Using Adjectives and

Adverbs Correctly

What are adjectives?

• Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns
• These words are all adjectives

 A hot day

 A happy camper

 A silly twit
 A big, bloody mess (both “big” and

“bloody” modify “mess”)

 She is creative (“creative” is a subject

complement that follows the linking verb
“is”)

 A boring course (present participle used as

an adjective

So what are adverbs?

• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and

other adverbs

• Many adverbs end with

ly

• Many adverbs answer the question

“How?”

• These are adverbs

Eating quickly (modifying a verb)
Trying very hard (modifying an adverb)
A really big show (modifying an

adjective)

Recognizing Adjectives &

Adverbs

•

Many words have both an adjective and adverb form

Adjective

Adverb

Happy kids

Playing happily

Smooth rock

Running smoothly

Good night

Eating Well

Efficient workers

Working efficiently

Casual dress

Dressing casually

Quick meeting

Talking quickly

hopeful children

Waiting hopefully

Real butter

Really hot

Comparatives and

Superlatives

• Most adverbs and adjectives also have a

comparative and superlative form

Simple

Comparativ

e

Superlative

Hot

Hotter

Hottest

Good

Better

Best

Exciting

More exciting

Most exciting

Careful

Less careful

Least careful

• Use the comparative form to compare two

things

Sally is the larger of the twins (not largest)

• Use the superlative form to compare three or

more

August was the hottest month of the year

Double Comparatives

• Don’t use “more” or “most” with –er or –

est

X Yesterday was more hotter than today
X That was the most dirtiest story I ever

heard

X You are the bestest teacher

Absolute Concepts

• Don’t use comparatives or superlatives with

absolute concepts

• Absolutes have only two possibilities, on or off,

yes or no, with nothing in between

XThe most perfect student in the class
XA very unique idea (say “very unusual” instead)

• These words express absolute concepts that

cannot be modified

More priceless

Sort of dead

Quite on

A little bit pregnant

Very unanimous

Extremely perfect

Quite unique

Completely anonymous

Don’t use adjectives when

adverbs are needed

XYou did a real nice job

– (an adjective can’t modify another adjective)

You did a really nice job

– (the adverb “really” modifies “nice”)

XHe did good

He did well

or

He did a good job

XFuel injection helps the car run efficient

Fuel injection helps the car run efficiently

XCome quick!

Come quickly!

XHopefully, it won’t rain

– (an adverb explains how something will happen

I hope that it won’t rain

Don’t use needless adverbs

• Before using any of these words, check to see if they

add anything to the sentence

•

Really, very, absolutely, extremely, quite, actually,

somewhat, rather

• I am really happy to see you

• Grammar is very boring

• You are absolutely correct

• Her language was extremely crude

• You are quite intelligent

•

Context will help you decide whether to retain the

underlined words

•

Keep them only if they add to the meaning

XBill Gates is very rich. I hope he gives me some

money.

 Most college instructors are poor; their students are very

poor.

•

Note

: the terms “good success” and “real good

success” have been reserved for sports

broadcasters; do not use them

Compound Adjectives

• Two or more adjectives often appear together

separated with commas

Brad’s tiny, tight swimsuit showed off his hairy

belly

• The words “tiny” and “tight” each work

separately to modify “swimsuit”

• Connect the words with a hyphen when they

function together before a noun

Brad’s gold-plated piercings stood out against his

bright-red sunburn

• “Gold-plated” and “bright-red” are compound

adjectives

Compound Adjectives

Brad was well known
along the boardwalk (no
hyphen)

His SUV was fully
equipped

Brad worked full time on
his tan

Brad was a well-known jerk
(hyphenated)

He drove a fully-equipped
SUV

Brad was a full-time chick
magnet

• Do not hyphenate the words when they

come after the noun they modify

• Notice the difference in these examples

Misplaced Modifiers

• Put adjectives and adverbs close to the

words they modify

• Notice how the meaning is affected by

the improper placement

XAn old pile of clothes is on the floor

A pile of old clothes is on the floor

XI almost believe you are finished

I believe you are almost finished

XThe winners will only be contacted

Only the winners will be contacted

XI can’t quite do this as well as Fred

I can’t do this quite as well as Fred