The English teachers voice

What is an adverb? An adverb is a part of speech that provides greater description to a verb, adjective, another adverb, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence. A great way to pick out an adverb from a sentence is to look for the word ending in -ly. Although that's not universally true, it's a great place to start. Also, given their function, these fundamental elements of the English language are usually placed right before or after the verb in the sentence. Adverbs are intensifiers and they can even come in the form of an adverb phrase. That just means you're looking at two or more words that act as an adverb. Let's take some time to dive (v.) deeply (adv.) into these popular modifiers. Defining an Adverb What is an adverb? Well, first, it's important to understand the words adverbs work closely with, starting with verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being, i.e. jump, run, swim, ski, fish, talk. An adjective is a wo

What Are Adjectives? Adjectives  are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns:  enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast . They can also describe the quantity of nouns:  many, few, millions, eleven . Adjectives Modify Nouns Most students learn that adjectives are words that modify (describe) nouns. Adjectives do not modify verbs or adverbs or other adjectives. Margot wore a  beautiful  hat to the pie-eating contest. Furry  dogs may overheat in the summertime. My cake should have  sixteen  candles. The  scariest  villain of all time is Darth Vader. In the sentences above, the adjectives are easy to spot because they come immediately before the nouns they modify. But adjectives can do more than just modify nouns. They can also act as a complement to linking verbs or the verb  to be . A linking verb is a verb like  to feel, to seem,  or  to taste  that describes a state of being or a sensory experience. Strategies for Achieving an Advanced Level of English Using th