ADJ and ADV
What do they modify?
• Adjectives- modify nouns, pronouns, and other adjectives
• Quiet
• Hasty
• Adverbs- modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs
• Quietly
• Hastily
Adjectives
• When the curtain rose, the graceful dancer moved across the stage.
• Incorrect- When the curtain rose, the gracefully dancer moved across
the stage.
Adverbs
• Modify a verb
• Jonas Salk worked diligently on a cure for polio for many years.
• Modify an adjective
• Martha Graham was a highly influential choreographer.
• Modify another adverb
• The crocodile moved astonishingly quickly through the water.
ACT Style
• Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and chorographer
who left an extraordinarily strongly impact on her art form—her
influence on dance has been compared to that of Picasso on the
visual arts.
• No change
• extraordinarily strong
• extraordinary strong
• extraordinarily stronger
ACT Style
• The wooden fish is a traditionally percussion instrument used
throughout China, Japan, and Korea. The fish is hollow with an
exterior ridge and produces a hollow sound when it is struck.
• No change
• traditional; percussion
• traditional percussion
• traditional, percussion
Helpful tip
• Adjectives typically modify a noun
• How can you identify a noun?
• Nouns can also be abstract concepts like “idea” and “effort”
• You can always put the words “a/an” or “the” in front of noun
• A relationship or the relationship (makes sense)
• A maintain or the maintain (doesn’t make sense)
ACT Style
• During his fall from notoriety to obscurity, engineer Nikola Tesla
created a legacy of invention that still genuine fascinates today.
• The best place for the underlined word is
• Where it is now
• After the word “engineer”
• Before the word “legacy”
• Before the word “that”
ACT Style
• Unlike other mountain ranges that run along fault lines, the Adirondacks
resemble a dome. They were formed by a surge in the Earth that exposed
buried rocks previously more than a billion years old.
• The best place for the underlined word is
•
•
•
•
No change
Before the word “surge”
Before the word “buried”
Before the word “years”
Comparative and Superlative
• Adjective
• Tall (1 syl)
• Small (1 syl)
• Funny (2 syl)
• Famous (2 syl)
• Friendly (2)
• Friendly
• Attractive (3)
• Interesting (4)
Comparative
Taller
Smaller
Funnier
More famous
Friendlier
More friendly
More Attractive
More interesting
Superlative
Tallest
Smallest
Funniest
Most famous
Friendliest
Most friendly
Most attractive
Most interesting
Comparative (2) Superlative (3)
• Incorrect- Ronald Amundsen and four members of his expedition
arrived at the South Pole five weeks earliest than Robert Falcon Scott
and his team. (earlier)
• Incorrect- Out of all the American choreographers who were active
during the twentieth century, Martha Graham is perhaps the more
famous one. (most famous)
Double comparison (wrong)
• An adjective ending in –er or –est should never take “more” or
“most”
• Earlier vs more earlier
• Fastest vs most fastest
Word Comparisons
• Similarities and differences
• As…as
• Among pioneers of modern dance, Isadora Duncan is as renowned as a dancer and a choreographer as
Martha Graham.
• Not only…but (also)
• Martha Graham was not only a great dancer but she was also a great choreographer.
• More/less…than
• Measuring 25 feet, a python named Medusa is longer than any other snake in the world.
• (N)either…(n)or
• In the United States, neither Nikolai Tesla nor James Jouse is as famous as Thomas Edison.
Fewer vs Less
• Fewer=quantifiable…can be counted
• Less= not quantifiable…can’t be counted
• I wish Mr. Salyer would assign FEWER pages of Huck Finn per night.
• I wish Mr. Salyer would assign LESS homework per night.
• She has FEWER years of experience than Mike.
• She has LESS experience than Mike.
Many vs. Much
• Many = quantifiable…can be counted
• Much = not quantifiable…cannot be counted
• There are MANY issues that we need to discuss at this meeting.
• There is MUCH we need to discuss at this meeting.
• There are not MANY beverages in the refrigerator.
• There is not MUCH to drink in the refrigerator.