Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs (English exercise n°5052 - Please quote this number when contacting us)

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Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs

A-   Look at these examples:

• Our holiday was too short - the time went very quickly.

• The driver of the car was seriously injured in the accident.

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

Adjective
quick

serious

careful

quiet

bad

heavy

Adverb
quickly

seriously

carefully

quietly

badly

heavily

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. We use adjectives before nouns and after some verbs, especially be:

• Tom is a careful driver, (not 'a carefully driver')

• We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.

• Please be quiet.

• I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad.

We also use adjectives after the verbs look/ feel/ sound etc.

• Why do you always look so serious?

Compare:

She speaks perfect English

                Adjective + noun

Compare these sentences with look:

• Tom looked sad when I saw him. (= he seemed sad, his expression was sad)

Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb. An adverb tells us how somebody does something or how something happens:

• Tom drove carefully along the narrow road, (not 'drove careful')

• We didn't go out because it was raining heavily, (not 'raining heavy')

• Please speak quietly, (not 'speak quiet')

• I was disappointed that I did so badly in the exam, (not 'did so bad')

• Why do you never take me seriously?

She speaks English perfectly.

       Verb + object + adverb

Tom looked at me sadly. (= he looked at me in a sad way)

C- W e also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs. For example:

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



• It's a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.

• Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to push you. (not 'terrible sorry')

• Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.

• The examination 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 very badly organised.

Put in the right word:

Intermediate
English exercise "Adjectives and adverbs" created by felin (01-12-2005) with The test builder
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1. The driver of the car was injured.
2. I think you behaved very .
3. Rose is upset about losing her job.
4. There was a change in the weather.
5. Everybody at the party was dressed.
6. She fell and hurt herself quite .
7. I cooked this meal for you, so I hope you like it.
8. Don't go up that ladder. It doesn't look .
9. He looked at me when I interrupted him.
10. Our holiday was too short. The time passed very .
11. Sue works . She never seems to stop.
12. Alice and Stan are very married.
13. Monica's English is very although she makes quite a lot of mistakes.
14. I would like to buy a car but it's impossible for me at the moment.
15. I tried on the shoes and they fitted me .

Adjective	quick	serious	careful	quiet	bad	heavy
Adverb	quickly	seriously	carefully	quietly	badly	heavily