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ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
 Modifiers (“describing words”)
 Adjectives and adverbs
o Modifiers can be single words or can be
phrases
 Often prepositional phrases do double
duty as adjectives and adverbs.
o Some books devote special attention to
modifiers that derive from verbs, calling
them “participles,” which like all adjectives
and adverbs can come in single words,
multi-word phrases, or, if the groups of
words also contain subjects and verbs,
clauses.
 Adjectives—whether single words, phrases, or
clauses--modify (or “describe”) nouns and
pronouns.
 Adjectives tend to answer the question
“Which one?” In a way, adjectives give us
a way to distinguish one noun (person,
place, thing) from another.
 Which car? The fast car…. not the
slow one… or the red one… or one
in the parking garage … the
expensive one… but the fast one
 Which roses? The yellow, longstemmed roses gathered in a bunch
… not the red, miniature roses
collected in that vase
 Which dog? The black dog… not
the white one… not the shaggy
one… not friendly one… not the
friendly, shaggy, white dog… not
the one in a bad mood and is
growling… the little one that my
mother has owned for years… not
the barking, little dog in the yard
 Which movie? The scary movie on
the TV in the living room… not the
boring movie with bad acting… not
the one that had bad reviews last
week… not the PG-13 movie… not
the R-rated movie…
 The bike…. The old bike… the red
bike…the bike driving by the valley
…the wet bike that fell into the river
…the useless bike …. the bike with
the flat tire … the bike parked
down the street … the one that is
parked down the street
 Allergies… contagious allergies…
temporary allergies… seasonal
allergies… very, very bad allergies…
allergies that are annoying… allergy
relief… allergies that crop up every
spring … spring-time allergies… overthe-counter allergy medicine ….
 Other questions that adjectives
“answer:” What’s it like? What color is
it? How does it look? What kind of ----?
What does it sounds like? How big is it?
What does it feel like? What does it
taste like? In this sense, adjectives tend
to provide sensory information about
the words they modify. If it’s related to
one of our five senses, it’s probably an
adjective.
 Examples: John’s sloppy room, brandnew television set, an adorable dress,
etc.

 Many adjectives are formed from other
root words. Common suffixes for
adjectives: -ic, -y, -istic, -ical, -ful, -iful. –
iac, -ious, -ous, -ial, -able, -ish, -ive, etc.
 “magic” becomes “magical”
 “joy” becomes “joyous” or “joyful”
 “play” becomes “playful”
 “thank” becomes “thankful”
 “fish” becomes “fishy”
 “plenty” becomes “plentiful”
 “beauty” becomes “beautiful”
 “space” becomes “spatial” or
“spacious”
 “doubt” becomes “doubtful” or
“dubious”
 “thank” becomes “thankful”
 “spice” becomes “spicy”
 “harmony” becomes “harmonious”
 “courtesy” becomes “courteous”
 “juice” becomes “juicy”
 “grace” become “gracious”
 “gratefulness” comes from
“grateful”
 “establish” becomes “established”
and “stable”
 Dictionaries will give you the
adjective forms of words that can be
transformed
o Ironically, adjectives can be overused and lead
to some very non-descriptive writing, especially
when they rely on opinion or perception.
Examples of unhelpful adjectives: pretty girl,
hard job, bad movie. Therefore, good writers
use adjectives in moderation and use them in
combination with details and good
development. They also tend to use more verbs
than adjectives.
o Adjectives in yellow usually go directly in
front of the word(s) they modify in blue.
But they can come directly after a word,
something that happens fairly frequently
with adjective phrases and clauses.
However, adjectives can also end up several
words away from the noun or pronoun it
modifies. This phenomenon happens the
most often with sentences with linking verbs
and predicate adjectives functioning as
subject complements. (More on these
special adjectives in a minute.)
 I love my green dress.
 My car is making a strange sound.
 He bought a fancy new Lexus decked
out with all sorts of expensive options
and extras.
 The British spy was tried for treason.
The spy who was tried for treason was
British.

