Two-minute Grammar: The Bare-bones Basics of Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives are descriptive words that modify (describe) nouns (persons, places, things, or ideas). They often tell you how many, which, and what kind. For example:

“He baked a delicious, beautiful cake.” (What kind of cake is it? It is delicious and beautiful.) “Nine members of our group signed up for the yoga class.” (How many members signed up? Nine.) “Hand me the broken radio so I can try to fix it.” (Which radio? The broken one.)

Adverbs are descriptive words that mostly modify verbs but can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. Adverbs most often tell you how, but they can also tell you where or when. Adverbs often end in -ly. For example:

“She walked slowly through the parking lot.” (How did she walk? She walked slowly.) “Lately, I have felt like I need to make a change.” (When have I been feeling this? Lately.) “I’m happy to go anywhere for lunch.” (Where can I go? Anywhere.)

There are several adverbs that do not follow the regular -ly formation. The most common of these include: well, late, and straight.  Similarly there are other irregular adverbs that have evolved from adjectives. These are considered less correct, so be careful using them in formal situations. These include: fast/slow (increasingly used instead of quickly and slowly), hard (increasingly used instead of forcibly or powerfully), wrong (increasingly used instead of incorrectly).