The categories of English adjective and adverb. Kate Kalmykova.

Adjective. An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying words. An adjective usually precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies. Mrs. Morrison papered her kitchen walls with hideous wall paper. The back room was filled with large, yellow rain boots. Many stores have already begun to play irritating Christmas music. Eleanor listened to the muffled sounds of the radio hidden under her pillow.

Some nouns, many pronouns, and many participle phrases can also act as adjectives. Grammarians also consider articles ("the," "a," "an") to be adjectives. the tall professor a six-year-old child a solid commitment the unhappiest, richest man

Position of adjectives. Adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify. When indefinite pronouns — such as something, someone, anybody — are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun: Anyone capable of doing something horrible to someone nice should be punished.

The order of adjectives in a series Determiners — articles and other limiters. Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting) Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round) Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient) Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale) Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian) Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden) Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover)

Degrees of adjectives Adjectives can express degrees of modification: Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richer than Gladys, and Sadie is the richest woman in town. The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. (Actually, only the comparative and superlative show degrees.) We use the comparative for comparing two things and the superlative for comparing three or more things. The word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the precedes the superlative.

Be careful not to form comparatives or superlatives of adjectives which already express an extreme of comparison: Unique, absolute, impossible, principal, complete, main, entire, minor, universal, ideal.

Different kinds of adjectives Descriptive adjectives can be classified into different categories such as color, size, sound, taste, touch, shape, time, personality and age. Personal Titles. Titles such as Mr, Mrs, Auntie, Uncle, Dr and Lord are classified as adjectives, if they are attached in front of a name. For instance, in the sentence “Did you visit Uncle Neil on your way back home?” Herein the word “Uncle” is an adjective. Possessive adjective. This form of adjective is used in a sentence before a noun to indicate possession. For instance, in the sentence, “ Do not touch my diary. It is personal.”, the word “my” inserted just in front of the noun “diary” is the adjective. Few other examples of possessive adjectives are “your”, “his”, “her”, “our”, “their”, etc.

Demonstrative adjective Demonstrative adjective.This form of adjective is used to demonstrate or indicate certain things. “Parents of only those students, who have not managed to pass in all subjects, will have to come for tomorrow’s parents-teachers meeting.” Other such adjectives are “that”, “these”, “this”, etc. Indefinite adjective. While demonstrative adjectives point out specific things, indefinite adjectives do not indicate anything specific. Indefinite adjectives are formed from indefinite pronouns and the most common ones among them are “any”, “many”, few”, “several”, etc. “Several soldiers died in the Pacific War.” Interrogative adjective ("which" or "what"). What book are you reading?

Four kinds of uses. Attributive adjectives. I saw three happy kids. Predicative adjectives. That made me happy. They are happy. Absolute adjectives. The boy, happy with his new cell phone, did not look where he was going. Nominal adjectives. I read two books to them; he preferred the sad book, but she preferred the happy

Adverb. An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause. An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as "how," "when," "where," "how much". He drove slowly. He drove a very fast car. She moved quite slowly down the aisle.

Degrees of adverbs. Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree. Walk faster if you want to keep up with me. The student who reads fastest will finish first. We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs: With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients. The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen. She worked less confidently after her accident. That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years. The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He can't run as fast as his sister."

Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Emphasizers: I really don't believe him. She simply ignored me. Amplifiers: The teacher completely rejected her proposal. I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings. Downtoners: We can improve on this to some extent. The boss almost quit after that.

Kinds of adverbs Adverbs of Manner She moved slowly and spoke quietly. Adverbs of Place She still lives there now. Adverbs of Frequency She often goes by herself. Adverbs of Time She left early. Adverbs of Purpose She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.

Positions of adverbs One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly flexible in this regard. Solemnly the minister addressed her congregation. The minister solemnly addressed her congregation. The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.

Conjunctive adverbs You can use a conjunctive adverb to join two clauses together. Some of the most common conjunctive adverbs are "also," "consequently," "finally," "furthermore," "hence," "however," "incidentally," "indeed," "instead," "likewise," "meanwhile," "nevertheless," "next," "nonetheless," "otherwise," "still," "then," "therefore," and "thus."