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ADJECTIVE/ADVERB CONFUSION/ADJECTIVES AFTER VERBS OF

SENSATION AND PART OF SPEECH ADJECTIVE

By:
Arian Rizki Wardana
Lina Nur Annisa
Muhammad Dafa
Shelvya Rahmatul Irman

FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


SYARIF HIDYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
2017
A. ADJECTIVE/ADVERB CONFUSION
1. Adjective modify nouns (N) and pronouns.
TOEFL grammar
ADJ. N. ADJ. N
His recent accident caused a sudden change in his behavior.
PRON. ADJ.
He is intelligent
2. Adverbs modify verbs (V).
VERB N VERB N
He had an accident recently, and his behavior changed suddenly.
VERB ADV
He spoke intelligently
3. Adverbs also modify adjectives.
ADV ADJ
He grew an especially smail tree.
ADV ADJ
He was a highly motivated young man.
ADV ADJ
It was a cleverly planned operation.
4. Adverbs also modify other adverbs.
ADV ADV
She could run very quickly.

NOTES:
a. Most adverbs end –ly.
b. Some words have the same form for the adjective and adverb:
Adjective Adverb
Late late
Fast fast
Hard hard
(Do not add –ly to these words.)
c. The adverb for the adjective good is weel.

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An adjective is a word or set of words that modifies (i.e., describes) a noun or
pronoun. Adjectives may come before the word they modify.
Examples:
-That is a cute puppy.
-She likes a high school senior.

Adjectives may also follow the word they modify:


Examples:
-That puppy looks cute.
-The technology is state-of-the-art.

An adverb is a word or set of words that modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
Adverbs answer how,when, where, why, or to what extent—how often or how
much (e.g., daily, completely).
Examples:
-He speaks slowly (tells how)
-He speaks very slowly (the adverb very tells how slowly)
-She arrived today (tells when)
-She will arrive in an hour (this adverb phrase tells when)
-Let's go outside (tells where)
-We looked in the basement (this adverb phrase tells where)
-Bernie left to avoid trouble (this adverb phrase tells why)
-Jorge works out strenuously (tells to what extent)
-Jorge works out whenever possible (this adverb phrase tells to what extent)

Adjectives and adverbs are often confused and therefore misused. To modify a noun
or pronoun, use an adjective. To modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb, use an adverb
instead.
Adjective: This cheap scarf is no bargain.
Adverb: This scarf can be purchased cheaply.

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Similar Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs
Many adverbs end in ly, but some adjectives do as well. Do not mistake
adjectives such as ugly, friendly, and motherly for adverbs.
Some words can be used as adjectives or adverbs. Examples include daily, fast,
late, likely, long, low, much, short, slow, and very. Position these words carefully because
where they appear in a sentence will determine whether they are read as adjectives or
adverbs.
Adjective: He reads his daily horoscope.
Adverb: He reads his horoscope daily.

Predicate Adjectives
Use adjectives, not adverbs, after linking verbs (e.g., be, become, seem) and verbs
that refer to sensory experience (e.g., feel, taste, smell).
Incorrect: The cake tastes deliciously.
Correct: The cake tastes delicious.

Adverbs as Adjective Modifiers


Use adverbs, not adjectives, to modify adjectives.
Incorrect: the amazing ordinary woman
Correct: the amazingly ordinary woman

Adjectives ending in –ly

Most adverbs end in -ly. There are also some adjectives ending in -ly. Examples
are: costly, cowardly, deadly, friendly, likely, lively, lonely, lovely, silly, ugly etc.

 She is a lovely girl. (Here lovely is an adjective. It modifies the noun girl.)
 I love his friendly nature. (Here the adjective friendly modifies the noun nature.)

There are no adverbs friendly / friendlily, lovely / lovelily etc.

Some words can be used both as adjectives and as adverbs. Examples are: daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly, early, leisurely etc.

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 We should catch an early train. (Here early is an adjective. It modifies the noun
train.)
 I got up early. (Here early is an adverb. It modifies the verb got up.)

