Everything English

Adjectives:

Adjectives are words that modify nouns, whereas adverbs, in general, modify verbs. Adjectives and adverbs offer additional meaning to nouns and verbs respectively. They can appear before or after words they modify.

• Examples for sentences with adjectives:

Darryl is my favorite uncle.

That’s an old oak tree.

The hot summer is here!

I have two children.

Those were the glorious years of his life.

Identifying adjectives in a sentence is easy: if a question such as “What kind of,” “How many” or “which kind” before a noun offers answers in a sentence, then such words are known as adjectives. Take a relook at the above examples:

Darryl is my favorite uncle. (Which kind of uncle is Darryl?)

That’s an old oak tree. (What kind of an oak tree is that?)

The hot summer is here! (What kind of summers are here?)

I have two children. (How many children I have?)

Those were the glorious years of his life. (What kind of years in your life were they?)

Adverbs:

Adverbs are words that modify verbs. It can even modify adjectives and other adverbs.

In the case of adverbs modifying verbs, the adverb can be identified by dropping a question “how” to the verb.

• Examples for adverbs that modify verbs:

Sharon sings well. (How does she sing?)

I did my exams badly. (How did I do my exams?)

The monkey danced happily. (How did the monkey dance?)

In the case of adverbs modifying adjectives, the adverb can be identified by dropping a question “how” to the adjective.

• Examples for adverbs that modify adjectives:

My mom is really nice. (“Well” is an adjective. How nice my mom is?)

His nails were horribly dirty. (“Dirty” is an adjective. How dirty were his nails?)

They were dead tired. (“Tired” is an adjective. How tired were they?)

In the case of adverbs modifying adverbs, the adverb can be identified by dropping a question “how” to the verb.

• Examples for adverbs modifying adverbs:

The train chugged painfully slowly. (How slowly did the train chug?)

Then she went happily praising him.  (How did she go praising him?)

The teacher spoke really well. (How well did the teacher speak?)

In certain cases, adverbs can even modify nouns and noun phrases. In such contexts, adverbs can also answer a “When,” “Where,” “Which,” “how,” and “Why” clause. Examples:

My duty tomorrow will be challenging. (Duty, when?)

The room upstairs is airy. (Room is airy, which one?)

We had quite a lovely time. (Lovely time it was. How lovely?)