Using Adjectives and Adverbs
Correctly
What are adjectives?
• Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns
• These words are all adjectives
 A hot day
 A happy camper
 A silly twit
 A big, bloody mess (both “big” and “bloody”
modify “mess”)
 She is creative (“creative” is a subject
complement that follows the linking verb “is”)
 A boring course (present participle used as an
adjective
So what are adverbs?
• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other
adverbs
• Many adverbs end with ly
• Many adverbs answer the question “How?” or
“To what extent?”
• These are adverbs
Eating quickly (modifying a verb)
Trying very hard (modifying an adverb)
A really big show (modifying an adjective)
Comparatives and Superlatives
• Most adverbs and adjectives also have a
comparative and superlative form
Simple
Comparative
Superlative
Hot
Hotter
Hottest
Good
Better
Best
Exciting
More exciting
Most exciting
Careful
Less careful
Least careful
• Use the comparative form to compare two things
 Sally is the larger of the twins (not largest)
• Use the superlative form to compare three or more
 August was the hottest month of the year
Double Comparatives
• Don’t use “more” or “most” with –er or –est
X Yesterday was more hotter than today
X That was the most dirtiest story I ever heard
X You are the bestest teacher
Recognizing Adjectives & Adverbs
• Many words have both an adjective and adverb form
Adjective
Adverb
Happy kids
Playing happily
Smooth rock
Running smoothly
Good night
Eating Well
Efficient workers
Working efficiently
Casual dress
Dressing casually
Quick meeting
Talking quickly
hopeful children
Waiting hopefully
Real butter
Really hot
Don’t use adjectives when
adverbs are needed
X You did a real nice job
– (an adjective can’t modify another adjective)
You did a really nice job
– (the adverb “really” modifies “nice”)
X He did good
He did well
or
He did a good job
X Fuel injection helps the car run efficient
Fuel injection helps the car run efficiently
X Come quick!
Come quickly!
X Hopefully, it won’t rain
– (an adverb explains how something will happen
I hope that it won’t rain
Compound Adjectives
• Two or more adjectives often appear together
separated with commas
 Brad’s tiny, tight swimsuit showed off his hairy belly
• The words “tiny” and “tight” each work
separately to modify “swimsuit”
• Connect the words with a hyphen when they
function together before a noun
 Brad’s gold-plated piercings stood out against his
bright-red sunburn
• “Gold-plated” and “bright-red” are compound
adjectives
Compound Adjectives
• Do not hyphenate the words when they
come after the noun they modify
• Notice the difference in these examples
Brad was well known along
the boardwalk (no hyphen)
Brad was a well-known jerk
(hyphenated)
His SUV was fully equipped
He drove a fully-equipped SUV
Brad worked full time on his
tan
Brad was a full-time chick magnet