 He is both intelligent and interesting.
 Tom is small but can eat as much as Jerry.
 The mouse is fast and sneaky.
 The mouse is both curious and cunning.
 The mouse caught in the mousetrap cried
all night long.
 The white mouse with the red eyes got run
over.
 The mouse that lives in the house has to
hide from the angry cat.
 The mouse that was caught in the
mousetrap got quickly eaten by Bear Grills, the
survivalist from Discovery Channel.
 The grey and white spotted mouse ran as
fast he could from the wild dogs from the
street.
 My neighbor’s white and grey cat is always
sitting behind my garage door.
 The yellow cat with the angry face was
chasing me.
 The fluffy cats at the animal shelter were
cute and cuddly.
 There are special adjectives called possessive
adjectives. They show “ownership,” or
“possession,” or at least that’s the way grade
school teachers explain it.
o Possessive-case pronouns are “pre-done.”
They don’t need apostrophes.
 My, mine, our, ours, his, her, hers,
you, yours, their, theirs, its
 Her car… their third marriage… my
blouse… your homework
assignment… the town of his
birth…
o Although possessive pronouns are
common, the vast majority of possessive
adjectives are generally nouns that have
been turned into adjectives by use of
apostrophes and the letter “s.”
 The purpose behind the conversion is
to show that something belongs to
somebody. (Example: “Father” is a
noun. “Father’s” is a possessive
adjective. The phrase “my father’s
pipe” is intended to convey the fact
that the writer’s father owns a pipe.)
 Most possessives are created by adding
–’s to a word. However, some words—
like proper names and lots and lots of
plurals--already end in “s,” so, in that
case, usually all that’s needed is to add
the apostrophe. Look this up in your
book or a grammar handbook and
familiarize yourself with enough
examples so you see the patterns that
exist.
 the boy’s room (one boy, one
room)
 the boys’ room (more than one
boy, one room)
 the boys room (incorrect)
 the brothers’ room (more than one
brother, one room)
 the brothers’ rooms (more than
one brother, more than one room)
 my brothers rooms (grammatical
nonsense)
 my brother’s room (one brother,
one room)
 the twins’ room (two people, one
room)
 the twin’s room (one of the twins,
one room)
 John’s room (one John, one room)
 James’ room (one James, one
room)
 James’s room (incorrect)
 Smiths’ room (several people
whose last name is Smith, one
room)
 Smith’s room (one person whose
last name is Smith, one room)
 men’s room (restroom: one room,
lots of men)
 ladies’ room (restroom: one room,
lots of ladies)
 Children’s Medical Center
 Childrens’ Medical Center
(incorrect)
 Common mistakes!



