The Most Effective Way to Determine Adjectives & Adverbs

Find the Noun

• Adjectives modify or describe nouns and pronouns, answering questions such as what kind/color, which, or how many? To find an adjective in a sentence, first locate the noun and then ask, what about it? Usually, but not always, the adjective precedes the noun. In "the purple zebra," purple is the adjective. However, purple is also the adjective when the sentence reads: "That zebra is purple."

Look for Sense Verbs

• While adjectives do not modify verbs, understanding that they are nonetheless connected to verbs can make it easier to locate adjectives in sentences. Nouns appearing with sense verbs, such as appear, be, feel, look, seem, smell, sound and taste are often modified by adjectives appearing after the noun in a sentence. In "that pizza tastes great," "great" is an adjective modifying the "pizza."

Find the Verb

• Adverbs most commonly describe verbs, so to locate adverbs, first find the verb in the sentence. In the sentence: "Johnny eats quickly," "eats" is the verb modified by the adverb "quickly." The information that adds to the action in a sentence is an adverb.

Ask Some Questions

• Adverbs answer questions of how, when, where, why and to what degree. How is Johnny eating? He's eating "quickly." To locate the adverb in a sentence, first find its verb and then determine what word answers the adverb questions.

Use the --ly trick

• The grammar school rule of looking for words that end in --ly to find adverbs isn't a bad place to start in a search for adverbs. Quickly, eerily, and really are indeed adverbs. However, yesterday, tomorrow, up, down, always, and never are also adverbs. Locate the sentence's action and ask how, when, why, how and to what degree to find adverbs that may not end in -ly

Find these Words

• While there are many common adverbs, the three most common in the English language are: not, very, and too.

Look for Adjectives with Modifiers

• In the sentence: "She is a really tall girl," "tall" is an adjective being modified by the adverb "really." The adverb is answering a question of degree: how tall is she? Likewise, in the sentence: "Jennifer is always late," "always" is an adverb of degree, while "late," answers the when of the adverb query list.