An adverb is another part of speech we were all taught in school. Just as we have explained the others like noun, pronouns, preposition, we are going to talk about adverb and adjective. It is very easy just like the others. However, you will really need to understand the others before you can flow in this one. So if you are reading this now, I trust you have visited my other posts and now have full understanding of what the other parts of speech are all about. If that is the case then a big welcome here.

Well before we begin, we will first ask ourselves…

WHAT IS AN ADVERB?         

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective and another adverb. An adverb tells us how, when, where and how often an action takes place

HOW AN ADVERB MODIFIES A VERB

An Adverb Modifies a Verb HOW

We all know that a verb is an action word and it could be an action of how, when, frequency and where

Adverb of Frequency (How often)

Example:

1. It rained heavily

The verb in this sentence is ‘rained’ while the adverb ‘heavily’ shows HOW it rained

2. John ran fast

The verb in this sentence is ‘ran’ while the adverb ‘fast’ show John ran

3. Peter ate quickly

The verb in this sentence is ‘ate’ while the adverb ‘quickly’ shows HOW Peter ate

4. Cynthia cried bitterly

The verb in this sentence is ‘cried’ while the adverb ‘bitterly’ shows HOW Cynthia cried

5. He beat her mercilessly

The verb in this sentence is ‘beat’ while the adverb ‘mercilessly’ shows HOW he beat her

An Adverb Modifies A Verb WHEN

1. She came in today

The verb in this sentence is ‘came’ while the adverb ‘today’ shows WHEN she came in

2. My husband takes me out every Saturday

The verb in this sentence is ‘takes’ while the adverb ‘Saturday’ show WHEN her husband takes her out

3. They go to church every Sunday

The verb in this sentence is ‘go’ while the adverb ‘Sunday’ shows WHEN they go to church

4. I attend my lessons weekly

The verb in this sentence is ‘attend’ while the adverb ‘weekly’ show WHEN I attend my lessons

5. She was born on October

The verb in this sentence is ‘born’ while the adverb ‘October’ show WHEN she was born

An Adverb Modifies the Verb Frequency (How Often) 

1. She never comes in on time
2. You can always reach out to me
3. Sometimes I leave the light on in the night
4. She rarely comes to my house
5. I usually see her mother

HOW AN ADVERB MODIFIES AN ADJECTIVE

Example:

• Adverb
• Adjective

1. She is easily excited over nothing
2. I am very pleased to meet you
3. He cried so bitterly when he lost the game
4. She put on a bright colour
5. She wore a dull colour dress to the party

HOW AN ADVERB MODIFIES ANOTHER ADVERB

1. His wife always talk calmly
2. The boy never easily takes injection
3. She sometimes carefully cross the road
4. The nurses so gently took her baby away from her
5. He rarely quietly calls his wife

Here are some the adverbs. You can familiarize yourselves with them

Let’s practice this!

Find the adverbs

1. The yellow fan always works better than the blue fan
2. Tomorrow my father went to work early in the morning
3. They ran so fast that their legs really hurt
4. The fish swarm very fast in the salty water
5. They usually play outside, now, they are running here inside

Answers

1. The yellow fan always works better than the blue fan
2. Yesterday, my father went to work early in the morning
3. They ran so hard that their legs really hurt
4. The fish swarm very fast in the salty water
5. They usually play outside, now, they are running here inside

Note: adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

Let’s try another!

Underline the adverb in the following sentence

1. The teacher was careful, she called the student immediately
2. The big table falls occasionally
3. Your bag has many big holes
4. She bought a brand new book
5. She usually wears a bright coloured dress

Answer

1. The teacher was careful, she called the student immediately
2. The big table falls occasionally
3. Your bag has many big pictures
4. She bought a brand new book immediately
5. She usually wears a bright coloured dress

AN ADJECTIVE

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that describes or gives information about something. They are big, cold, small, happy, sad, red etc.

An adjective can also be said to generally describe a noun or a pronoun. And what is a noun?

A noun is a name of a person, place, animal or things

Example

The table- a noun

To describe the table- we use an adjective (yellow)

The yellow table

Adjective     +     noun

The           fat                 girl

The          small                      fan

The         kind                     mother-in-law

The        wicked                    step mother

The         blue                        sky

When using the verb to be to describe a noun

Example

• Verb to be
• Adjective

1. The boy is sad
2. The girl is happy
3. The chair is red
4. The water is cold
5. Her mother is kind

There Are Different Types of Adjective

Adjective of Quantity

These are words that describe the quantity of a noun or a pronoun

Example:

1. My father gave me enough money for the week
2. Get me some water to drink
3. I just want a little
4. Her sister has few clothes to wear for the holiday
5. I couldn’t eat much of the food

Adjective of Quality

These are words that describe the quality of a noun or pronoun

Example:

1. I have a kind mother-in-law
2. She has a nice attitude
3. She is gentle
4. She has a beautiful daughter
5. Her father has a strong car
6. Aww! your baby is awesome

Adjective of Number

These are words that tell us or describe the exact number of noun

Example:

1. She just gave me an orange
2. Her father has three cars parked in their house
3. I need a phone
4. Her mother visited two charity homes
5. I just brought ten bags with me for the sale

Possessive Adjective

These are words that show ownership of something

1. I love my teddy
2. He gave me his pen
3. My mother brought her dress
4. The man gave us their car
5. The teacher marked our books

Interrogative Adjective

These are words used with nouns to ask questions

Example:

1. Whose books do you have?
2. Who called you?
3. What did you do today?
4. Whom did you tell?
5. Which book is yours?

Demonstrative Adjective                                                                                          These are words that points out a noun

Example:

1. That book is mine
2. This chair is mine
3. Those are her tables
4. These are pens
5. This pencil is for him

There Are Degrees of Adjectives

Adjectives of Positive Degree

These are words used to describe a single thing or person

Example:

1. My sister a fat girl
2. Jane is a tall girl
3. The ball is big
4. My orange is small

Superlative Degree of Adjective

These are used to compare more than two persons or things of the same category. It talks about the highest degree of comparison

Example:

1. Peter is the tallest of the three
2. John is the fastest of the three boys
3. Kate is the biggest of the three children
4. When you come, you will see that my house is the neatest in the community
5. She is the smartest in her class

Comparative Degree of Adjectives

These are used to compare between people or things of different category

Example:

1. Peter is a smart boy

 John is smarter than Peter

Kate is the smartest of them all

2. Cynthia’s house is big

David’s house is bigger than Cynthia

Harry’s house is the biggest of the three

Note: “For most adjectives, the comparative degree is formed by adding –er and the superlative degree is formed by adding –est to the positive form”

Wow…I trust it was an interesting class. Right?

Okay! Let’s practice

Now, identify the adverb and the adjective in the following sentence

1. The nurse was smart, she called the doctor immediately
2. The big fan usually have problem
3. Your food has small pieces of meat
4. She occasionally comes to our house with her fat sister
5. He always comes in late at night

Answers

• Adjective
• Adverb

1. The nurse was smart, she called the doctor immediately
2. The big fan usually have problem
3. Your food has small pieces of meat
4. She occasionally comes to our house with her fat sister
5. He always comes in late at night
6. He suddenly developed a high fever
7. Please quickly pass me that old blue bag
8. She ate her food hurriedly to catch up with the early morning flight
9. The road was so busy
10. I was so excited that I couldn’t finish my delicious food

please, leave a comment as it helps me to keep sharing. Thanks