My fathers pipe (doesn’t mean
anything in English)(= more than one
father, one pipe, nobody owns
anything)
My father’s pipe’s (doesn’t mean
anything in English)(=one father
owning some unnamed something
belonging to a pipe) (REMEMBER: You
can’t create plurals with apostrophes—
EVER!)
My grandfather’s pipes (one
grandfather, lots of pipes, all of the m
belong to him)
o Adjectives that follow linking verbs are
given special names: predicate adjectives.
Like predicate nouns and predicate
pronouns, predicate adjectives fall into the
larger category called subject complements,
and, as such, they are said to “describe the
subject.”
 John is an accountant. (predicate noun,
“accountant” renames John, “is” is a
linking verb)
 It was she who stole the missing
necklace. (predicate pronoun, “she”
renames “it” and refers to the person
who stole the necklace, “was” is a
linking verb)
 Maria is pretty in her new, sequined
dress. (predicate adjective, pretty
describes Maria, “is” is a linking verb)
 Maria looks pretty in her new, sequined
dress. (predicate adjective, pretty
describes Maria, “looks” is a linking
verb)
 Linking verbs:
o Forms of “to be,” forms of "to
become,” and forms of "to
seem”
o am, is, is being, are, are being,
was, was being, were, has been,
have been, will have been, had
been, are being, might have
been, become, becomes,
became, has become, have
become, had become, will
become, will have become,
seemed, seeming, seems, has
seemed, have seemed, had
seemed, and will seem
 And others: Verbs related to the
five senses when they function in
the same way linking verbs do to
show a condition.
o grow, look, prove, remain,
smell, sound, taste, turn, stay,
get, appear, and feel
 Harry became angry when his brotherin-law started criticizing his son’s
dancing.
 When he was filling out his
unemployment application, Jason was
confused about how to describe his
previous position.
 John called the waiter over to complain
that his soup tasted too salty.
 Because it is so windy out, we will have
to postpone our kite-flying.
 The energy drink that I bought from 711 is ineffective.
 Ben became nauseous when my uncle
told him what he was eating.
 We decided to leave the bar because it
was so crowded that we couldn’t watch
the game.
 Because her cup was empty, Bree called
the waitress over to ask for a refill.
 I was unable to think of a sentence to
present quickly enough for the teacher.
 I shook John’s hand, and it was very
sweaty.
 A police officer was annoyed about the
old lady’s disrespectful words.
 Harry Potter sakes John’s sweaty hand,
and he looks calm.
 Jamie’s mom is coming next week to
visit her family in McKinney, and Jaime
is so excited about her visit.
 She looks wonderful for her birthday
party, so she will get all the attention
tonight.
 The smart candidate became president
of the USA after winning the last
presidential election, and his supporters
were happy.
 I was getting ready to wash my face
with cold water, and I reached over to
touch the water, but it was hot.
 I was ready to go to soccer practice, but
they told me it was canceled.
 Sometimes, writers will use two or three
adjectives in a row to describe
something. Depending on his or her
choice of descriptions, he or she may
need commas to separate the
adjectives.
o Grammar books provide rules for
when to use a comma in between
coordinate adjectives and when not
to. Most will advise writers to apply
a test: if the words can be reversed
or interchanged or used with “and,”
a comma should be used. If they
cannot be reversed or interposed
with “and,” then no comma is used.
 It’s a bit of a judgment call. Most
people have an instinctive sense
for the answer, though, based on
a lifetime’s worth of hearing
things described.
o Example where comma is needed:
 movie (noun)
 long (adjective) movie (noun)
 dull (adjective) movie (noun)
 Saying a “long, dull movie” is
pretty much the same as saying a
“dull, long movie.”
 It sounds okay to say “the movie
was both long and dull.”
 It was a long, dull movie.
 It was a dull, long movie.
o Example where comma is not
needed:
 park (noun)
 dog (adjective) park (noun)
 popular (adjective) park (noun)
 Saying a “popular dog park” is not
the same as saying a “dog
popular park.”
 It doesn’t sound okay to say “the
park was both dog and popular.”
 Sometimes, the adjective closest
to the noun cannot be moved.
“Dog” in this example has to
come in front of “park” if readers
are to understand what sort of
park is meant.
 I took my beagle to a popular dog
park.
o Example where one comma is
needed but another is not:
 system (noun)
 stereo (adjective) system (noun)
 brand new (adjective) system
(noun)
 expensive (adjective) system
(noun)
 Saying a “brand new stereo
system” is not the same as saying
a “stereo brand new system.”
 It doesn’t sound okay to say “the
system was both stereo and
brand new.”
 Hence, no comma is needed
between “brand new” and
“stereo.”
 However, the test now needs to
be applied to “expensive.”
 It is pretty much the same to
say “the brand new, expensive
stereo system” as it is to say
“the expensive, brand new
stereo system.” And a stereo
system can be both “brand
new” and “expensive.”
 I love my brand new,
expensive stero system.
o Other examples:
 I want to replace my broken
down, worthless car with an
expensive race car.
 I went for a long, relaxing walk
along the lonely, dusty [no
comma] hiking trail.
 I went for a long and relaxing
walk along the lonely, dusty [no
comma] hiking trail.
 I went for a long, relaxing, and
inspiring walk along the lonely,
dusty [no comma] hiking trail.
 She wore a flashy, blue satin
Gloria Vanderbilt gown while her
date wore a worn out, frazzled
rented tuxedo.
 The energy drink that I bought
was flat, nasty, and ineffective.
 I decided to take a long, soothing
drive in the country after working
all day in hot, cramped office
building.
 Should I get the black, yellow,
and white Nikes or the purple,
black, and yellow pair of Jordans?
 The expensive, red car had all the
high tech, modified parts on it.
 The expensive red sports car had
all the high tech modified parts
on it.
 The lady used to live in a rusty,
old, blue and white house; she
now lives in a red brick house.
 The haunted house I went to was
old, rusty, and boring.
 Yesterday, I went for a long,
serene walk around the lake on
the winding concrete path with
no worry at all.
 It was such a hot, steamy day that
Adrian decided to wear shorts;
however, her father disapproved
her outfit, saying no daughter of
his would be allowed to wear
such over sexualized,
inappropriate clothing.
 The big, scraggly tree is what
most people would call an oak
tree.
 I ate the whole bag of fresh,
sweet strawberry cookies.
 I had a long, tiring day.
 I bought a clean, new, fancy
watch at the store.
 We spent eight long hours in
traffic on our way to Mexico.
 We spent a long eight hours in
traffic on our way to Mexico.
 The beautiful, intelligent, and
polite Puerto Rican model was
named Miss Congeniality.
 When I got home from work
today, I took a long, cold shower
to help me stay awake.

