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Luyện ngữ pháp English Grammar in Use (Unit 100: Adjectives and adverbs 1)


A Look at these examples:
  • Our holiday was too short- the time passed very quickly.
  • Two people were seriously injured in the accident.

Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are formed from an adjective + -ly:

adjective adverb
quick quickly
senous seriously
careful carefully
quiet quietly
heavy heavily
bad badly

For spelling, see Appendix 6.

 

Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in -ly too, for example: friendly, lively, elderly, lonely, silly, lovely
B

Adjective or adverb?

Adjectives (quick/careful etc.) tell us about a noun (somebody or something). We use adjectives before nouns:
  • Sam is a careful driver. (not a carefully driver)
  • We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.
 Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb (how somebody does something or how something happens):
  • Sam drove carefully along the narrow road. (not drove careful)
  • We didn't go out because it was raining heavily. (not raining heavy)
Compare:
  • She speaks perfect English.
    perfect English: adjective + noun
  • She speaks English perfectly.
    speaks English perfectly: verb + noun + adverb
We also use adjectives after some verbs, especially be, and also look/feel/sound etc.
Compare:
  • Please be quiet.
  • I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.
  • Why do you always look so serious?
  • I feel happy.
  • Please speak quietly.
  • I was unhappy that I did so badly in the exam. (not did so bad)
  • Why do you never take me seriously?
  • The children were playing happily.
C

We also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs. For example:

reasonably cheap (adverb + adjective)
terribly sorry (adverb + adjective)
incredibly quickly (adverb + adverb)

  • It's a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.
  • I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to push you. (not terrible sorry)
  • Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.
  • The exam was surprisingly easy.

 

You can also use an adverb before a past participle (injured/organised/written etc.):
  • Two people were seriously injured in the accident. (not serious injured)
  • The meeting was badly organised.
Exercises - 100.1


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