2.6 Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives and Adverbs

An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It often answers questions such as which one, what kind, or how many?

1. The green sweater belongs to Iris.
2. She looks beautiful.

• In sentence 1, the adjective green describes the noun sweater.
• In sentence 2, the adjective beautiful describes the pronoun she.
• An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs frequently end in -ly. They answer questions such as how, to what extent, why, when, and where.
• Bertrand sings horribly.
• My sociology instructor is extremely wise.
• He threw the ball very accurately.

• In sentence 3, horribly describes the verb sings. How does Bertrand sing? He sings horribly.
• In sentence 4, extremely describes the adjective wise. How wise is the instructor? Extremelywise.
• In sentence 5, very describes the adverb accurately. How accurately did he throw the ball? Very accurately.

Exercise 1

Complete the following sentences by adding the correct adjective or adverb from the list in the previous section. Identify the word as an adjective or an adverb (Adj, Adv).

1. Frederick ________ choked on the piece of chicken when he saw Margaret walk through the door.
2. His ________ eyes looked at everyone and everything as if they were specimens in a biology lab.
3. Despite her pessimistic views on life, Lauren believes that most people have ________ hearts.
4. Although Stefan took the criticism ________, he remained calm.
5. The child developed a ________ imagination because he read a lot of books.
6. Madeleine spoke ________ while she was visiting her grandmother in the hospital.
7. Hector’s most ________ possession was his father’s bass guitar from the 1970s.
8. My definition of a ________ afternoon is walking to the park on a beautiful day, spreading out my blanket, and losing myself in a good book.
9. She ________ eyed her new coworker and wondered if he was single.
10. At the party, Denise ________ devoured two pieces of pepperoni pizza and a several slices of ripe watermelon.