 The small car had red, white, and
blue racing stripes.
 The girl wanted to trade in her
old, dusty, beat up Honda for a
brand new, shiny Camaro.
 I’m from Barranquilla, Colombia,
and my city is a friendly,
beautiful, and historical place,
where I would like to live again.
 The American flag is red, white,
and blue.
 The French flag is blue, white,
and red.
Comparative adjectives
 We use the comparative for comparing two
things and the superlative for comparing three
or more things. (There is a so-called “positive”
form, but it’s just the usual word, and it tends
to be used for descriptions that don’t involve
comparisons at all, and so most grammar books
don’t make much mention of it.)
 How we form comparatives and superlatives is
largely a matter of how many syllables are in an
adjective. There are some exceptions, but the
usual patterns have us adding the suffixes -er
and -est suffice to form most comparatives and
superlatives. However, when a two-syllable
adjective ends in a ”y,” we drop the -y and add ier and -iest (as with “happier” and “happiest”).
Some adjectives , especially ones with three or
more syllables use more and most when an
adjective has more than one syllable.
Examples:
 It is colder today than it was yesterday.
(regular comparative)(two days)
 Today was the coldest day of the year.
(regular superlative)(365 days)
 He is the tallest boy in his class. (regular
superlative)
 I’ve never encountered anyone more
honest than he.
 He is the most honest guy I know.
 Harold was voted the friendliest senior, but
his expression in his photograph in the high
school year book made him look the
surliest.
 It was the most ingenious plan, and in it, he
suggested using small trucks and even
smaller cars to transport the cargo across
enemy lines.
**Notice that the word than frequently
accompanies the comparative and the word the
generally precedes the superlative.
 Of course, in the frustrating way that English
has of confusing the issue, some words can
follow either the –er and –est pattern, or they
can follow the “more”/”most pattern.
Examples:

Big dogs are gentler than small dogs.

Big dogs are more gentle than small dogs.


Of all the breeds in the world, English
Mastiffs are the gentlest.
Of all the breeds in the world, English
Mastiffs are the most gentle.


