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Adjectives and Adverbs
Prepared by Professors
Rita Perkins and Paul Harris
Camden County College
McGraw-Hill
Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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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.

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Mr Murphy is more educated than
his accountant, but his wife is the
most educated person in the group.
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Two Mistakes to Avoid
1. Be careful that you do not use both -er ending
AND more or both -est ending AND most.

INCORRECT:
The detective is the
most smartest
person who works
with the agency.
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
CORRECT:
The detective is the
smartest person
who works with the
agency.
Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Two Mistakes to Avoid
2. Do not make mistakes with irregulars.
Comparative (two)
Bad
Worse
Superlative
(three or more)
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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Adverbs
Three mistakes to avoid with
adjectives and adverbs.
1. A common mistake is to use an adjective
instead of an adverb with a verb.

INCORRECT:
The behavior of the
wrongfully accused
boy changed real
sudden when the boy
found out that a
private investigator
would help prove him
innocent.
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
CORRECT:
The behavior of the
wrongfully accused
boy changed
suddenly...
Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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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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Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Adverbs
3. Do not use a noun as an adjective.

NOT:
The technology
advancements of
the twentieth
century make it
easier to
investigate fraud.
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
CORRECT:
The technological
advancements of
the twentieth
century make it
easier to
investigate fraud.
Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
11
Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

Although Sean
does not speak
Spanish too
good, he went to
visit Costa Rica
with his high
school
classmates.
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speak Spanish
well
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

He was
surprised to see
how quick his
Spanish
improved while
he was visiting
Central America.
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how quickly
his Spanish
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

One day Sean
and his
classmates rode
horses to a
breathtaking
beautiful
waterfall.
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breathtakingly
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

Since Sean was
the taller of the
boys on the trip,
he often
attracted
attention.
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tallest
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15
Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

The students
were good
hikers, so they
walked to view
an active
volcano.
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correct
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.
 The
people they
met on the
Pacific coast
swam well in the
ocean.
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correct
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.
 There
are over
400 species of
birds to see in
Costa Rica, and
the more
interesting ones
to photograph
are the tucans.
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most
interesting
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

The most
biggest spiders
Sean has ever
seen were in
Costa Rica.
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delete most
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

One biology
phenomenon
was the walking
tree which
moves five to
eight inches per
year.
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biological
phenomenon
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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.
 The
students
rode on an aerial
tram which
moved slow over
the canopy of
the rain forest.
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moved slowly
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Any
questions?
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Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.