Download Adjectives and adverbs—the two kinds of modifiers or describing

Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs—the two kinds of modifiers or describing words—can be
distinguished from each other by the kinds of things they describe. Adjectives describe
things, and adverbs describe action or other describing words.
Using Adjectives
Adjectives are describing words that answer the questions “what kind of [thing]?” or
“which [thing]?” Examples (the italicized words are adjectives):
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The national economy
The friendly neighbor
The up-to-date report
Not all adjectives are just one word. Notice the multiple-word adjectives in the following
sentences:
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The half-done report is on the desk.
He gave us a “get-lost-before-I-get-mad” look.
The man who wanted the report was referred to us.
Using Adverbs
Adverbs are words that describe verbs (action), or other describing words (generally
adjectives, and other adverbs). Adverbs answer these questions: “Where?” “When?”
“How?” “How much?” Examples (the italicized words are adverbs):
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Do the job quickly (do the job how?)
It is good enough (how good?)
It was very expensive (how expensive?)
Read the letter immediately (when?)
Don’t leave it there (where?)
Just as some adjectives are made from two or more words, many adverbs are adverb
phrases. For example, in “he will work for an hour in the morning,” the phrase “in the
morning” answers the question “when?” And in “she works part-time for us,” “part-time”
answers the question “how?” or “how much?”
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Following the Rules
The following are some key rules for using modifiers correctly.
Rule 1: Do Not Omit the -ly Ending from Adverbs In conversation, many people drop
the -ly ending from adverbs. For example, we incorrectly say things such as “I was sure
lucky and “the work went real good” instead of “surely lucky” and “really well.”
Especially in writing, the adverb form should be used to describe verbs and other
describing words:
• He surely is lucky to get the prize money.
• I am really pleased to hear of your promotion.
• I think you did well yesterday.
Rule 2: Keep Related Words Together Adjectives should be placed next to the things
they describe, and adverbs should be placed next to the action or the other modifiers they
describe. The most common problem with keeping related words together is the simple
misplacement of an adjective—especially adjectives such as only, just, about, or almost.
Examples of adjectives not placed next to the words they are meant to describe:
• I almost have enough money to start a new company.
• Please bring the speaker a cold glass of water.
• He only has $5 to spend at the store.
Notice how much more exact the sentences sound when the modifiers are placed close to
the words they describe in these examples:
• I have almost enough money to start a new company.
• Please bring the speaker a glass of cold water.
• He has only $5 to spend at the store.
People often mistakenly place relative clauses too far from the words they are intended to
describe. Remembering to keep related words together will help you to avoid mistakes
such as these:
• The man is here who quit.
• The report is very good that he wrote at home yesterday afternoon.
• These sentences would have a greater effect if they were rewritten like this:
• The man who quit is here.
• The report that he wrote at home yesterday afternoon is very good.
Rule 3: Avoid Dangling Modifiers A dangling modifier is an adjective that does not
refer clearly to a specific word or group of words in a sentence. In the following
sentences, the adjective phrases dangle because they do not refer clearly to a particular
word or group of words—or they are not next to the words they describe:
• Having rotted in the cellar all winter, my brother was unable to sell the apples.
• To be sure the report would be delivered on time, “URGENT” was written across
the front of the envelope.
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© 2004, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
In the first sentence, the participle phrase having rotted. . . is supposed to describe the
apples, but it is placed right in front of my brother instead. In the second sentence, the
infinitive phrase to be sure. . . is supposed to describe we or I or someone else not named
in the sentence, but it is placed in front of “URGENT” instead.
To correct these dangling modifiers, we could rewrite the sentences as shown here:
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Having rotted in the cellar all winter, the apples could not be sold by my brother.
To be sure the report would be delivered on time, we wrote “URGENT” across
the front of the envelope.
Rule 4: Avoid Overusing Modifiers The use of too many modifiers detracts from the
effect they are meant to have. Example:
• The lengthy, unorganized report describing last year’s budgeted expenses in the
personnel department was analyzed carefully and thoroughly by our very
competent and willing auditors who work regularly in the accounting department.
The many modifiers make the sentence wordy and ineffective. Notice how the careful use
of only two or three modifiers (and changing passive voice to active) makes the sentence
much easier to read:
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The auditors carefully analyzed the personnel department’s expense report for last
year.
Rule 5: Use Comparative Modifiers to Compare Two Things and Superlative
Modifiers to Compare More Than Two Things We often use adjectives and adverbs to
compare two or more things. When comparing only two things, the adjectives and
adverbs should be comparative modifiers—modifiers used with words such as more and
less and adjectives with -er added to them (such as greater and smarter). Examples:
• This half is better than that half.
