UNIT 7. Adjectives and adverbs

1 Adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns.

We can use adjectives

♦ before nouns: There are so many historical buildings.

♦ after the following verbs: be, become, get, seem, appear, look, smell, taste, feel

They always seem pleased to see you.

♦ after find/make/keep + object:

Work hard on your research if you want t o make your trip enjoyable and rewarding.

I found the insects rather frightening.

♦ with other adjectives or with other nouns to describe a noun: a long; tiring boat ride (adjective + adjective + noun + noun)

The order of adjectives

· When we use adjectives together, we put words which express opinion before words which describe the characteristics or type of what we are talking about:

a beautiful Turkish carpet (beautiful = opinion + Turkish = type: not a Turkish beautiful carpet)

· We often use nouns as adjectives to add information about type: the Gujarati Textile Museum

· When we use more than one adjective to describe characteristics or type, they usually follow this order:

size — temperature — age — shape — colour — nationality — material — type

Indian silk embroidery small mountain villages

hot black coffee a beautiful old round table

· When there are two or more adjectives after a verb or noun, we use and between the last two:

The people are very welcoming and friendly towards visitors.

· We use and between two colours: vivid blue and green feathers

Adjectives ending in ~ed and -ing

Some adjectives connected with feelings are formed from verbs and have two possible forms, usually -ed or -ing e.g. tired/tiring.

· We use -ed forms to talk about how we feel: I was fascinated to see the extraordinary range of patterns. I was amazed at the variety of wonderful animals.

· We use -ing forms to describe the things or people that cause the feelings:

It's an absolutely amazing city to visit. India is a fascinating country.

2 Adverbs

Adverbs give information about verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Adverbs tell us how (manner), where (place), when (time), how often (frequency), or how much (intensity) something happens or is done. An adverb can be a single word (sometimes) or a phrase (from time to time).

Adverbs which tell us about

♦ manner are often formed by adding -ly to the adjective form:

careful — carefully, happy — happily

They usually come after the verb (and object, if there is one):

I plan my trips very carefully, (not I plan very carefully my trips)

♦ place usually come after the verb: It was the first time I had been there.

Try to stay near the old part of the city.

♦ time such as today, tomorrow, now, since 2003, for three minutes can go at the beginning or the end of a clause:

Ihad a very memorable trip last year, (or Last year I had a very memorable trip.)

♦ frequency usually come before the verb but after be or an auxiliary verb: I often travel for my job.

I have always enjoyed my visits there. He's never late.

· intensity affect the strength of adjectives or adverbs:

fairly, quite, very, extremely, absolutely,

rather, pretty highly, really completely, totally

weaker stronger

The adverbs at the stronger end of the scale (absolutely, completely, totally) can only be used with some adjectives. These tend to be 'extreme' adjectives that suggest a limit in their meaning (e.g. terrifying, excellent, exhausted). Other 'non-extreme' adjectives (e.g. frightened, good, tired) never collocate with these stronger adverbs. Compare:

There are some absolutely stunning examples of Indian silk embroidery. (not fairly stunning) The people are very friendly. (not absolutely friendly)

Really collocates with most adjectives.

!!! We cannot intensify adjectives or nouns which describe type (not a very Textile Museum).

The order of adverbs

When two or more adverbs are used together at the end of a clause the order is usually

manner — place — time:

I’ll meet you outside the station at six o'clock. (outside the station - place, at six o'clock - time)

Irregular adverbs

Some adverbs of manner look the same as the adjective form (e.g. hard, fast, straight, late, early):

Work hard on your research. (adverb) This is a hard exercise. (adjective)

Hard is an adjective and an adverb, and hardly is an adverb meaning very little:

He hardly had time to say hello. (= he had very little time to say hello)

Good is an adjective, and well is the adverb: He spoke very good English. (describes English)

He spoke English very well, (describes how he spoke)

However, well can also be an adjective when talking about health: She's not well - she's got a cold.

Grammar extra: Adjectives

Some adjectives can be followed by to + infinitive to add to their meaning (e.g. able, likely, right, wrong, lucky) and some adjectives describing feelings (e.g. surprised, afraid, happy, delighted):

I'll he happy to answer questions.

I was fascinated to see the extraordinary range of patterns.

Some adjectives can be followed by a preposition + -ing:

People are tired of hearing politicians' promises. (not tired to hear)

I am not very good at taking photographs. (not good to take photographs)