INGL 4235 Structural Analysis of English and Spanish

Prof. Anibal Muoz Claudio

Adjectives: Practice exercises
KJ 3:00-4:20

Adjectives and adverbs (content words used to describe or modify nouns, verbs, and even
adjectives
I. Adjectives
a. Inflectional Paradigms
True adjectives commonly show comparative and superlative degrees by adding er and est
inflections. Derived adjectives make use of the function words more and most for this purpose.
b. Derivational Paradigms
True adjectives fit into derivational patterns with nouns formed by adding the suffix ness to true
adjectives and adverbs formed by adding the suffix ly to the same adjectives. (1999, Herndon)
happy-happiness-happily
b. (Cont.) Adjectives are derived from other words by adding such endings as y, ic, and ous to nouns
and bound bases; -ful and less to nouns; -able,-ent, and ive to verbs and bound bases.
1. greed
greedy
2. class
classic
3. danger dangerous
4. need
needful
5. home
homeless
6. manage manageable
7. differ
different
8. persuade persuasive
II. Adverbs
a. Inflectional Paradigm
In a few cases adverbs admit the comparative and superlative degree endings (er, est), usually they
use more and most. Some adverbs have a base form that also serves as an adjective (fast, hard). In this
case the class will depend upon other structural devices. (1999, Herndon)
b. Derivational Paradigm the most common adverb-marking suffix is the ly added to
adjectives (common + ly), (soft+ ly), (bare + ly). .
There are other combinations.
An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. An adverb "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man
ran quickly). But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It
works very well).
Many different kinds of word are called adverbs. We can usually recognize an adverb by its:

1. Function (Job)
2. Form
3. Position
1. Function
The principal job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs, adjectives and other
adverbs. In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the word that it modifies is in italics.

Modify a verb:
- John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)

- Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)

- She never smokes. (When does she smoke?)

Modify an adjective:
- He is really handsome.
Modify another adverb:
- She drives incredibly slowly.

But adverbs have other functions, too. They can:

Modify a whole sentence:

- Obviously, I can't know everything.

Modify a prepositional phrase:

- It's immediately inside the door.

2. Form
Many adverbs end in -ly. We form such adverbs by adding -ly to the adjective. Here are some examples:

quickly, softly, strongly, honestly, interestingly

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. "Friendly", for example, is an adjective.
Some adverbs have no particular form, for example:

well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

3. Position
Adverbs have three main positions in the sentence:

Front (before the subject):

- Now we will study adverbs.

Middle (between the subject and the main verb):

- We often study adverbs.
End (after the verb or object):
- We study adverbs carefully.

Adverbs of Frequency
always, sometimes, never...

References:
Herndon, J.H. (1999). A Survey of modern grammars (2nd Facsim ed.) Forth Worth, TX. ;
Hartcourt College Publishers
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adverbs.htm. Retrieved on Jan. 19, 2006