If you are ever in doubt, a dictionary will tell you
what options you have in constructing
comparative and superlative adjectives.
There are some adjectives that receive irregular
treatment, and among these are some very
common words: “good,” “bad,” “far,” “little,” and
“many.”
Irregular
Adjective
Comparative
Form
Superlative
Form
good
better
best
bad
worse
worst
far
farther
farthest
little
less
least
many
more
most
Examples:
o In my opinion, Italian food is the better
choice for the reception than Chinese food.
o In my opinion, Italian food is the best choice
for the reception.
o I know everyone thinks so, but my dog is
the best dog in the world.
o My mother's cooking is worse than your
mother's cooking.
o Of all of my sister’s boyfriends, Max is the
least annoying.
o John was mad when his mother said that he
couldn’t go to a Spurs game until she
explained that San Antonio is much farther
away than he realized, and the trip up and
back would take nearly twelve hours!
 Be aware that some adjectives already imply a
condition that cannot be compared or
expressed in degrees and so shouldn’t really be
expressed in comparative or superlative form.
“Pregnant” is such a word. A woman cannot be
“more pregnant” or “less pregnant.” She is
either “pregnant” or “not pregnant.”
There are more words like this than you
might imagine. Here are a few more:
“absolute,” “impossible,” “chief,”
“unanimous,” “irrevocable,” “entire,”
“final,” and “unique.” Logically speaking,
these words should not be used in a
comparative way, but writers and speakers
often do so anyway because they want to
exaggerate their points or emphasize. For
example, a film critic might describe the
boring script in a movie as dead, and then,
just to make the film sound even worse, he
might say, “The dialogue was even deader.”
Most readers can sense the sort of
exaggeration in the last example, but they
would balk if you were to write, “He is
deader than the wounded soldier.”
JFK was shorter than George
Washington, Teddy Roosevelt was
fatter than Clinton, and Lincoln had the
coolest hat.
Of all the past presidents, Barack
Obama would be considered the best
from some people’s view.
His health care policy was more
efficient than that of his competition.
I could not think of a sentence about a
politician, so this is probably worse than
my sentence on Monday, but still not
my worst sentence ever.
California has a cool governor, much
cooler than our governor here in Texas.
Barack Obama had the biggest margin
of victory since Ronald Reagan and
became the first African-American to be
elected president.
Barack Obama is one of the youngest
presidents in recent history.
He is the most intelligent candidate in
the last five years.
o Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other
adverbs.
 They tend to answer the questions
When? Where? Why? How often? In
what fashion? With whom? For what
reason? To what degree? How ____ is
it?
Common suffixes for adverbs
transformed from other root words: -ly
 “slow” (adjective) becomes “slowly”
 “fashion” (noun) becomes
“fashionable” (adjective) becomes
“fashionably” (adverb)
 “quick” is an adjective; “quickly” is
an adverb
 “extreme” becomes “extremely”
 “friend” (noun) “friendly (adjective)
“in a friendly way” (adverb)
 “order”(noun) “orderly” (adjective)
“in an orderly fashion” (adverb)

“week” (noun) “weekly”
(adjective—weekly schedule-- or an
adverb—I mow my lawn weekly)
 “sudden” (noun/adjective) become
“suddenly” (adverb)
 “rapid” becomes “rapidly”
 “fair” becomes “fairly”
 “calm” becomes “calmly”
 “love” (verb) “lovely” (adjective)
“lovable” (adjective) loveliness
(noun) “lover” (noun) “loving”
(gerund/verb/adjective) “lovingly”
(adverb) “in a loving way” (adverb
phrase)
 Special adverbs: “too,” “very,” “really,”
“so,” “way,” “far,” “rather,” “quite,”
“extraordinarily,” “extremely,” and
“especially .” These special adverbs are
called intensifiers. They are adverbs that
go with adjectives. A joke might be
described “funny” (an adjective) or
“incredibly funny” (an adverb + adjective)
if it went over with an audience very well.
 The soup was salty.











The soup was so salty that I spit it
out.
The soup was overly salty.
The soup was rather salty.
The soup was extremely salty.
The soup was a little salty.
The soup was unbearably salty.
The soup was very salty.
The soup was too salty.
The soup was not salty at all.
The soup was grossly salty. (grammatically
okay but odd sounding)












The soup was really salty.
The soup was barely salty at all.
The soup was very, very salty.
The test was hard.
The test was extremely hard.
The test was super hard.
The test was quite hard.
The test was somewhat hard.
The test was very hard.
The test was not hard.
The test was really hard.
The test was way test.