• Of the two, John is the smarter student.
• Betty types faster than Elliott.
• Hal sells more than the rest of the team combined.
When more than two things are compared, the adjectives and adverbs should be
superlative modifiers—modifiers used with words such as most and least and adjectives
with -est added to them (such as greatest and smartest). For example:
• She is the tallest member of the team
• He is the smallest quarterback to play in the NFL.
• She is the most qualified of all the applicants.
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© 2004, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Rule 6: Make Complete, Logical Comparisons Incomplete comparisons often make
the reader guess at what you are comparing. Examples:
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The Gilbreth diamond is far more beautiful—and costs less, too. (More beautiful
that what?)
You look much better today. (Better than when?)
We have received more applications for technical positions this year. (Compared
to another year or to nontechnical positions?)
Be sure that your comparisons are logical. That is, don’t compare apples to oranges, as
has been done in these sentences:
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My duties were much more difficult than my brother.
The houses and shops I saw in Japan were just like any town in America.
The first sentence compares my duties to my brother and the second sentence compares
houses and shops in Japan to any town in America. Restated to avoid the illogical
comparisons, the sentences would say this:
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My duties were more difficult than my brother’s duties were.
The houses and shops I saw in Japan were just like the houses and shops of any
town in America.
Rule 7: Use Hyphenated Compound Adjectives as Single Modifiers A compound
adjective is a group of words that provides a single description of a noun that follows.
Use hyphens between the words to make the words appear as a single unit. Thus, proper
hyphenation of compound adjectives increases understanding and speeds the reader
along. Notice the proper use of hyphens to form compound adjectives in the following
sentences:
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The Small Business Administration approved a small-business loan for $2
million.
He said that the large-appliance industry has been weakened by the recent
economic depression.
His “better-late-than-never” attitude kept him from hearing the opening remarks
of many meetings.
Each compound adjective in these sentences provides a single description of the noun
that follows it, regardless of whether the adjective has two, three, or more words in it.
The decision to place a hyphen between two words or to leave the hyphen out will often
have a significant effect on the meaning of a sentence. Examples:
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We need more qualified workers. (We need what? Great numbers of qualified
workers.)
We need more-qualified workers. (We need what? Workers who are more
qualified than the workers we have now.)
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The large appliance industry is suffering. (Which industry? The appliance
industry, which is large.)
The large-appliance industry is suffering. (Which industry? The industry that
produces large appliances.).
Hyphenated compound adjectives are used only before nouns. When they come after
nouns, they are not hyphenated:
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The up-to-date report was submitted on time. (comes before the noun)
The report was up to date. (comes after the noun)
It was a well-written report. (comes before the noun)
The report was well written. (comes after the noun)
Rule 8: Never Hyphenate After an -ly Adverb Although hyphens are often used after
adverbs, as in a well-written report, they are never used after -ly adverbs such as
carefully and quickly. Notice the absence of a hyphen after the -ly adverbs in the
following sentences:
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He presented a thoroughly documented report to the city council members.
The easily missed turnoff is just a mile from the main intersection.
The carelessly typed report had to be returned to the word-processing center.
Rule 9: Separate Consecutive Adjectives with a Comma As we mentioned earlier, if
two or more adjectives provide separate descriptions of the noun or pronoun, they are
called consecutive adjectives. Because they do not act as a single unit to provide just one
description of the noun, they are not joined into a single unit with hyphens. Instead, they
are separated with a comma. Examples:
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It was a clear, sunny day. (two descriptions of day—clear and sunny)
He submitted a long, poorly written report. (two descriptions of report—long and
poorly written)
As you learned earlier, an easy way to decide whether you should put a comma between
two adjectives is to separate the adjectives with the word and. If the word and makes
sense—and sounds right to you—put a comma between the adjectives. Of course, you
can leave the and between them if you want; in that case, you should leave the comma
out. Notice how we’ve used this trick to decide whether to put a comma between the
adjectives in the following phrases:
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The new (,?) inexpensive information appliance. . .
“New and inexpensive information appliance” sounds right, so we should put a comma
between new and inexpensive:
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The new, inexpensive information appliance. . .
Peak Performance Grammar and Mechanics CD-ROM
© 2004, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
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His adjusted gross income. . .
“Adjusted and gross income” does not sound right, so we should not put a comma
between adjusted and gross.
Peak Performance Grammar and Mechanics CD-ROM
© 2004, Prentice-Hall, Inc.