1. Adverbs and Adjectives
Parts of Speech

2. Adjectives Adjectives describe or modify nouns. Noun = shoes
His shoes are red.
There are three shoes.
The shoes are shiny.

3. 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

4. Compound Adjectives
Do not hyphenate the words when they come after the noun they modify
Notice the difference in these examples
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

5. Adverbs
Adverbs describe or modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
He ran quickly.
He ran very quickly.
She is really busy.
She is not worried.

6. More About Adverbs
Adjectives can usually be made into adverbs by adding “ly” to the end.
Quick => Quickly
Beautiful => Beautifully
Sneaky => Sneakily
Expensive => Expensively

7. 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

8. Double Comparatives Don’t use “more” or “most” with –er or –est
Yesterday was more hotter than today
That was the most dirtiest story I ever heard
You are the bestest teacher

9. adjective => adverb
Irregular Adverbs
adjective => adverb
good => well
fast => fast
hard => hard
little => little
Other Irregular Adverbs: very, much, not.

10. Comparatives and Superlatives
Most adverbs and adjectives also have a comparative and superlative form
Simple
Comparative
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

11. Practice Write each sentence. Underline the adjectives.
Circle the adverbs.

12. 1
The mean teacher angrily called parents.

13. 2
The bitter student did not care.

14. 3
The very sleepy student took a quick nap.

15. 4
The old dog could barely wag his tail.

16. 5
Six sacks were secretly stacked with sticks.

17. 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
The most perfect student in the class
A 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

18. Don’t use adjectives when adverbs are needed
You did a real nice job
(an adjective can’t modify another adjective)
You did a really nice job
(the adverb “really” modifies “nice”)
He did good
He did well or
He did a good job
Fuel injection helps the car run efficient
Fuel injection helps the car run efficiently
Come quick!
Come quickly!
Hopefully, it won’t rain
(an adverb explains how something will happen
I hope that it won’t rain

19. 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
Bill 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

20. Answers The mean teacher angrily called parents.
The bitter student did not care.
The very sleepy student took a quick nap.
The old dog could barely wag his tail.
Six sacks were secretly stacked with sticks.