Adverbs – describe a verb. (action)
If I say: He speaks loudly.
he: subject
speaks: verb
how does he speak?
loudly
I’m describing his manner of speaking so it’s an adverb.
Another example: I’m singing quietly.
I : subject
am singing: verb
How am I singing?
quietly, so It’s an adverb.
He swims well.
ask How to know whether it’s an adverb or not.
how does he swim? well, so we got an adverb.
We make the comparative and superlative forms of adverbs by using ‘more / most’. If you’re not sure what comparative and superlatives are, check my other video up there covering this topic.
She sang loudly.
She sang more loudly than her friend.
She sang most loudly in the class.
so here, more and most are adverbs.
Remember that
Adverbs of manner are usually placed after the main verb.
He swims fast.
She sings beautifully.
BUT it is possible to place the adverb before the verb. This places emphasis on the adverb.
She calmly announced that she had fallen in love with someone else.
She quickly finished her dinner.
But some adverbs are always placed after the verb.
These adverbs are: well, badly, hard, fast.
Now let’s go to Adjectives.
Adjectives – are used to describes nouns (people, places, things).
He is loud.
we are talking about him, a noun.
It’s a beautiful house.
we are describing the house.
She is a tall girl.
Adjectives describe nouns not verbs.
Look at these two examples to understand the difference between Adjectives and Adverbs:
The dog smells badly.
The dog smells bad.
“The dog smells badly” means that the dog, the poor thing, has a weak sense of smell. He can’t smell well. Whereas “the dog smells bad” means the dog stinks—poor us.
Normally, we make an adverb by adding ‘ly’ to an adjective.
Careful (adjective): He is always careful.
Carefully (adverb): She Crossed the street carefully.
Quiet (adjective): This is a quiet neighborhood.
Quietly (adverb): She spoke quietly.
Bad (adjective): This coffee is bad!
Badly (adverb): He sings badly!
If the adjective ends in ‘y’, we change ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘ly’. If the adjective ends in ‘le’, we drop ‘e’ and add ‘y’.
Happy (adjective): She looks very happy.
Happily (adverb): He sang happily.
Gentle (adjective): It’s a gentle cat.
Gently (adverb): He stroked the cat gently.
However, there are some exceptions.
Fast (adjective): That’s a fast car.
Fast (adverb): She walks fast.
so fast can be an adjective and an adverb, you just need to know what is fast describing? a noun or a verb.
Late (adjective): He is always late!
Late (adverb): He got up late this morning (‘lately’ is also an adverb but means ‘recently’).
Good (adjective): That is a good book.
Well (adverb): She did well on the exam (‘well’ can also be an adjective; see below).
Good / well
‘Well’ can be confusing because it is both the adverb form of ‘good’, and an adjective that means ‘healthy and fine’.
My mother is well (‘well’ is an adjective that means ‘healthy and fine’).
He did the work well (‘well’ is an adverb meaning ‘in a good way’).
Of course, we also use ‘good’ as an adjective.
This meal is good!
He can speak good German.
Late / lately
‘Late’ is an adjective and an adverb. There is also an adverb ‘lately’, which means ‘recently’.
I’m late (= adjective, meaning ‘not on time’).
He came late (= adverb, meaning ‘not on time’).
I’ve been working a lot lately (= an adverb meaning ‘recently’).
