Adjectives and Adverbs

38 Adjectives and adverbs
Presentation
a Form of adverbs
Most adverbs can be formed by adding -ly, -y, -ally, or -ily, depending on the spelling of
the adjective or noun on which they are based:
expensive/expensively full/fully
dramatic/dramatically day/daily
Some adverbs and adjectives have the same form. Common examples of these are:
daily early fast hard

late monthly quarterly weekly
Some words ending in -ly are adjectives and have no corresponding adverbs. Common
examples are friendly, elderly, lonely, silly, costly.
b Adjectives vs adverbs
Adjectives describe nouns. Adverbs describe verbs.
adjective: We’ve had a dramatic increase in our orders.
(Gives more information about the noun increase.)
adverb: Our orders have increased dramatically.
(Gives more information about the verb have increased.)
c Adverbs + adjectives
Adverbs can also describe adjectives, past participles, and other adverbs:
adverb + adjective: She is extremely intelligent.
adverb + past participle: She’s well paid.
adverb + adverb: She does her job absolutely brilliantly.
d Verbs and adjectives

Some verbs are qualified by adjectives rather than adverbs. Most of these are verbs of
appearance or verbs of the senses:
appear be become feel get

look seem smell taste sound
You look exhausted. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? (not:* look exhaustedly)
He sounded very angry on the phone. (not: *sounded angrily)
e Good and well

Good is an adjective. Well is an irregular adverb.
Mr Hajimoto is a good golfer. (adjective + noun)
Mr Hajimoto plays golf well. (verb + adverb)
The word well can also be an adjective meaning in good health:
She’s gone to see the doctor because she isn’t well.
Adjectives and adverbs 155

BUSINESS GRAMMAR AND PRACTICE
© Oxford University Press www.oup.com/elt
Practice
EXERCISE 1 Form of adverbs
Fill in the blanks with words from the box. Make any necessary changes to the
adjectives to form adverbs.
heavy late patient public

punctual quarter safe silent
1 When you get to New York, give me a ring to let me know you’ve arrived safely.
2 The Economic Review is published , and comes out in March, June,
September, and December.
3 Trains in Japan arrive so that you can set your watch by them.
4 The train to the airport arrived , and as a result I very nearly missed the
plane.
5 Most stockbrokers will buy and sell shares in -quoted companies.
6 Before privatization, many nationalized industries were subsidized by
the government.
7 He was not in a hurry, so he waited until the client was ready to
see him.
8 The new motor is very quiet, and at most speeds it operates almost .
EXERCISE 2 Adjectives vs adverbs

Look at the graph showing trends in the share price of a telecoms company. Rewrite
the sentences using verbs and adverbs.
1 There was a sudden fall in the shares in March.
In March the shares fell suddenly.
2 There was a brief recovery in April.
In April they .
3 In June there was a dramatic collapse.
In June they .
4 There was a considerable fall in July.
In July they .
5 There was only a slight fall in August.
In August they only .
6 There was a steady improvement in September and October.
In September and October they .
7 There was a gradual improvement from mid-November.
From mid-November, they .
Tel2Zone Telecom shares

(cents per share)
J F M A M J J A S O N D

EXERCISE 3 Adverbs + participles, adjectives, adverbs
Choose a word from box A and one from box B to complete the sentences.
A B
surprisingly well qualified viable
badly totally quickly good
commercially terribly designed illegal
1 He has a PhD and an MBA so he’s well qualified.

2 The results at the end of the year were ; certainly much better
than we had thought.
3 The bank decided that the project was not , so they refused to
given them a loan.
4 Insider dealing is . If they catch you, you could go to prison.
5 The engine on the XR86 was very , and the car soon gained a
reputation for unreliability.
6 He spoke , so I couldn’t really understand what he was saying.
EXERCISE 4 Adjective or adverb?

Read the newspaper review of a new product available in supermarkets. Choose
either an adjective or an adverb from the words in italics.
TOKYO KITCHEN’S latest offering for 9 special/specially in Japan and which

lovers of Japanese food is an is now 10 wide/widely available at major
1 attractive/attractively packaged
supermarkets and delicatessens.
selection of sushi. The sushi rice was
Presentation: 9/10
2 excellent/excellently – unlike some
Flavour: 7/10 Value: 9/10
other brands, where the rice is too Overall Rating: 8/10
3 soft/softly. The 4 raw/rawly salmon
tasted 5 fresh/freshly, and the only

problem was the octopus which was a
little 6 tough/toughly. All in all a
7 nice/nicely presented pack and
very 8 competitive/competitively
priced. To accompany the dish, try
Yamasa Sushi Soya Sauce which is made
EXERCISE 5 Good and well

Complete the sentences with either well or good.
1 Did you have a good flight?
2 I’ve been learning English for three years, so I speak it quite .
3 He’s on sick leave at the moment, but it won’t be long before he’s
enough to return to work.
4 The magazine gave their latest fridge-freezers a very review.
5 I think it would be a idea to discuss this at next week’s meeting.
6 Jane and I are old friends. We know each other very .
7 The new computer system seems to be working .
Adjectives and adverbs 157

Production
TASK 1 Read this email from a retailer to a manufacturer of air conditioners. Choose either
the adjective or the adverb in italics.
To: Jamil@airnet.com
Subject: Air conditioning
Dear Mr Jamil
I am writing with reference to a 1 recent/recently shipment of 16 M-113 air
conditioning units which we received on Tuesday 18 May from your Istanbul
factory.
Unfortunately three of the units are not working 2 proper/properly. One of them
may have been broken in transit as the packing case was 3 bad/badly dented,
and I suggest you take this matter up with your insurers. The other two looked
4 fine/finely, but when we tested them, they sounded very 5 noisy/noisily and the
cooling systems seemed very 6 ineffective/ineffectively. I am therefore arranging

for the three units to be returned to you 7 immediate/immediately. I would be
8 grateful/gratefully if you could send us three new units as soon as possible as
the 9 warm/warmly weather is approaching and we are expecting a 10 strong/strongly

demand for air conditioners in the next few weeks.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Fatima Hussein
Manager
TASK 2 Write short sentences connected to the words in brackets about a product or service
you received that was unsatisfactory. In each sentence, underline the adjective or
adverb that you use.
1 (a repair) I had to take my car back to the garage because the power steering
wasn’t working properly.
2 (a financial service – bank, etc.)
3 (a product you bought)
4 (food or drink)
5 (a problem on holiday)
6 (transport)
TASK 3 Write a short extract from a sales letter to a potential customer describing one of
the products or services you offer.
I would like to tell you about


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38 Adjectives and adverbs

daily early fast hard

d Verbs and adjectives

appear be become feel get

e Good and well

Adjectives and adverbs 155

heavy late patient public

EXERCISE 2 Adjectives vs adverbs

Tel2Zone Telecom shares

156 Adjectives and adverbs

1 He has a PhD and an MBA so he’s well qualified.

EXERCISE 4 Adjective or adverb?

TOKYO KITCHEN’S latest offering for 9 special/specially in Japan and which

tasted 5 fresh/freshly, and the only

EXERCISE 5 Good and well

Adjectives and adverbs 157

Subject: Air conditioning

cooling systems seemed very 6 ineffective/ineffectively. I am therefore arranging

the 9 warm/warmly weather is approaching and we are expecting a 10 strong/strongly

158 Adjectives and adverbs

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