Part 1 Directions: Decide whether the underlined modifier is an adjective or an adverb. The boys walked slowly toward their classroom. The boys walked slow toward their classroom. Make sure in your writing to use adjectives to modify nouns and pronouns and adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Many people unintentionally use adjectives to describe verbs. ( My is still an adjective modifying the noun brother, but now brother is a possessive noun acting as an adjective modifying bike.) ( My is an adjective modifying the noun brother.) One area of confusion can be when an adjective is modifying a noun that is acting as an adjective. (adjective modifying animal)Ĭheetahs run speedily.

To complete a sentence correctly, you need to determine whether the sentence needs an adjective or an adverb.Ĭheetahs are speedy animals. If the modified word is a verb, adjective, or adverb, the modifier is an adverb. If the modified word is a noun, the modifier is an adjective.

You must ask yourself what word the modifier is modifying. Scarcely and hardly are already negative adverbs.It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between adjectives and adverbs in a sentence. When not used in this health-related sense, however, well functions as an adverb for example, 'I did well on my exam.' When well is used as an adjective, it means 'not sick' or 'in good health.' For this specific sense of well, it's OK to say you feel well or are well - for example, after recovering from an illness. (Refer to rule #3 above for more information about sense verbs and verbs of appearance.)Ĭonfusion can occur because well can function either as an adverb or an adjective. Remember, though, that an adjective follows sense-verbs and be-verbs, so you also feel good, look good, smell good, are good, have been good, etc. Good is an adjective, so you do not do good or live good, but you do well and live well. It would mean that you are unable to feel, as though your hands were partially numb. So you'd say, 'I feel bad.' Saying you feel badly would be like saying you play football badly. When you want to describe how you feel, you should use an adjective (Why? Feel is a sense verb see rule #3 above). Using the adjective careful here would not make sense, because it would mean that the dog gives off an odor of carefulness. Here carefully is an adverb that modifies the verb smells. Writing Letters of Recommendation for Students.

What is adjective and adverb