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Eng Jordão Ortega Jemusse Manguena

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

Beira

March, 2016
I. ADJECTIVES

1.1. Definition

Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, making your writing and speaking
much more specific, and a whole lot more interesting. Words like small, blue, and sharp are
descriptive, and they are all examples of adjectives. Because adjectives are used to identify or
quantify individual people and unique things, they are usually positioned before the noun or
pronoun that they modify. Some sentences contain multiple adjectives.

In the following examples, the highlighted words are adjectives:

 They live in a big, beautiful

 Since it’s a hot day, Lisa is wearing a sleeveless
 The mountaintops are covered in sparkling
 On her birthday, Brenda received an antique vase filled with fragrant

1.2. Type of adjectives

1.2.1. Articles

There are only three articles, and all of them are adjectives: a, an, and the. Because they are
used to discuss non-specific things and people, a and an are called indefinite articles. For
example:
 I’d like a
 Let’s go on an

Neither one of these sentences names a specific banana or a certain adventure. Without more
clarification, any banana or adventure will do.

The word the is called the definite article. It’s the only definite article, and it is used to
indicate very specific people or things:

 Please give me a banana. I’d like the one with the green stem.
 Let’s go on an adventure. The Grand Canyon mule ride sounds perfect!
1.2.2. Possessive adjectives
As the name indicates, possessive adjectives are used to indicate possession. They are:

 My
 Your
 His
 Her
 Its
 Our
 Their

Possessive adjectives also function as possessive pronouns.

1.2.3. Demonstrative pronouns

Like the article the, demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate or demonstrate specific
people, animals, or things. These, those, this and that are demonstrative adjectives.

 These books belong on that

 This movie is my favorite.
 Please put those cookies on the blue plate.

1.2.4. Coordinate Adjectives

Coordinate adjectives are separated with commas or the word and, and appear one after
another to modify the same noun. The adjectives in the phrase bright, sunny day
and long and dark night are coordinate adjectives. In phrases with more than two coordinate
adjectives, the word and always appears before the last one; for example: The sign had big,
bold, and bright letters.

Be careful, because some adjectives that appear in a series are not coordinate. In the
phrase green delivery truck, the words green and delivery are not separated by a comma
because green modifies the phrase delivery truck. To eliminate confusion when determining
whether a pair or group of adjectives is coordinate, just insert the word and between them.
If and works, then the adjectives are coordinate and need to be separated with a comma.
1.2.5. Numbers Adjectives

When they’re used in sentences, numbers are almost always adjectives. You can tell that a
number is an adjective when it answers the question “How many?”

The stagecoach was pulled by a team of six

He ate 23 hotdogs during the contest, and was sick afterwards.

1.2.6. Interrogative Adjectives

There are three interrogative adjectives: which, what, and whose. Like all other types of
adjectives, interrogative adjectives modify nouns. As you probably know, all three of these
words are used to ask questions.

 Which option sounds best to you?

 What time should we go?
 Whose socks are those?

1.2.7. Indefinite Adjectives

Like the articles a and an, indefinite adjectives are used to discuss non-specific things. You
might recognize them, since they’re formed from indefinite pronouns. The most common
indefinite adjectives are any, many, no, several, and few.

 Do we have any peanut butter?

 Grandfather has been retired for many
 There are no bananas in the fruit bowl.
 I usually read the first few pages of a book before I buy it.
 We looked at several cars before deciding on the best one for our family.
1.2.8. Attributive Adjectives

Attributive adjectives talk about specific traits, qualities, or features – in other words, they are
used to discuss attributes. There are different kinds of attributive adjectives:

 Observation adjectives such as real, perfect, best, interesting,

beautiful or cheapest can indicate value or talk about subjective measures.
 Size and shape adjectives talk about measurable, objective qualities including specific
physical properties. Some examples include small, large, square, round, poor,
wealthy, slow and
 Age adjectives denote specific ages in numbers, as well as general ages. Examples
are old, young, new, five-year-old, and
 Color adjectives are exactly what they sound like – they’re adjectives that indicate
color. Examples include pink, yellow, blue, and
 Origin adjectives indicate the source of the noun, whether it’s a person, place, animal
or thing. Examples include American, Canadian, Mexican, French.
 Material adjectives denote what something is made of. Some examples include cotton,
gold, wool,and
 Qualifier adjectives are often regarded as part of a noun. They make nouns more
specific; examples include log cabin, luxury car, and pillow cover.

