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Adjectives and Adverbs

Let’s learn about the topic

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Adjectives

♦ Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns.

• My neighbor is a successful private

investigator. (The adjective successful

describes the noun unit private
investigator.)
•
He is industrious. (The adjective
industrious describes the pronoun he.)
• His schedule is complicated.

(Sometimes adjectives come after the

verb. The adjective complicated
describes the schedule.)

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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 biggest agency in the area is not

the best.

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Adjectives
♦ For most longer adjectives (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.

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Two Mistakes to Avoid

1. Be careful that you do not use both -er ending
AND more or both -est ending AND most.
♦ INCORRECT: ♦ CORRECT:

The detective is the The detective is the

most smartest smartest person
person who works who works with the
with the agency. agency.

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Two Mistakes to Avoid

2. Do not make mistakes with irregulars.

Comparative (two) Superlative (three or more)

Bad Worse Worst
Good, well Better Best
Little Less Least
Much More most

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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.)

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Adverbs Three mistakes to avoid with

adjectives and adverbs.
1. A common mistake is to use an adjective
instead of an adverb with a verb.
♦ INCORRECT: ♦ CORRECT:

The behavior of the The behavior of the

wrongfully accused wrongfully accused
boy changed real boy changed
sudden when the boy suddenly...
found out that a
private investigator
would help prove him
innocent.

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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.)

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Adverbs
3. Do not use a noun as an adjective.

♦ NOT: ♦ CORRECT:

The technology The technological

advancements of advancements of
the twentieth the twentieth
century make it century make it
easier to easier to
investigate fraud. investigate fraud.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

− Although Sean speak Spanish

does not speak well
Spanish too
good, he went to
visit Costa Rica
with his high
school
classmates.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

♦ He was how quickly

surprised to see his Spanish
how quick his
Spanish
improved while
he was visiting
Central America.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

〉 One day Sean breathtakingly

and his
classmates rode
horses to a
breathtaking
beautiful
waterfall.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

ο Since Sean was tallest

the taller of the
boys on the trip,
he often
attracted
attention.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

> The students correct

were good
hikers, so they
walked to view
an active
volcano.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

 The people they correct

met on the
Pacific coast
swam well in the
ocean.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

⇒ There are over most

interesting
400 species of
birds to see in
Costa Rica, and
the more
interesting ones
to photograph
are the tucans.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

• The most
biggest spiders delete most
Sean has ever
seen were in
Costa Rica.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

One biology biological

phenomenon phenomenon
was the walking
tree which
moves five to
eight inches per
year.

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Practice Exercises
Correct each of the following sentences.

→ The students moved slowly

rode on an aerial
tram which
moved slow over
the canopy of
the rain forest.

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Any
questions?

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