Adjectives and Adverbs

Using Adjectives and Adverbs

January 20, 2021 - 7th Grade English

Open Ended

Review: What is an adjective?

Adjective

a word that describes a noun or a pronoun

Open Ended

Review: What is an adverb?

Adverb

a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb

Adjectives and Adverbs

• Similar: they're both describing words

• Different: they describe different things

Adjectives

used to describe people, places, things, or ideas

What adjectives could you use to describe the water in the picture on the right?

Example: the shallow water

Open Ended

What adjective would you use to describe the water?

The __________________ water

Adverbs

• used to describe actions or show intensity

• What adverbs could you use to describe how the man is running in the picture?

• Example: running wildly

Open Ended

What adverb would you use to describe how he's running?

Running ______________

Adjectives and Adverbs

• Many words have both adjective and adverb forms

• They look one way when they're describing nouns and are a little bit different when they're describing verbs

• Example: quick

• The quick runner (adjective describing runner)

• Running quickly (adverb describing running)

Multiple Choice

Let's Practice: Is the word calm an adjective or an adverb?

(Hint: the calm day, the calm teacher)

• Adjective

• Adverb

Fill in the Blank

What if I wanted to use "calm" to describe the action of putting books on the shelf?

Example: He put books on the shelf ____________.

Change the word calm so that it is an adverb.

Two Forms of the Same Word

• Calm (adjective) - Example: the calm day

• Calmly (adverb) - Example: He calmly observed the situation

Multiple Choice

Let's try another one.

Is the word lovely an adjective or an adverb?

(Ex: the lovely girl, the lovely house)

• adjective

• adverb

Did that one mix you up?

• Even though lovely ends in -ly, it's just an adjective, not an adverb.

• You can tell because lovely describes things or people, not actions.

• We say, "She is a lovely young woman." We wouldn't say "She plays lovely." That doesn't make any sense!

Multiple Choice

Let's try another. Is the word carefully an adjective or an adverb?

(Ex: Eat carefully, go carefully)

• adjective

• adverb

Fill in the Blank

What if I wanted to use the word "carefully" to describe how a person is all the time?

Example: He is a __________________ worker.

Change the word "carefully" into an adjective to describe the worker.

Confusing?

• Adverbs and adjectives often get confused!

• Pay attention to the type of verb

• Adverbs are used after action verbs!

• Describing words that come after linking verbs are adjectives.

Multiple Choice

Are you with me so far?

Let's check: Adverbs are used with _________ verbs.

• action

• linking

Multiple Choice

How about this one?

Describing words that come after linking verbs are predicate ______________.

• adjectives

• adverbs

Adjectives vs. Adverbs

The good news is that, most of the time, your ear will tell you which one should go in a sentence. It will just sound right!

Multiple Choice

For example:

The drum corps played ___________.

• loud

• loudly

Did you have to think about it?

• If you thought about it, you could probably tell me that loud is an adjective and loudly is an adverb.

• In that sentence you were describing an action (played), so you would be looking for the adverb form.

• Then you would know that the answer was loudly.

• You probably didn't have to go through all those steps, right? You just knew.

Multiple Choice

Let's try another:

The soundtrack began very ____________________.

• strange

• strangely

Strangely

• The soundtrack began very strangely.

• In this sentence, you need the adverb form (strangely) because you're describing the action (began).

Multiple Choice

And another...

There was a __________ surge of volume.

• sudden

• suddenly

Sudden

• There was a sudden surge of volume.

• In this sentence, you need the adjective form (sudden) because you're describing a thing (a surge).

Well and Good

• Most of this is pretty easy...

• Until you get to well vs. good!

• Good is an adjective.

• Well is an adverb.

Good

• Good is an adjective.

• It describes people, places, things, or ideas.

• Example: Good idea! Good job. That's a good dog.

• It can also come after linking verbs.

• Example: That book is good.

Well

• Well is an adverb.

• Well describes how actions are done.

• Example: You did well on your test.

• Example: Sally draws very well.

• You cannot use good to describe an action!

Multiple Choice

This is _______________ lasagna.

• good

• well

Multiple Choice

He pitched very __________ today.

• good

• well

Multiple Choice

Justin plays violin _____________.

• good

• well

Multiple Choice

He is a ______ principal.

• good

• well

Bad and Badly

• Bad and badly can also be tricky.

• Bad is an adjective (like good).

• Badly is an adverb (like well).

Multiple Choice

This is ______________ lasagna.

• bad

• badly

Multiple Choice

He pitched very ____________ today.

• bad

• badly

Multiple Choice

Justin plays violin __________.

• bad

• badly

Multiple Choice

He is a _____________ principal.

• bad

• badly

Poll

How do you feel about telling the difference between adjectives and adverbs?

• It's really hard. I'm pretty confused.

• It's kind of hard. I made a lot of mistakes.

• It's pretty easy. I feel like I can do it most of the time.

• It's easy. I've got it.

Poll

How do you feel about using well and good?

• I have no idea how I'm supposed to use them. I got a lot wrong, and I'm confused.

• It's kind of hard to tell the difference. I got a few wrong.

• It's easy! I did it completely right.