1.3. Comparative and superlative adjectives

1.3.1. Comparative adjectives

Comparative adjectives are used to compare differences between the two objects they modify
(larger, smaller, faster, higher). They are used in sentences where two nouns are compared,
in this pattern:

Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object).

The second item of comparison can be omitted if it is clear from the context (final example
below).
EXAMPLES

 My house is larger than hers.

 This box is smaller than the one I lost.
 Your dog runs faster than Jim's dog.
 The rock flew higher than the roof.
 Jim and Jack are both my friends, but I like Jack better. ("than Jim" is understood)

1.3.2. Superlative adjectives

Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a
quality (the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest). They are used in sentences where a
subject is compared to a group of objects.

Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object).

The group that is being compared with can be omitted if it is clear from the context (final
example below).

EXAMPLES

 My house is the largest one in our neighborhood.

 This is the smallest box I've ever seen.
 Your dog ran the fastest of any dog in the race.
 We all threw our rocks at the same time. My rock flew the highest. ("of all the rocks"
is understood)

1.3.3. Forming regular comparatives and superlatives

Forming comparatives and superlatives is easy. The form depends on the number of syllables
in the original adjective.
1.3.3.1. One syllable adjectives

Add -er for the comparative and -est for the superlative. If the adjective has a consonant +
single vowel + consonant spelling, the final consonant must be doubled before adding the
ending.

Adjective Comparative Superlative

tall Taller tallest
fat Fatter fattest
big Bigger biggest
sad Sadder saddest

1.3.3.2. Two syllable adjectives

Adjectives with two syllables can form the comparative either by adding -er or by preceeding
the adjective with more. These adjectives form the superlative either by adding -est or by
preceeding the adjective with most. In many cases, both forms are used, although one usage
will be more common than the other. If you are not sure whether a two-syllable adjective can
take a comparative or superlative ending, play it safe and use more and most instead. For
adjectives ending in y, change the y to an i before adding the ending.

Adjective Comparative Superlative

happy Happier happiest
simple Simpler simplest
busy Busier busiest
tilted more tilted most tilted
tangled more tangled most tangled

1.3.3.3. Three syllable adjectives

Adjectives with three or more syllables form the comparative by putting more in front of the
adjective, and the superlative by putting most in front.
 Adjective Comparative Superlative
important more important most important
expensive more expensive most expensive

1.3.3.4. Irregular comparative and superlatives

These very common adjectives have completely irregular comparative and superlative forms.

Adjective Comparative Superlative

good Better best
bad Worse worst
little Less least
much More most
far further / farther furthest / farthest

EXAMPLES

 Today is the worst day I've had in a long time.

 You play tennis better than I do.
 This is the least expensive sweater in the store.
 This sweater is less expensive than that one.
 I ran pretty far yesterday, but I ran even farther today.
II. ADVERBS

2.1. Definition

Adverbs are words that modify

 A verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)

 An adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
 Another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she
move?)

As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something
happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not
ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an
adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:

 That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.

If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a
sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:

 When this class is over, we're going to the movies.

When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called
an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and
time, modifying the verb):

 He went to the movies.

 She works on holidays.
 They lived in Canada during the war.

And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):

 She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.

 The senator ran to catch the bus.
But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:
 He calls his mother as often as possible.

Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would
say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed
a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.

 Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.

 The student who reads fastest will finish first.

We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:
 With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
 She worked less confidently after her accident.
 That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.

Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something.

Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or
downtone. Here are some examples:

Emphasizers:
 I really don't believe him.
 He literally wrecked his mother's car.
 She simply ignored me.

Amplifiers:

 The teacher completely rejected her proposal.

 I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.

Downtoners:

 I kind of like this college.

 Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Adjectives” <http://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/adjectives/> Acesso: 30-03-

2016

“The Comparative and Superlative”<http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/comparative-and-

superlative/> Acesso: 30-03-2016

“Adverbs” <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adverbs.htm> Acesso: 30-03-2016