The adverb

The adverb points out some characteristic features of a verb, adjective or another adverb. It answers the next questions: when?, how?, where?, how often?

Most adverbs are formed by adding –ly to an adjective:

e.g. clear (adjective) – clear+ly (adverb)

angry – angr_y → i+ly

simple – simpl_e+y, BUT: wise – wisely, sole–solely

careful – careful+ly, energetic – energetically, BUT: public – publicly

Adverbs as well as adjectives have degrees of comparison. Many of them make comparatives and superlatives like adjectives.

e.g. hard – harder – the hardest

wisely – more wisely – the most wisely

KEEP IN MIND: Some adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:

Well – better – the best

Badly – worse – the worst

Much – more – the most

Little – less – the least

Adverbs use the same comparative structures as adjectives.

e.g We need to get this done as quickly as possible.

If it’s less than a million dollars then you need to change the route.

Adverb position

how? → where? → when?

e.g. The conference will be held suddenly (HOW?) in the headquarters (WHERE?) in a fortnight (WHEN?).

Some adverbs and adjectives have the same form, common examples of these are: late, early, fast, hard, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly.

KEEP IN MIND: common adverbs from the same base have different meanings:

hard means “with a great deal of effort”

hardly means “almost not, scarcely”

e.g. They can hardly carry out this market survey.

They work hard to break into the market.

late means “after the expected, proper time”

lately means “recently”

e.g. They haven’t sent us any financial reports lately.

We arrived late because of bad weather.

direct means “without stopping or changing direction”

directly means “very soon”

e.g. We will fly direct from Heathrow to Borispol.

They should be here directly.

deep means “to a great depth”

deeply means “thoroughly”

e.g. We talked deep into the night.

They think deeply about what their customers want.

Participial adjectives: -ed vs. -ing

The present participle (V+ing) and past participle (V+ed) can be used as adjectives.

The present participle shows the cause of the feeling.

e.g. His giving such a question was really embarrassing.

The past participle shows how a person feels.

e.g. She was really embarrassed.

Practice file

Ex. 1. Write the comparative and superlative forms of these adjectives.

Comparative Superlative

1. slow ……………............. …………….............

2. cold ……………............. …………….............

3. efficient ……………............. …………….............

4. early ……………............. …………….............

5. thin ……………............. …………….............

6. significant ……………............. …………….............

7. low ……………............. …………….............

8. heavy ……………............. …………….............

9. sad ……………............. …………….............

10. polite ……………............. …………….............

11. little ……………............. …………….............

12. flexible ……………............. …………….............

13. delicious ……………............. …………….............

14. bad ……………............. …………….............

15. intensive ……………............. …………….............

Ex. 2. Choose the correct item.

1. This equipment is as good / better / best as it is in Germany.

2. The President is the high / higher / highest official of the Ukrainian State.

3. The southern region is the little / less / least populated.

4. Life expectancy in Ukraine is several times little / less / least than in other highly-developed countries.

5. What is most / the most / the more efficient price strategy?

6. The gap is getting wide / widest / wider.

7. This year they offer profitable / more profitabler / more profitable solutions than previous year.

8. You assistance is valuabler / valuablest / more valuable.

9. What is high / higher /the highest mount in the world?

10. Service quality is this enterprise is bad / worse / the worst than in that one.

Ex. 3. Choose the correct item.

1. We are going to fly direct / directly from Kyiv to Warsaw.

2. He drives / looks very strangely.

3. She well does business / does business well.

4. Ted was very surprising / surprised to see those sales figures.

5. It was a very surprising / surprised information to me.

6. The news was depressing / depressed.

7. It seems great / greatly.

8. They arrived at the air too late / lately.

9. Maria always write fastly / carefully.

10. The chair of the meeting greeted the shareholders happily / happy.

Ex. 4 Fill in the adjective in the appropriate form.

1. He is ............................ (self-confident) than the rest of senior managers.

2. Moscow is one of ............................ (big) cities in the world.

3. ............................ (long) river in the world is the Mississippi.

4. The lecture on Economics is ........................... (interesting) than on Finance.

5. They need to be ........................... (responsive) to the needs of the customers.

6. We are looking forward to doing ........................... (far) business with your company.

7. The rate of unemployment is ........................... (bad) this year than it was last year.

8. Which product is ........................... (innovative)?

9. Marian’s car is ........................... (quick) of all.

10. Spending on IT was ........................... (little) than 10 per cent of budget.

Ex. 5. Choose the correct sentence.

1. A. He is a careful thinker.

B. He is a carefully thinker.

2. A. Mrs Stone types quick.

B. Mrs Stone types quickly.

3. A. Douglas is a well merchandiser.

B. Douglas is a good merchandiser.

4. A. Are you always so slow, come on!

B. Are you always so slowly, come on!

5. A. We can easily find the way out.

B. We can easy find the way out.

6. A. We can hardly hear him.

B. We can hard hear him.

7. A. They speak very fastly.

B. They speak very fast.

8. A. The milk tastes sour.

B. The milk tastes sourly.

9. A. I can easy convince them not to give up.

B. I can easily convince them not to give up.

10. A. The number of customers dropped considerable last month.

B. The number of customers dropped considerably last month.

Ex. 6. Correct the mistakes if there are any.

1. Our prices are more low than theirs.

2. He is the more confident about the sales projections.

3. The report was the most criticalest.

4. I think they need carefuler analysis of the situation.

5. These mistakes are least important than those ones.

6. The much investment this company has, the more choices it has.

7. In some cities there are fewer brand choices.

8. The Brazilian market is more good than the Italian one for coffee bins.

9. Sales figures in the first quarter were not as high as they are in the second quarter.

10. The test has shown that this is probably reliabler product on sale today.

11. This financial result has a sizeable directly effect on income.

12. My top manager is more intelligent from me.

Ex. 7. Put the adjectives in the correct order. Write the numbers in the blanks provided.

1. This is a (an) ancient __ / fantastic __ / English __ / black __ book.

2. They have found a golden __ / big __ / round __ bullion.

3. There is a yellow __ / thatched __/ Italian __ rolling chair.

4. We have ordered dry __/ white __ / grape __ wine.

5. We have visited Japanese __/ cosy __ restaurant.