Using Adjectives & Adverbs to Add Clarity
Adding adjectives and adverbs to your writing and speaking will give what you want to
say more clarity, color and specificity. Example:
o This is a segment of our business.
o This is a profitable segment of our business.
o This is an extremely profitable segment of our business.
Adjectives = what kind of + noun
Adverb = how + verb / adjective
Take 5 minutes to write a list of adverbs and positive & negative adjectives. Use only
business vocabulary (i.e., “large,” not “fat” / “disappointing,” not “sad”):
Positive Adjectives
Negative Adjectives
Adverbs
The most common adverbs are words that many people don’t recognize as adverbs,
because they don’t have the –ly ending. Here are a few:
Other
also
most
so
even
only
still
just
pretty
very
more
really
well
very
common adverbs are adverbs of frequency: words like never, sometimes, often, usually,
normally, always, etc.
Review your sentences on the previous page. Would any of them be better with the
adverbs discussed on this page?
B. Intensifiers
An adjective or adverb that makes a word/phrase bigger or stronger or otherwise more
intense is called an “intensifier.” Some of the words on your list and in the table above
are intensifiers. See if you can make the sentences below more intense, and then even
more intense. Example:
More intense — This is an extremely profitable segment of our business.
Intense — This is a quite profitable segment of our business.
Basic — This is a segment of our business.
More intense —
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Intense —
-------------------------------------------------------------------Basic — Our losses last year were unacceptable.