy who is clever at games..., not *Any clever at games boy... In some cases, the adjective can be put before the noun and the rest of the expression after it. 

a different life from this one

the next house to the Royal Hotel. 

This is possible with different, similar, next, last, first, second, etc; easy, difficult, impossible; comparatives and superlatives; the same; enough. 

a difficult problem to solve

 the second train on this platform

the best mother in the world

Adjectives come after something, everything, anything, nothing, somebody, anywhere, and similar words. 

Have you read anything interesting lately? 

Let's go somewhere quiet. 

  

Adjectives with nouns

 

Using an adjective alone is not usually possible, instead of adjective + noun. You cannot say *Hello, my little, or *You poor! However, there are some cases in which it is possible to use an adjective alone. 

In informal conversation, we often drop the noun in situations where we are choosing between two or more varieties. If you ask for photos to be developed, the assistant will probably say 'Matt or gloss?', not 'Mat or gloss paper?' 

Other examples: 

'Pint of milk, please.' - 'I've only got sterilized.'

We've just bought a new car. It's an automatic. 

Twenty full-length, please. (a kind of cigarette)

'Three pints of bitter.' - 'Best or ordinary?'

Some adjectives are used so often in this way that they have really turned into nouns. People always say bitter, never *bitter been, in detective stories, we usually read about an automatic, rather than an automatic pistol. 

Superlative adjectives are often used with nouns. 

Examples: 

I'm the oldest in my family. 

'Which one shall I get?' - 'The cheapest.' 

'Determiner' like this, both, either are often used without a following noun...

Certain adjectives can be used with the definite article to talk about group of people. 

Examples: 

He's collecting money for the blind. 

The unemployed are losing hope. 

These expressions have a plural meaning: the dead means 'the dead people' or 'all dead people', but not 'the dead man'. There are not very many expressions of this kind in English. The most common are: 

the blind    the deaf    the sick    the mentally ill    the handicapped    the poor    the unemployed    the old    the dead     the rich 

Most other adjectives cannot be used in this way. For example, you cannot normally say *the foreign, *the happy or *the disgusting in order to refer groups of people. 

Some adjectives of nationality can be used in the same way. They are words ending in -sh or -ch: British, Iris, Welsh, English, Scotch, Spanish, Dutchy, French. 

The British are very proud of their sense of humor. 

These expressions are plural: the British means 'all (the) British people'. One person from Britain can't be called *a British; one person from Ireland is an Irishman, not *an Irish. Note that people Scotland prefer to be called Scots or Scottish, not Scotch. Nationality words ending in -ese can also be used like this (the Japanese; the Lebanese). However, these words (and Swiss) are really nouns...

In philosophical writing, adjectives are often used with 'the' to refer to general abstract ideas. These expressions are singular...

Examples: 

The beautiful is not always the same as the good. 

The word 'own' is often used without a following noun (singular or plural). 

For example, I don't need your friends. I've got my own. 

In talking about trials, the accused is often used instead of the accused person/people. 

Adjectives with verbs

 

Typical mistake: You look beautifully. 

With verbs, we usually used adverbs, not adjectives. But with certain verbs (e.g. seem, look, taste), adjectives can be used. This happens when we are really describing the subject of the sentence, not the 'action' of the verb. Verbs of this kind are be, seem, appear, look, sound taste, feel and smell. 

Examples: 

S/he is nice. 

S/he seems nice. 

S/he sounds nice. 

S/he smells nice. 

S/he feels nice. 

But be careful. Some of these verbs have two meanings. Compare the following: 

The problem appeared impossible (Not: ...impossibly). 

Linda suddenly appeared in the doorway (Not: ...sudden). 

In the first sentence, appeared means 'seemed', and is used with an adjective; but in the second sentence appeared means 'came into sight' (an action), so it is used with an adverb. 

Look, taste, feel and smell can also be used to refer to actions, and they are then used with adverbs. Compare the following: 

Your father looks angry (= seems angry). 

He's looking at you angrily (looing = 'directing his eyes' - an action). 

The soup tastes wonderful. 

I tasted the soup suspiciously. 

My skin feels rough. 

The doctor felt my arm carefully. 

Sometimes other verbs can also be followed by adjectives, when we are really describing the subject of the sentence, and not the action of the verb. This often happens in descriptions with sit, stand, lie. 

Examples: 

The valley lay quiet and peaceful in the sun. 

She sat motionless, waiting for their decision. 

Some verbs are used to show how the subject of the sentence changes in some way. These verbs are also followed by adjectives. Examples are become, fall, get, go, turn. 

Examples: 

She fell unconscious on the floor (Not: ...unconsciously...). 

It's getting dark (Not: ...darkly). 

Adjectives can also be used to show a change in the object of the sentence. 

Examples: 

The new washing machine was clothes super white (Not: ...whitely). 

He pulled his belt tight and started off (Not: ...tightly...). 

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'... 

Adjectives Vs Adverbs in general

 

There are a large number of problems connected with the use of adjectives and adverbs. Most of them are explained in the following section, a few are dealt with in other parts of this blog. The problems include: 

• The difference between adjectives and adverbs, confusing cases like friendly (adjective) or cheap (adjective and adverb). 
• The use of adjectives with verbs like look, feel, taste...
• The use of adjectives without nouns (e.g. the blind)...
• The position of adjectives...
• The use of nouns as adjectives (e.g. a roof garden)...
• The order of adjective before nouns (e.g. a great big fat old tabby cat)...
• The use of and between adjectives...
• Comparison of adjectives and adverbs...
• The use of participles as adjectives...
• The position of adverbs in sentences...