Adjectives and adverbs with the same form

Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form. Examples are: fast and hard.

 A fast car goes fast.


 If you do hard work, you work hard.

In some cases, the adverb may have two forms: one like the adjective and the other
ending in -ly. There is usually a difference of meaning or use.

Examples are: dead and deadly, fine and finely, free and freely, hard and hardly etc.

The adverb dead is used in some expressions to mean ‘exactly’ or ‘very’.

 He was dead drunk.

Note that deadly is an adjective meaning ‘fatal’. The adverb for this meaning is fatally.

 She was fatally injured in the accident. (NOT She was deadly injured in the
accident.)

It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between adjectives and adverbs
in a sentence. You must ask yourself what word the modifier is modifying. If the
modified word is a noun, the modifier is an adjective. If the modified word is a verb,
adjective, or adverb, the modifier is an adverb.

 To complete a sentence correctly, you need to determine whether the sentence


needs an adjective or an adverb.
 Cheetahs are speedy animals. (adjective modifying animal)
Cheetahs run speedily. (adverb modifying the verb run)

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 One area of confusion can be when an adjective is modifying a noun that is acting
as an adjective.
 That is my brother. (My is an adjective modifying the noun brother.)
My brother's bike is broken. (My is still an adjective modifying the noun
brother, but now brother is a possessive noun acting as an adjective
modifying bike.)
 Many people unintentionally use adjectives to describe verbs. Make sure in your
writing to use adjectives to modify nouns and pronouns and adverbs to modify
verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
 The boys walked slow toward their classroom. (incorrect)
The boys walked slowly toward their classroom. (correct)

B. ADJECTIVES AFTER VERBS OF SENSATION


These verbs of sensation are generally followed by adjectives, not by adverbs :
feel, look, seem, appear, taste, smell, and sound.
VERB ADJ
He feels bad
VERB ADJ
The soup smells is delicious
VERB ADJ
She looked nervous before the test
These are also called “predicate adjectives.”
This simple rule is: Subject + Sense Verb + Adjective

These verbs below are all “sense verbs”, or verbs that describe someone's sensation
or feeling or perception. Unlike other verbs, they require adjective, not adverb, modifiers.
There are six verbs of the senses:
-Look
-Smell
-Taste
-Sound
-Feel
-See

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These verbs are very important because of how often they are used. Normally,
when using a verb of the senses, we place an adjective after the verb, instead of an
adverb.
For example:
“Those earrings look expensive, are they real platinum?”
See in the example, the verb “look” is followed by the adjective “expensive”. Let’s
look at some more examples:
“That drawing looks great on the wall, do you like it?”
“I think the milk is off, it tastes horrible”
“Oliver feels lonely, because he doesn’t know anyone”
“Can you smell that? It smells delicious! I think Fiona is making a cake”
How to use “of” with taste and smell
The verbs “taste” and “smell” can also be followed by “of” and a noun.
For example:
“It smells of flowers in here, did you buy roses for me?”
“Can you taste that? This tea tastes of mint”

How to use “like” with verbs of the senses


We can use “like” to make comparisons. Let’s see some examples:
“Imma looks like her sister Anna”
“That icecream tastes like the one we bought in Italy”
“Mmm… it smells like summer!”
“Oh no! It feels like I’m getting a cold”
“Can you hear that? It sounds like the neighbour is playing his guitar again”
“Those clouds look like it’s going to rain”
“Do you feel like pizza? I do!”

“To feel” means to experience a particular emotion or physical sensation. The


expression “feel like” is used a lot in English and it means to want to do something.
“To feel like” is also used when we have a sensation or an impression of something.

C. PART OF SPEECH/ADJECTIVE
An adjective is a part of speech used as a modifier that describes a noun or
pronoun:

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a. Traditional toys are still popular.

b. You have an interesting job.

c. Your suggestions are helpful.

d. You are gorgeous.

