ADJECTIVES AND

ADVERBS
 ADJECTIVES

• Adjectives are words that describe a noun or a pronoun. Usually

adjectives don’t change their form and can be placed before nouns
or after verbs be, appear, seem, feel, sound, smell, look, taste etc.
• It’s a black cat.
They are happy.
I feel sick.
THE ORDER OF ADJECTIVES:
• When we use more than one adjective to describe a
noun, we should place them in a specific way. When
there are two adjectives of the same category, the
more general adjective comes before the more
specific one.
ADJECTIVES THAT CONSIST OF MORE THAN ONE WORD
ARE CALLED COMPOUND ADJECTIVES. THEY ARE FORMED
ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING PATTERNS:

• a) adj/adv/noun + present participle – crazy-looking, fast-

moving (used when the verb is active: The man looks crazy)
• b) adj/adv/noun + adj/adv past participle – well-known, candle-
lit (used when the verb is passive: He is known very well)
• c) number + singular noun – three-day, twenty-year-old
d) derive from phrasal or prepositional verbs – sought-after,
grown-up, talked-about
ADJECTIVES THAT CONSIST OF MORE THAN ONE WORD
ARE CALLED COMPOUND ADJECTIVES. THEY ARE FORMED
ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING PATTERNS:

• e) using suffixes -like (= similar to) or -friendly (=helpful to)

– eco-friendly, child-like
• f) body part/part of an object / noun + ed – green-eyed, well-
mannered, three-legged
• g) hyphenated phrase – don’t-look-at-me-like-that, we-can-do-it
PARTICIPLES CAN ALSO BE USED TO DESCRIBE A NOUN.
• Use present participles (Ving) for active verbs and past participles (V3/ed) for
passive verbs.
• If a participle clause is used to describe a noun, it usually follows the noun it
describes.
• He is a really boring speaker. I feel bored when I listen to him.
• The man sitting over there looks suspicious. (who sits)
• The car belonging to my neighbor has been stolen. (that belongs)
• The book published by our publishing house has become a bestseller. (that
was/has been published)
• The dress ordered on AliExpress doesn’t fit me. (that was ordered)
NOUNS THAT DESCRIBE MATERIALS, SUBSTANCES, PURPOSE
AND USE CAN BE USED AS ADJECTIVES BUT THEY DON’T HAVE
COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORM.

• Some of these adjectives may be used in a metaphorical meaning.

• a dinner table
• winter holidays
• gold earrings
• silk dress
• silky hair (not made of silk)
• silvery light (not made of silver)
• golden hands (not made of gold)
• summery weather (not necessarily in summer)
ADVERBS

• Adverbs are words that modify a verb, an adjective,

another adverb or the whole sentence.
• Adverbs are usually formed by adding -ly to adjectives:
slowly, extremely, differently etc. If an adjective ends
with -ly, we add words manner/way/fashion to form an
adverbial phrase: in a friendly manner, in a lovely way
POSITION IN THE SENTENCE
POSITION IN THE SENTENCE
THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ADVERBS AND
ADVERBIAL PHRASES:

• a) of frequency – usually, seldom, from time to time, never

• b) of certainty – definitely, probably
• c) of manner – carefully, slowly
• d) of time – in the morning, at night, tomorrow
• e) of place – at home, in the park, along the platform
• f) of purpose – for letter exchange, to help the needy
• g) of degree – quite, exactly, extremely
• h) of evaluation – apparently, obviously, honestly
SOME ADVERBS HAVE TWO FORMS
WITH THE DIFFERENCE IN MEANING
• a) deep – to a great depth
deeply – greatly
• b) fair – in a manner that is honest or impartial
fairly – rather, moderately
• c) free – without payment
freely – without limitations or restraints
• d) hard – with great efforts
hardly – almost no
SOME ADVERBS HAVE TWO FORMS
WITH THE DIFFERENCE IN MEANING
• e) high – at or to a high place, altitude, level or degree
highly – very much
• f) late – after planned time
lately – recently
• g) near – short distance
nearly – almost but not quite
• h) pretty – quite, to some degree
prettily – in a graceful way
• i) wrong – without accuracy
wrongly – unjustly