Adjectives and Adverbs – Usage and Purpose

Adjectives and Adverbs In Writing

Read the above sentences

1. The film was absolutely
2. He was an exceptionally brilliant child.
3. The food smelled really
4. They were talking utter
5. They were bitterly disappointed to lose the match.
6. He is a complete

Note: In the above sentences, if the highlighted adjectives and adverbs are removed, then the sentence may not bring curiosity and interest to the readers’ minds.

For example, compare the sentence “The film was awful” and ‘The film was absolutely awful.’

Compare the sentences on the right- and left-hand sides.

Which sentences create more interest in you while reading?

Do you know why? 0R How are the sentences made more attractive to read?

Obviously, the sentence on the right-hand side creates more curiosity in the minds of the reader.

In the sentences on the right-hand side:

• The words- Utter and complete are adjectives and are used as intensifiers.
• The words- Absolutely, really, exceptionally, and bitterly are adverts and are used as intensifiers.

You must have noticed that adding adjectives and adverbs to the above sentences makes them more developed or mature. The adjectives and adverbs are called intensifiers. We use adjectives and adverbs as intensifiers too make your writing more mature and sophisticates.

We can’t do without adjectives and modifiers. Like makeup, adjectives highlight, beautify, and clarify, but they can be overdone. Adjectives give us the warm sheen of copper pots, the velvety brush of a rose petal, and the springtime scent of cut grass. Hemingway used them.

Using Adjectives and Adverbs

There are many ways to writing style:

• Choose the adjectives with care and use them precisely.
• Remember that you can create adjectives by adding suffixes to nouns or adjectives, e.g., panoramic and colorful. In addition, you can make adjectives more emphatic by using adverbs as intensifiers, e.g., staggeringly, exceptionally, etc.

Both adjectives and adverbs are words that describe something and are used as intensifiers to attract the readers. If you are describing something in detail, you should use adverbs and adjectives. But it is easy to mix them up and forget which is which, so it’s important to know how each one is used.

The purpose of adverbs:

An adverb is a word that describes a verb. Just like adjectives, adverbs are used to add detail to a sentence. For example, Adverbs tell us how, when, or where something happened.

Study the Following Two Descriptions/Styles of the Same Village

Description/style 1: The village is very, very nice. Tourists like going there, but there is not a lot of new development, crowds, traffic, or things like that. There are stone houses near the harbor. The buildings are not painted in dark colors.

They are painted white or cream. The building shoves blue, grey, or brown shutters. There are hills around the village. There of many pine trees on the hills. The view from the top of the fills is very good. You can see the whole area.

Description/style 2: The village is strikingly pretty and unspoiled. The houses rising up from the harbor are pale-colored with painted shutters and made of stone. The village, surrounded by hills and covered with pine trees, provides panoramic views of the area.

How do the styles of the descriptions/extracts differ? Which do you prefer? Why?

The description/style 2 is preferable because it attracts the reader’s mind by using adjectives and adverbs as intensifiers.

The words- strikingly, rising-up, covered, panoramic views, etc., adjectives, and adverbs make descriptiontwo2 better.

Here are some descriptions.

1. The weather was showery, so we had to water the garden daily.
2. Early in the morning, the grass is wet with dew.
3. At home, we switch on the lights at pitch
4. We need to put on our sunglasses because the sky was overcast.
5. The weather was so mild last winter that we hardly wore our coats.

The adverbs of frequency, such as always, usually, often,

seldom, rarely, hardly, ever, and never, show how

something happens; it also makes your writing interesting and curious for the readers.

Example:

I always take too many clothes on holidays.

You never have time to be bored at Kingwood Camps.

She usually enjoys camping.

Adjectives that end with –ly:

Some adverbs that don’t end with –ly.

Examples:

• Afterward
• Already
• Almost
• Back
• Better
• Best