Step by step grammar 5: Adverbs

An adverb is a word that we use when describing a verb. It usually ends in –ly and answers the questions: how? (quickly, carefully) When? (recently) How often? (regularly, weekly) . Most adverbs are formed by simply adding the aforementioned –ly to the end of an adjective e.g. slow – slowly, patient – patiently, smooth – smoothly etc., however, there are exceptions too e.g. good – well, fast – fast.

We said that an adverb describes a verb. Look at the following examples:

I walked slowly. – slowly describes the verb walked – how did I walk/in what manner did I walk? Slowly.
I recently purchased a new vehicle. – When did I purchase that new vehicle? Recently.
I frequently exercise. – How often do I exercise? Frequently.

I hope this was easy. If you haven’t subscribed to www.englishfocused.com yet do it now as there’s more to come. Next Wednesday we will explain what a preposition is.

Step by step grammar 3: Adjectives

An adjective is a word that describes nouns (we’ve talked about nouns in Step By Step Grammar 1) and pronouns (we will talk about pronouns in the future but to give you a rough idea these are examples of pronouns: he, she, it). E.g. White cat – cat is a noun, white describes a cat, therefore is an adjective.

Words in bold in the following sentence are adjectives:

I started reading this fantastic book about a brave captain who goes on a transatlantic journey in order to win the heart of a beautiful princess.

Sometimes it also quantifies nouns and pronouns e.g. many people – many is an adjective. Attention: an adjective does not describe a verb (we’ve talked about verbs in Step By Step Grammar 2) or another adjective. E.g. I talk openly about my problems – openly describes a verb talk and therefore is NOT an adjective but an adverb. We will talk about adverbs in the future. Those two parts of speech i.e. adjective and adverb often get confused.

There are different types of adjectives, but you don’t need to know about them just yet, we will probably talk about it later on when you feel a bit more comfortable with grammar and its basics.

I hope this was easy. If you haven’t subscribed to www.englishfocused.com yet do it now as there’s more to come. Next Wednesday we will explain what a pronoun is.