Adjectives and Adverbs Sentence Skills: A Workbook for Writers, Form A John Langan

Adjectives Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns. My neighbor is a successful private investigator. ( The adjective successful describes the noun unit private investigator.)

Adjectives Adjectives are used to compare. For most short adjectives, we add -ER when comparing two things, -EST when comparing three or more things. His company is bigger than the firm in Haddon Hills. The one in New York City is the biggest.

Adjectives For adjectives of two or more syllables, we add more when comparing two things and most when comparing three or more things. Mr. Murphy is more educated than his accountant, but his wife is the most educated person in the group.

Two Mistakes to Avoid INCORRECT: 1. Be careful that you do not use both -er ending AND more or both -est ending AND most. INCORRECT: The detective is the most smartest person who works with the agency. CORRECT: The detective is the smartest person who works with the agency.

Two Mistakes to Avoid 2. Do not make mistakes with irregulars.

ADVERBS Adverbs describe verbs, other adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs usually end in -ly. The private investigator acts quickly when he is hired. The absolutely priceless statue has disappeared. (The adverb describes the adjective priceless.)

1. A common mistake is to use an adjective ADVERBS 1. A common mistake is to use an adjective instead of an adverb with a verb. INCORRECT: The behavior of the wrongfully accused boy changed real sudden when the boy found a private investigator…. CORRECT: The behavior of the wrongfully accused boy changed suddenly... Three mistakes to avoid with adjectives and adverbs.

ADVERBS 2. Do not confuse good and well. The word good is an adjective; it describes nouns. The word well is an adverb. Detective Price did a good job on the reports. ( Good describes the noun job.) She phrased the questions well. (Well is an adverb describing the verb phrased.)

ADVERBS 3. Do not use a noun as an adjective. CORRECT: Technological advancements make it easier to investigate fraud. NOT: Technology advancements make it easier to investigate fraud.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. I speak Spanish well! Although Sean does not speak Spanish too good, he went to visit Costa Rica with his high school classmates.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises ...how quickly my Spanish... Correct each of the following sentences. He was surprised to see how quick his Spanish improved while he was visiting Central America.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. breathtakingly One day Sean and his classmates rode horses to a breathtaking beautiful waterfall.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. Since Sean was the taller of the six boys on the trip, he often attracted attention. tallest

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. correct The students were good hikers, so they walked to view an active volcano.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. correct The people they met on the Pacific coast swam well in the ocean.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. most interesting There are over 400 species of birds to see in Costa Rica, and the more interesting ones to photograph are the toucans.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. delete “most” The most biggest spiders Sean has ever seen were in Costa Rica.

Correct each of the following sentences. biological phenomenon Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. biological phenomenon One biology phenomenon was the walking tree which moves five to eight inches per year.

Correct each of the following sentences. Practice Exercises Correct each of the following sentences. moved slowly The students rode on an aerial tram that moved slow over the canopy of the rain forest.