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Uso de Los Adjetivos y de Los Adverbios de Modo
Uso de Los Adjetivos y de Los Adverbios de Modo
1. Aspectos formales
El sufijo -ly es, en general, la marca de los adverbios de modo en ingls.
The parcel was delivered swiftly. (adverbio)
The swift delivery of the parcel took us by surprise. (adjetivo)
Sin embargo hay que considerar:
- Existen algunos adjetivos que acaban en -ly: friendly, lively, lonely, ugly, lovely,
cowardly, deadly, etc. En este caso, expresaremos la modalidad utilizando la estructura
in a (friendly) way:
He had a friendly look.
He looked at us in a friendly way.
Esto no se aplica a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, early y leisurely que son tanto adjetivos
como adverbios:
This is a daily newspaper. // This newspaper is published daily.
He is an early bird. // He always arrives early.
- Algunos adjetivos y adverbios de modo tienen la misma forma:
He was the first guest to arrive. // He arrived first.
They carried out a fine analysis of our needs. // This suits us fine.
He hit the low ceiling. // The plane flew low.
He is a fast driver. // He drives fast.
- En una frase pueden haber diferentes tipos de adverbios. En este caso, el orden
habitual es adverbio de modo adverbio de sitio adverbio de tiempo:
The children were playing quietly in their room yesterday evening.
2. Aspectos semanticos
Algunos adverbios tienen dos formas, que por lo general, tienen dos significados diferentes:
late lately: He arrived late. (=not on time) vs. I havent seen him lately (= recently)
hard hardly: He works hard. (= a lot) vs. He hardly works ( = very little)
high highly: The dancer leapt high. ( = far from the ground) vs. We have always
thought highly of you. ( = with a lot of respect)
deep deeply: We like diving deep. ( = far from the surface) vs. I am deeply sorry for
what has happened. ( = very)
free freely: Children can travel free with us. ( = without paying) vs. In democratic
countries, everyone can speak freely about their political orientation. (= without
restrictions)
sharp sharply: You need to here at 10 oclock sharp. (=punctually) vs. She sang sharp.
(= on a high note) vs. You spoke to her rather sharply. (= in a severe way)
short shortly: He stopped short of the precipice. (= very near) vs. The results of the
elections will be published shortly. (=very soon)
easy easily: Take it easy! (=Relax!) vs. The solution was found easily. (= with no
difficulty)
most mostly: Which part of the concert did you like most? (= best) vs. My friends are
mostly in their early thirties. (= generally)
direct directly: We are flying direct. (=by the shortest route) vs. He left the
El adverbio really se puede utilizar tanto con los adjetivos graduables como con los
no graduables. Por eso, si dudis, really es una apuesta segura.
This book is really interesting.
The organization of the congress was really amazing.
El adverbio quite se puede utilizar con los dos tipos de adjetivos, pero tendr un
significado diferente en cada caso. Con los adjetivos graduables, quite significa
rather, mientras que con los adjetivos no graduables significa completely.
I was quite impressed with his presentation.
His presentation was quite incredible.
(Peter is a teacher)
Peter works like a teacher. He is very patient and meticulous. (Peter is not a teacher;
he works in a similar way to a teacher).
surroundings,
odds,
Observaciones:
1. Algunas expresiones de cuantidad hacen el acuerdo en el verbo en plural:
a number of, the majority of, a couple of, a group of, a lot of + sustantivos plural, the rest
of + sustantivo plural
The majority of people have a car nowadays.
There are a couple of students waiting outside.
2. Algunas expresiones de cantidad hacen el acuerdo con el verbo en singular:
- Unidades de medicin: Ten pounds is not a lot of money.
- Sustantivos compuestos con and: Fish and chips costs 3 pounds.
- more than one: More than one teacher was ill that winter.
Sustantivos con preposicin obligatoria en ingls
Hay sustantivos que requieren una preposicin:
an invitation to a party / an application for a job / the cost of living / a lack of
interest / no hope of winning / a tax on cigarettes
Aunque por lo general no hay reglas para predecir la distribucin de las preposiciones
detrs de los sustantivos, os propongo algunos criterios para facilitar la memorizacin.
1. Sustantivos que expresan relaciones entre personas u objetos
Suelen estar seguidos por la preposicin between cuando se hace referencia a los dos
miembros de la relacin y por la preposicin with cuando solo se hace referencia a uno de
los miembros:
Johns relationship with Sandra /the relationship between John and Sandra
The contrast with yesterdays weather / the contrast between young and old
A connection with another article / the connection between the two articles
2. Los sustantivos para las tendencias (increase / decrease / rise / fall / reduction etc.)
Pueden ir acompaados por dos preposiciones:
-
3. Sustantivos relacionados con las preferencias (need, demand, request, wish, desire,
preference, taste, apetite etc.)
Suelen estar seguidos por la preposicin for:
need for public transport
request for information
desire for better work conditions
demand for English courses
4. Sustantivos relacionados con las habilidades o el interes (knowledge, interest,
ability, skill, success, expert, experience etc.)
En este grupo, las preposiciones son menos homogneas:
knowledge of English
interest in classical music
experience of management
ability in maths
skill at organizing information
success in my search
expert on / at computers
5. Sustantivos relacionados con la actitud (opinion, attitude, respect, sympathy, belief,
attack etc.)
opinion of / attitude to the new economic policies
respect / sympathy for the disabled
belief in God
attack on democracy
6. Sustantivos relacionados con problemas y soluciones (trouble, matter, difficulty,
answer, solution, way, cause, reason, method etc.)
trouble / difficulty with learing English
answer / solution / key to the problem
way / method of storing information
cause of / reason for the delay