The test was very, very hard.
The test was too hard.
The test was ridiculously hard.
The test was a little hard.
The test was painfully hard.
The test was terribly hard.
The test was super-duper hard.
The test was awfully hard.
The test was partially hard.
The test was bloody hard. (
The tests Professor Smith gives are
famously hard, so I’d advise you to
study.
The test was fairly hard.
The test was unbelievably hard.
The test was sort of hard.
The test was brutally hard; almost
everyone in the class failed.
 -ly is the most common suffix for adverbs
but lots of adverbs go beyond one word in
length and are, for that reason, called
adverbial phrases. (Examples: “around the
corner,” “every day after school,” and “once
or twice a day”)
 Adverbs in yellow often go directly
before or after the word(s) they modify in
blue.
 The children played chess quietly.
 The children quietly played chess.
 The children played chess in the living
room.
 The children quietly played chess in the
living room.
 The children played chess quietly in the
living room.
 Yesterday, the children played chess
without fighting, but today, they
bickered endlessly about whose turn it
was.
 Since it was too hot to play outdoors,
the children stayed indoors and quietly
played chess.
 Early this morning, an old lady, who
was driving erratically, was in the
wrong lane.
 Mary likes to drive so slowly around the
school zone during school time.
 Late last night, texting while driving,
John ran through the stop sign and over
the ravine.
 The police officers drove by me so
quickly during a high-speed chase.
 Early this morning, on the way to the
hospital, a cop passed me on the right
shoulder going very fast.
 Yesterday, police officers quickly drove
to catch the speedy, deranged driver to
prevent any accidents.
 The cops always seem to drive
responsibly, but I’ve seen them speed
through school zones and blow through
lights without their sirens on.
 Yesterday, in the evening, the polite
checker at Kroger’s gave me a fiftypercent discount on groceries.
 Last night, I went to the grocery store
for shopping; I barely was able to find a
spot to park my car because the parking
lot was so busy.
 I hardly go grocery shopping during the
weekend because the long lines at the
register take too much time.
 Tonight, after my class, I need to stop at
the grocery store because I am
completely out of milk that I terrribly
need for my coffee early in the
morning.
Find all the adjectives and adverbs:
1. A Pentagon spokesman announced that, last
month, three Army squadrons in the northern
part of Iraq rapidly deployed south in the
direction of Baghdad in support of the police
forces there, who are battling heavily armed
militants, who were threatening a sacred
mosque.
 pentagon (adjective) spokesman (noun)
 announced (verb) last month (adverbial phrase)
 three Army (both adjectives) squadrons (noun)
 squadrons (noun) in the northern (adjective) part
(noun) of Iraq (adjective phrase)
 rapidly (adverb) deployed (verb)
 deployed (verb) south (adverb) in the direction of
Baghdad (adverb)
 deployed (verb) in support of the police
(adjective) forces (noun) (adverbial phrase) there
(adverb)
 who are battling heavily (adverb) armed
(adjective) militants (noun) (adjective phrase)
forces (noun)
 who were threatening a sacred (adjective) mosque
(noun) (adjective phrase) militants (noun)
2. The yellow race car driven by Al Uncer
swerved into the left lane and completely
knocked two other vehicles off the track and into
the pit area where two quick mechanics barely
managed to jump out of the way.
 yellow race (both adjectives) car (noun)
 into the left lane (adverbial phrase) swerved (verb)
 driven by Al Uncer (adjective phrase) car (noun)
 completely (adverb) knocked (verb)
 pit (adjective) area (noun)
 quick (adjective) mechanics (noun)
 barely (adverb) managed (verb)
 out of the way (adverbial phrase) to jump (verb)
 off the track (adverb phrase) knocked (verb)
 two (adjective) mechanics (noun)
 two other (both adjectives) vehicles (noun)
 left (adjective) lane (noun)
 into the pit area (adverbial phrase)
knocked (verb)
Often, in the western sky, one can see the
planets rise from the horizon toward the
ascending moon.
Crouched underneath a small table in the
back corner of the garage, a young boy
about five or six years old was hiding,
nervous that he would be discovered by his
older brother who had threatened to beat
him to a pulp because, earlier in the day, the
boy had accidently spilled ink on his
brother’s science project report.