Adjectives and Adverbs

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 Adjectives
• Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns.
• My neighbor is a successful private investigator.
(The adjective successful describes the noun unit
private investigator.)
• He is industrious. (The adjective industrious
describes the pronoun he.)
• His schedule is complicated.
(Sometimes adjectives come after the verb. The
adjective complicated describes the schedule.)
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 Adjectives
• Adjectives are used to compare.
• For most short adjectives, we add -ER when
comparing TWO things, -EST when comparing
THREE or more things.

• His company is bigger than the firm in Haddon

Hills.

• The biggest agency in the area is not the best.

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 Adjectives

• For most longer adjectives (two or

more syllables), we add more when
comparing two things and most when
comparing three or more things.

• Mr Murphy is more educated than

his accountant, but his wife is the
most educated person in the group.
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 Two that
1. Be careful Mistakes touse
you do not Avoid
both -er ending
AND more or both -est ending AND most.
• INCORRECT: • CORRECT:

The detective is the The detective is the

most smartest person smartest person who
who works with the works with the
agency. agency.

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 Two Mistakes to Avoid
2. Do not make mistakes with irregulars.

Comparative (two) Superlative

(three or more)
Bad Worse Worst

Good, well Better Best

Little Less Least

Much More most

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 ADVERBS
• Adverbs describe verbs, other adjectives, or other
adverbs. Adverbs usually end in -ly.

• The private investigator acts quickly when he

is hired.

• The absolutely priceless statue has

disappeared. (The adverb describes the
adjective priceless.)
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 Three mistakes to avoid with
adjectives and adverbs.
Adverbs
1. A common mistake is to use an adjective
1. A common mistake is to use an adjective
instead of an adverb with a verb.

• INCORRECT: • CORRECT:

The behavior of the The behavior of the

wrongfully accused boy wrongfully accused boy
changed real sudden when changed suddenly...
the boy found out that a
private investigator would
help prove him innocent.
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 Adverbs
2. Do not confuse good and well. The word good is
an adjective; it describes nouns. The word well is an adverb.

• Detective Price did a good job on the reports.

( Good describes the noun job.)

• She phrased the questions well. (Well is an

adverb describing the verb phrased.)
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 Adverbs
3. Do not use a noun as an adjective.

• NOT: • CORRECT:

The technology The technological

advancements of the advancements of the
twentieth century twentieth century
make it easier to make it easier to
investigate fraud. investigate fraud.
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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

 Although Sean speak Spanish

well
does not speak
Spanish too good,
he went to visit
Costa Rica with his
high school
classmates.
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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

• He was surprised how quickly his

Spanish
to see how quick
his Spanish
improved while he
was visiting
Central America.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

 One day Sean and breathtakingly

his classmates rode
horses to a
breathtaking
beautiful waterfall.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

 Since Sean was the tallest

taller of the boys

on the trip, he
often attracted
attention.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

 The students were correct

good hikers, so
they walked to
view an active
volcano.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

The people they correct

met on the Pacific

coast swam well in
the ocean.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

There are over most interesting

400 species of birds

to see in Costa
Rica, and the more
interesting ones to
photograph are the
tucans.
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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

 The most biggest delete most

spiders Sean has
ever seen were in
Costa Rica.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

One biology biological

phenomenon
phenomenon was
the walking tree
which moves five
to eight inches per
year.

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 Correct Practice Exercises
each of the following sentences.

The students rode moved slowly

on an aerial tram
which moved slow
over the canopy of
the rain forest.

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 Any
questions?

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