1. Positions of Adjectives

There are three positions where an adjective can be placed - before a noun, after a
noun, or in the predicate. These positions of adjectives are called attributive, postpositive
and predicative respectively.
a. Attributive Position
An adjective is in an attributive position when it is placed before the noun
it modifies. For example,
1) I found some hilarious pictures. (Hilarious pre-modifies 'pictures'.)
2) Clever people won't stay in such an environment. (Clever pre-modifies
'people'.)
However, pronouns cannot be pre-modified.
b. Postpositive Position
An adjective is in an postpositive position when it comes after the noun it
modifies. Postpositive adjectives are not as common as attributive and
predicative ones, but they are found in a number of fixed expressions. They
are also used to post-modify indefinite pronouns because pronouns cannot be
pre-modified. For example,
1) We have plenty of rooms available. (Available postmodifies 'rooms'.)
2) There is nothing special. (Special post-modifies 'nothing'. 'There is special
nothing' is not acceptable.)
c. Predicative Position
An adjective is in an predicative position when it is placed in the predicate
of a sentence. In that case, it modifies the subject of the sentence via a linking
verb or other linking mechanism. For example,
1) Most students are happy. (Happy modifies 'students' via the linking verb
'are'.)
2) She looked sad. (Sad modifies 'she' via the linking verb 'looked'.)

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Most adjectives can be placed either in the attributive or the predicative
positions. However, a small number of adjectives are restricted to one position
only. For example, some adjectives such as 'previous' can only occur in the
attributive position. For example, it is unacceptable to say 'this chapter is
previous.' Conversely, some adjectives such as 'afraid' can only occur
predicatively. For example, it is unacceptable to say 'the afraid students did
not say anything.'
2. Functions of Adjectives
There are two main uses of adjectives, namely describing and classifying.
a. Describing Function/Descriptive Adjective
An adjective can be used to describe the quality of a noun. It helps answer
the question "what is X like?", where X is the noun. For example,
a) The quick fox jumps over the lazy dog. ('Quick' describes the fox. 'Lazy'
describes the dog.)
Describing adjectives can be modified by adverbs of degree like 'very' or
'extremely'.
1) Common Descriptive Adjectives
A common descriptive adjective is not capitalized.
Example:
The sultry Mariah entertained her fans.
2) Proper Descriptive Adjectives
A proper descriptive adjective, being derived from a proper noun, is
always capitalized.
Example:
I prefer the Chinese deli to the Japanese restaurant.
b. Classifying Function/Limiting Adjective
An adjective can be used to classify a noun. It indicates quantity, number
or a limit to the word it modifies. It helps answer the question "what is the
type of X?", where X is the noun. For example,
a) These two British tourists know how to speak Italian. ('British' tells us the
'type' (nationality) of the tourists.)
Classifying adjectives cannot be modified by adverbs of degree like 'very'
or 'extremely'.

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b) I prefer red wine to white wine. ('Very red wine' and 'very white wine' are
not acceptable, because 'red' and 'white' function as classifying adjectives
here.)
1) Types of Limiting Adjectives
a) Numerical adjectives, may be cardinal (one, two, three,...) or ordinal
*first, second, third,...)
b) Identifying adjectives, are such, same and similar.
c) Articles, are a and an (indefinite articles) and the (definite articles).
d) Nouns used as adjectives, modify another noun or a pronoun.
e) Pronoun Used as Adjectives
-Demonstrative adjectives, are this, these, that and those.
-Possessive adjectives, show ownership. They are my, your, his, her, its,
our and their.
-Interrogative adjectives, ask questions. They are which, what, whose
and whose. When used they should immediately be followed by a
noun.
-Indefinite adjectives are grouped into three:
used with singular nouns - another, each, either, little, much, neither
and one.
used with plural nouns - both, few, many and several.
used with singular or plural nouns - all, any, more, most, other and
some.
f) Verbs are used with adjectives, when they modify a noun or a pronoun.
These verbs are usually in the present participle and past participle
forms.
g) Complementary adjectives, refer to the direct object and tell the result
of the action of the verb on the direct object.

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