UNIT 9: LANGUAGE PRACTICE

Gradable and ungradable adjectives

1 Find the mistakes with adverbs and/or adjectives in the texts below. Underline them
and correct them (there is likely to be more than one possibility). Be careful! Not all
of the sentences are incorrect. The first one is done as an example.
1 The abstract paintings that have been on display in the new art gallery since
Saturday are completely unusual. really/very/extremely unusual; completely unique
2 As an artist, she is totally amazing.
3 For art lovers everywhere, the fire at the Gugelbeck gallery in London was very
devastating.
4 The critic wrote an absolutely bad article about the groundbreaking work that the
gallery had decided to show for the summer festival.
5 He is a collector of really unusual modern art. He is also painfully shy and rarely goes
out.
6 The preview of her new work was totally fascinating yet absolutely terrible at the
same time. I have never experienced such an evening of mixed emotions.
7 During the period when he did his best work, he was highly criticised by the art critics
of the time. Throughout the history of art, as we know, this situation is not absolutely
unusual.
8 She differs from other sculptors of her day because she always preferred to work in a
slightly freezing room. It’s incredible that she was never actually frozen herself.

Adverbs / adverb phrases

2 Look at the adverbs / adverb phrases in the square brackets below [...]. What type of
adverb are they – time, place, manner, frequency, certainty or degree?
1 [totally] In my opinion, the criticism of his early work is unjustified.
2 [without doubt] This is a groundbreaking piece of work.
3 [carefully] The gallery spends a huge amount of money storing the paintings.
4 [usually] Visitors to the gallery fail to appreciate the size of the painting.
5 [at home] Her sculptures were extraordinary and she always worked.
6 [mostly] This season has focused on retrospective artwork.
7 [these days] The most thought-provoking work tends to be in inner city galleries.
8 [often] Critics fail to take into account the full background of an artist.
9 [in 1870] He left Paris and moved to New York.
10 [frequently] Her final painting is described as a masterpiece.

3 Put each adverb or adverb phrase in Exercise 2 into the best position in the
sentences. There may be more than one possibility.

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