Jul 18, 2016
- Definition: Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They may come before the word they describe (That is a cute puppy.) or they may follow the word they describe (That puppy is cute.).
- Definition: Adverbs are words that modify everything but nouns and pronouns. They modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. A word is an adverb if it answers how, when, or where. The only adverbs that cause grammatical problems are those that answer the question how, so focus on these.
- Examples:
He speaks slowly.
Answers the question how.
He speaks very slowly.
Answers the question how slowly. - Rule 1
Generally, if a word answers the question how, it is an adverb. If it can have an -ly added to it, place it there.- Examples:
She thinks slow/slowly.
She thinks how? slowly.
She is a slow/slowly thinker.
Slow does not answer how, so no -ly is attached. Slow is an adjective here.
She thinks fast/fastly.
Fast answers the question how, so it is an adverb. But fast never has an -ly attached to it.
We performed bad/badly.
Badly describes how we performed.
- Examples:
A special -ly Rule applies when four of the senses — taste, smell, look, feel — are the verbs. Do not ask if these senses answer the question how to determine if -ly should be attached. Instead, ask if the sense verb is being used actively. If so, use the -ly.
- Examples:
Roses smell sweet/sweetly. - Do the roses actively smell with noses? No, so no -ly.
The woman looked angry/angrily.
Did the woman actively look with eyes or are we describing her appearance? We are only describing appearance, so no -ly.
The woman looked angry/angrily at the paint splotches.
Here the woman did actively look with eyes, so the -ly is added.
She feels bad/badly about the news.
She is not feeling with fingers, so no -ly.
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