Adverbs vs. Adjectives

Although adverbs and adjectives are both descriptive words, they modify different parts of speech.  Use adjectives for nouns. Use adverbs for verbs and other adjectives.

Be careful.  Words can be both adjectives and adverbs DEPENDING on what they modify.  The room could be dark (adjective) or the room could be dark green (adverb).

How can you tell if adjectives or adverbs are modifying the wrong kind of word?

Let’s use this example:

The farmer toiled endless under the unforgiving sun; he worked tirelessly but knew he would feel pleasingly when he harvested his ample crops at the end of the summer.

First underline all of the adjectives and adverbs:

The farmer toiled endless under the unforgiving sun; he worked tirelessly but knew he would feel pleasingly when he harvested his ample crops at the end of the summer.

Figure out which word each adjective and adverb modifies and make sure that adverbs modify verbs and adjectives and adjectives modify nouns.

endless : adjective; modifies toiled, which is a verb. Wrong.

unforgiving : adjective; modifies sun, which is a noun. Correct.

tirelessly : adverb; modifies worked, which is a verb. Correct.

pleasingly : adverb; describes how he would feel, so modifies “he.”  Be careful, this is a trick.  If the word modified “feel” it would be fine, but that would describe the WAY he felt and not HOW he felt.  In this case, feel modifies the farmer not the way he was feeling, so it would be a adjective, not an adverb. Wrong.

ample : adjective; modifies crops, which is a noun. Correct.

The key to figuring out if you need an adjective or adverb is figuring out what you're modifying.  If you are modifying a noun, you want an adjective (no "ly") and if you are modifying a verb or another adverb or adjective, you want an adverb (often has an "ly"). 

You need to be especially careful when modifying words that both lead into adjectives and can be modified by adverbs.   Do you see the difference between the following?

           I always avoid goats because they smell bad.

           I always avoid goats because they smell badly.

In the first case, “bad” is an adjective and although “smell” leads into it, it actually modifies the goats.  It talks about how they smell (when someone else is smelling them).

In the second case, “badly” is an adverb.  Here, it modifies “smell” and by modifying “smell” it means that the goats have poor noses and are not good at smelling things (when they are trying to do the smelling).

Some other words that often lead into adjectives, but can also be modified by adverbs:

See     Smell     Hear     Taste    Feel

For instance, think about the difference between:

I feel happy.

and

I feel happily. 

Which word is an adjective and which is an adverb?  How does that affect the meanings of the sentences. 

Also, pay attention to commas when figuring out what a word modifies. When there are commas between descriptive words, then all of the words set off with commas describe one item, rather than the words modifying each other, in order. 

Example: 

I have a fabulous new car.

I have a fabulous, new car.

Which of the phrases above is correct?

In the first sentence, fabulous modifies new, and because new is an adjective, "fabulous" should be "fabulously" -- the car is not just new, it is fabulously new!

In the second sentences, the commas tell you that you are getting two adjectives describing the noun car.  So, the car is both fabulous and new.  Because both words describe the noun car, they can both be adjectives.  The second sentence is correct, the first one needs fabulous to become an adverb.

When paying attention to commas, also pay attention to nouns that are made up of two words.  If a noun is technically made up of two words, then the adjective in front of the two-word noun might look like it needs a comma (or to become an adverb) but it doesn't -- just imagine that the two-word noun is a compound word. 

Example:

I see dark rain clouds.

In this case, the noun is "rain clouds" so the adjective "dark" modifies that noun. "Darkly rain clouds" doesn't make sense, and it doesn't main sense for the clouds to be dark and rain.  Just use your common sense when dealing with two-word nouns.