Adjectives and Adverbs Examples & Rules – Adjectives are words that describe nouns or object pronouns. Thus, adjectives modify the noun or pronoun to be more specific and interesting. Meanwhile, adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
How to Use Adjectives in Sentences
As we said earlier, adjectives describe nouns and pronouns and you can put them in several places in a sentence. Here is how to use them correctly:
Adjective Rules
1. Adjectives can come before noun.
Examples:
What a lovely color!
He is a kind.
2. Adjectives can come after these verbs: be, become, get, seem, appear, look, feel, sound, taste, smell.
Examples:
Jane is tall for her age.
She has become difficult to talk to.
Lunch smells good.
3. Adjectives can come after get / make / keep / find / + object.
Examples:
She got the room ready for the guests.
They made their house bigger by building an extension.
How to Use Adverbs in Sentences
As you guys already know, adverbs are used to provide more information about nouns and there are rules to use adverbs in your sentences. Here are some groups of adverb phrases and how to use them:
Adverbs Rules
1. ‘Manner’ adverbs
Manner adverbs shows how something is done or how something happens in a sentence. This type of adverbs is usually located after the verb and object.
Examples:
Check garments thoroughly for marks and holes.
I bought that bag quickly.
2. ‘Place’ adverbs
Examples:
We went shopping there last week.
She went outside.
3. ‘Time’ adverbs
Time adverbs shows when or how often something happens / occurs in a sentence. This type of adverbs is often placed before a verb, but the adverb phrase can be located at the beginning or end of a sentence.
Examples:
Try to remember what clothes you already have.
I bought the computer this morning.
4. ‘Intensifying’ adverbs
Intensifying adverbs are used to change the power of adjectives and adverbs used in a sentence. Some of intensifying adverbs words are ‘really‘, ‘very‘, and ‘absolutely‘.
Examples:
This burger is really good.
This place is becoming very hot.
I am still absolutely obsessed with Johnny Depp.
A Few Things to Note
1. Use the word “absolutely” on powerful adjectives.
Examples:
| Right | Wrong |
| The show was absolutely fantastic. | The show was absolutely good. |
2. The word “very” can be used with any adjectives.
Examples:
That man was very good.
These little cats seem very happy.
3. Use the word “really” with adjectives and place them before the word “very” (only if you want to use the words “really” and “very” simultaneously in a sentence).
Examples:
“Magic is really very simple, all you’ve got to do is want something and then let yourself have it.” – Debbie Reynolds
4. Adverbs are usually located after to be (is, am, are, was, were) and auxiliary verbs (seem, look, appear, etc.).
Examples:
I am never happy with anything I buy.
We have already seen each other, don’t we?.
If there are two or more adverbs in a clause or sentence, the order of adverbs can vary, but it would be better if you put the time adverb at the end of the sentence.
Sentence Example:
They played happily in the snow all day.
The Form of Adjectives and Adverbs
Just so you know, most adverbs are formed from adjectives + ly. Here are some examples:
Rare > Rarely
Successful > Successfully
Perfect > Perfectly
But sometimes, there are also spelling changes, just like these following examples:
Tragic > Tragically
Happy > Happily
And some adverbs have the same form as adjectives, such as:
Hard > hard
Fast > fast
Late > late
Straight > straight
There are several adjectives that look like adverbs, take a look at following examples:
Lovely
Silly
Lonely
Friendly
If you want to make adverbs out of these adjectives words, then use an adverb phrase in your sentence, for example:
He looked at me in a friendly way.
Lastly, there are some adverbs that don’t have forms like adjectives at all. Examples:
Already
Ever
Never
Still
There
Yet
That was some adjective and adverbs examples and rules. If you want to learn more about this subject, you can take the adjective and adverbs exercises on our website as well. Thanks for reading!