Parts of Speech in English: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs - Part 2

In English, there are 8 main parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. In part 2, we focus on two other core categories: adjectives and adverbs. Understanding these clearly will help you build accurate and richer sentences.

1. Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to describe or modify a noun. Adjectives usually appear before nouns or after linking verbs such as "be," "seem," and "become."

1.1 Common Suffixes Used to Form Adjectives

-ous, -ful, -less, -al, -able, -ish, -ic, -ive, -ent;

Meaning of common adjective-forming suffixes:

-ous often indicates quality or characteristic.

Example: "dangerous" means risky or unsafe, and "famous" means widely known.

-ful often indicates fullness of a quality or usefulness.

Example: "beautiful" means full of beauty, and "hopeful" means having hope.

-less often indicates absence of a quality.

Example: "hopeless" means without hope, and "careless" means lacking care.

-al often indicates relation to something.

Example: "natural" means related to nature, and "cultural" means related to culture.

-able often indicates capability.

Example: "readable" means able to be read, and "comfortable" means providing comfort.

-ish often indicates a relative or somewhat quality.

Example: "childish" means like a child, and "foolish" means lacking wisdom.

-ic often indicates relation to a subject.

Example: "historic" means having historical importance, and "artistic" means related to art.

-ive / -ent often indicate a tendency or defining trait.

Example: "creative" means able to create, and "independent" means self-reliant.

1.2 Position of Adjectives

• Usually before a noun. Example: a red apple, the tall building.
• Can come after a linking verb. Example: The sky is blue. She seems happy.
• Can come after a noun as part of a noun phrase. Example: "the president elect," "the heir apparent."
• Can appear after a preposition. Example: "afraid of the dark," "interested in history."

Note: In a sentence, adjectives often come after a form of TO BE. In a noun phrase, adjectives usually come before the noun. Example: "The movie is exciting" (sentence position), "an exciting movie" (noun phrase position).

1.3 When Do Adjectives Use -ed or -ing?

• Adjectives ending in -ed are often used to describe feelings or states of people or things. Example: "bored," "interested."
• Adjectives ending in -ing are often used to describe the quality or characteristic of people or things. Example: "boring," "interesting."

Examples:

• I am bored because the movie is boring.
• She is interested in the book because it is interesting.

2. Adverbs

An adverb is a word used to describe or modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Adverbs are often formed by adding the suffix "-ly" to adjectives, but many irregular adverbs also exist.

Examples:

• Adverbs with -ly: quickly, slowly, happily
• Irregular adverbs: well, fast, hard

2.1 Position of Adverbs

• Can appear before or after the main verb. Example: She quickly ran to the store. He ran quickly.
• Can appear before an adjective or another adverb. Example: She is very happy. He runs extremely fast.
• Can appear at the beginning or end of a sentence for emphasis. Example: Unfortunately, we missed the bus. We missed the bus unfortunately.

2.2 A Few Notes About Adverbs

• Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives. Example: "fast" can be an adjective (a fast car) or an adverb (He runs fast).

• Some irregular adverbs do not use the "-ly" ending. Example: "well" is the adverb form of "good," and "hard" is the adverb form of "hard."

• Some words ending in "-ly" are not adverbs. Example: "friendly" is an adjective, and "lovely" is an adjective.

• Some adverb forms look similar to adjectives but differ in meaning after adding "-ly":

  Adjective	Adverb	Adverb with "-ly"
  hard (difficult)	hard (with effort)	hardly (almost not)
  late (not on time)	late (not on time)	lately (recently)
  high (at a great height)	high (at a great height)	highly (very, greatly)
  near (close)	near (close)	nearly (almost)
  deep (at great depth)	deep (deeply in position)	deeply (very, profoundly)
  fast (quick)	fast (quickly)	does not exist
  good (good)	well (in a good way)	does not exist
  early (soon)	early (soon)	does not exist