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Adjectives
Adjectives and
and Adverbs
Adverbs
Prepared by Professors
Rita Perkins and Paul Harris
Camden County College

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.)

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

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.

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

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

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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.

biological
One biology 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?

McGraw-Hill The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000