Adjective Adverb Identification

The purpose of an adjective is to

• signal a verb

• describe an action

• describe a noun

• none of these

Answer explanation

Adjectives modify (describe) nouns by telling what kind, how many, or which one of something.

The purpose of an adverb is to

• describe a verb, (and sometimes an adjective, or other adverb)

• describe a noun

• signal an article

• none of these

Answer explanation

Adverbs modify (describe) verbs by telling how, where, when action is performed.

They can sometimes describe an adjective or other adverb, too. In these cases, they tell to what extent.

Which word is an adjective: A soaking rain watered the flowers.

• soaking

• rain

• watered

• flowers

Answer explanation

Soaking tells what kind of rain it was, which means it is the adjective.

Rain is the noun.

Watered is the past tense verb (telling what the rain did.)

Flowers is another noun.

Which word is an adjective: Today, my mom bought a used car!

• Today

• mom

• bought

• used

Answer explanation

Used tells what kind of car it was, which means it is the adjective.

Today tells when she bought it - this is an adverb.

Mom names a person, so it's a common noun.

Bought is the action verb - it's what the mom did.

Which word is an adjective? The icy street was very slippery.

• The

• icy

• was

• very

Answer explanation

The is an article.

Icy tells what kind of street it was, so that is the adjective.

Was is the past tense linking verb.

Very tells how slippery the street was, so it is an adverb (it's modifying the adjective slippery>)

Which word is an adverb? The happy cat is purring now.

• happy

• cat

• purring

• now

Answer explanation

Now is the adverbs because it answers the question "when?" - describing when the cat is purring

Happy describes the cat, so it's a adjective.

Cat is a thing - making it a noun.

Purring expresses the action - it's what the cat is doing.

Which word is the adverb: The fans cheered wildly when the player scored.

• fans

• wildly

• player

• scored

Answer explanation

Wildly is the adverb because it answers the question "how?" How did the fans cheer? They cheered wildly. (Cheered is a past tense verb - expressing what the fans did.) Notice the "ly" adverb ending?

Fans is the noun - it names people.

Player is another noun - it also names a person.

Scored is another verb - it expresses the action the player performed...telling what the player did.

Which word is the adverb? A young sloth slowly climbed the tree.

• young

• sloth

• slowly

• climbed

Answer explanation

Slowly answers the question "how?" (telling how the sloth climbed)

Young is an adjective because it tells what kind of sloth it was.

Sloth names the animal being talked about in the setence. It's a noun.

Climbed is the action verb - it's what the sloth did.

Tree is a noun because it names a thing.

Which word is the adverb: I finally finished the math test.

• I

• finally

• math

• test

Answer explanation

Finally is the adverb because it tells when you finished....finished is the action verb. (Notice the "ly" ending?)

I is a subject pronoun.

Math is an adjective telling what kind of test it was.

Test is a common noun - it's a thing.

Which word is the adverb: Quickly clean up this mess!

• Quickly

• clean

• this

• mess

Answer explanation

Quickly is the adverb because it answers the question "how" - telling how to clean (clean is an action verb.) Notice the "ly" adverb ending?

Clean is an action verb expressing what need to be done.

This is an adjective which tells which one (which mess).

Mess is a noun - it's a thing.

Tags

CCSS.L.6.6