As a follow-up to tip #18, let’s dive into the differences between adverbs and adjectives.

A language source that I really like is the Purdue Online Writing Lab, affiliated with Purdue University. Below I’ve listed the most important rules for adjectives and adverbs. These rules have been edited and reformatted for length and content.

From OWL:

The Difference between Adjectives and Adverbs

The Basic Rules: Adjectives

Adjectives modify nouns. By modifying, adjectives give a more detailed sense of the noun. For example:

• “I ate a meal.” Meal is a noun. The reader does not know what kind of meal this is, leaving a lot of room open for interpretation.

• “I ate an enormous meal.” Meal is a noun, and enormous is an adjective that modifies it. It tells us what kind of meal the person ate. 

By using adjectives, the writer gives the reader a better understanding of the noun.

Adjectives clarify the noun by answering one of the following different questions: “What kind?” or “Which?” or “How many?” 

For example:

• “The tall girl is riding her bike.” Tall tells the reader which girl the writer is talking about.

• “The tough professor gave us the final exam.” Tough tells the reader what kind of professor the writer is talking about. Final tells us which exam.

Adjectives cannot modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

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Let’s look at an example.

The figs grew on the tree quick.

That’s incorrect. The correct sentence would be

The figs grew on the tree quickly

Here, quickly is modifying grew.

In general, adverbs provide additional information and answer questions such as these, from OWL:

• Which?

• What kind of?

• How many?

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From OWL:

Some Other Rules for Adjectives

Most of the time, adjectives come before nouns. However, some adjectives actually come after the nouns they modify. An adjective follows a sense verb or verb of appearance when it modifies the noun before the verb. These adjectives will most often follow a verb form of the following:

• be

• feel

• taste

• smell

• sound

• look

• appear

• seem

Some examples:

Brian seems sad.

Sad describes the noun, Brian, not the verb, seems. 

• Sad answers the question: which way does Brian seem?

Likewise, an adjective always follows a form of the verb, “to be.” 

Example: 

The dog is black.

Black is an adjective that modifies the noun dog, but it comes after the verb, is. 

• What kind of dog is it? A black dog.

The Basic Rules: Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. 

(You can recognize adverbs easily because many of them are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, though that is not always the case.)

In general, adverbs answer the following questions:

• How?

• When?

• Where?

• Why?

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Let’s look at a few examples to help explain the differences between adjectives and adverbs:

The weather looks bad.

In this case, bad is an adjective that modifies the noun, weather.

Occasionally you’ll see examples of an error like this

The weather looks badly

This would mean that badly would be an adverb modifying the verb, looks, which doesn’t make any sense. (The “weather” can’t “look.”)

He’s being unrealistic.

Here, unrealistic is an adjective that modifies the pronoun, he.

It would be incorrect to say

He’s being unrealistically today.

Here, taken literally, what’s being said is that the verb, being, is unrealistic (which makes no sense) when what is intended is that he (the noun) is unrealistic.

He bought a nice house.

Nice is modifying house (the noun), bed, making it an adjective.

He bought a nicely landscaped home.

Nicely is modifying landscaped (the adjective), making it an adverb.

Remember: When a word ends in “-ly,” it’s an adverb. Paying attention to how the noun is modified will determine whether to use an adjective or an adverb.

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