Adjectives and Adverbs

Why are adjectives and adverbs important?

They add descriptive details that enable the reader to visualise even more graphically what is written.

To recap:

Adjectives: Descriptive words that tell you more about the noun or pronoun.

Adverbs: Modify the verb, adjective or adverb by giving one more information about any one of those.

Additional Refresher Exercise Rapidly they came, like a 21-gun salute, Exploding into multiple single crackling pops. The jolly red fire-crackers danced gleefully As each thick roll jerked heavily back and forth And the string of rolls turned into smoky black ashes.

Identify the adjectives and adverbs in the boxed exercise. Suggested answers will be given soon as a blog post on The Pear Tree website


So, why are adjectives and adverbs important?

Just take a look at the following:

A man and his daughter came upon a window from which light fell onto the pavement outside. One could see through the window many kinds of watches and seated within the shop, was a man who was working over a device.

The above is an adaptation of an extract from Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, `The Artist of the Beautiful'. Wouldn't you agree that, as a reader, you cannot adequate visualise what Hawthorne is trying to describe? Now, read the original version:

An elderly man, with his pretty daughter on his arm, was passing along the street, and emerged from the gloom of the cloudy evening into the light that fell across the pavement from the window of a small shop. It was a projecting window; and on the inside, were suspended a variety of watches - pinchbeck, silver, and one or two of gold - all with their faces turned from the street, as if churlishly disinclined to inform the wayfarers what o'clock it was. Seated within the shop, sidelong to the window, with his pale face bent earnestly over some delicate piece of mechanism, on which was thrown the concentrated lustre of a shade-lamp appeared a young man.

 You will find the original, by being more descriptive, is graphic enough to give the reader a better picture of what the author wants to get across than the adaptation with very few details. Therefore, make sure to include adjectives and adverbs the next time you write so as to make your writing more graphic.

Adverbs: Answers to the Exercise in the previous post

The exercise is reproduced below:

Exercise

I went very quickly into the the wooden shed.  It was somewhat dilapidated and yet, there was a homely feeling to it.  I walked up to the chest of drawers, and with a piece of old newspaper that I had found lying nearby, I wiped off the dust from the surface.  Yes, it was still there.  I had thought the childishly drawn picture of a wilting flower would have faded with age.  But no, it was still there.  Slowly, I traced the outlines with my index finger and sighed.  It's been a long time, such a long time. 

Suggested Answers and Explanations:

Adverb	What it modifies	Explanation
very	Adverb `quickly'	Gives added details to the `quickly' (adverb) to indicate the degree of the quickness of the narrator's action (verb) in going into the shed.
quickly	Verb `went'	Elaborates on the pace the narrator adopted.
somewhat	Adjective `dilapidated'	Allows the reader to visualise to what extent the shed is dilapidated.
childishly	Adjective `drawn'	`Drawn' is used here as an adjective to indicate the type of picture and `childishly' demonstrates the manner in which it was `drawn'
slowly	Verb `traced'	Reveals the narrator's lack of haste in tracing the outlines.
such	Adjective `long'	Emphasises the prolonged period of time that has passed.

Adverbs

(Update from the last post: Go to the Blog page of The Pear Tree Centre for Education for an additional exercise on the past perfect tense as well as the suggested answers and explanations.)

Adverbs

What are adverbs? They are similar to adjectives in that, while adjectives describe the nouns, adverbs modify, or gives further details or descriptions of, the verbs, adjectives or adverbs.

Describing the Verb

I ran slowly.

The car's engine died and it gradually came to a stop.

Often, one finds that adverbs end with an `ly', and this is true for those adverbs that describes the verb. In the above examples, `slowly' describes the manner in which the person ran, and `gradually' describes the car coming to a stop in stages.

However, there are adverbs that do not end with an `ly', and these modify the adjective or another adverb. Examples are:

He was too bold a character. (The `too' modifies the adjective `bold' which describes the `character.)

The deep green leaves is soothing to the sight. (The `deep' describes the extent to which the leaves, the noun, are green, the adjective.)

I drew very carefully the dots on the paper. (`Carefully', the adverb, modifies `drew', which is a verb while `very' modifies the adverb, `carefully'.)

Now, try to identify the adverbs in the following exercise. The answers are given in the next post.

Exercise

I went very quickly into the the wooden shed.  It was somewhat dilapidated and yet, there was a homely feeling to it.  I walked up to the chest of drawers, and with a piece of old newspaper that I had found lying nearby, I wiped off the dust from the surface.  Yes, it was still there.  I had thought the childishly drawn picture of a wilting flower would have faded with age.  But no, it was still there.  Slowly, I traced the outlines with my index finger and sighed.  It's been a long time, such a long time.