Adjectives vs Adverbs
Understanding the difference between adjectives and adverbs becomes necessary when using English language simply because adjectives and adverbs are two parts of speech used in the English language differently. Adjective is a word that qualifies a noun whereas adverb is a word that describes a verb. This is the main difference between adjectives and adverbs. Though they, adjectives and adverb, are more connected with nouns and verbs, there is an interesting relationship between adjectives and adverbs too. What both adjectives and adverbs have in common making them different from other parts of speech is the simple fact that they, adjectives and adverbs are qualifiers.
What are Adjectives?
The usage of adjectives is considered very important in the English language. As an adjective, the word should qualify the noun it describes. For example, if the noun is a rose, then the adjectives that describe the rose can be red or white. Hence, the expressions are ‘a red rose’ or ‘a white rose’. In both the expressions, you will find that the words red and white qualify the rose that they describe.
It is very important to know that an adjective should closely follow the noun that it qualifies. It is a very important grammar rule. It need not take the same number of the noun that it qualifies. For example, if the adjective red qualifies the noun rose in plural then it is enough to use the expression ‘red roses’ instead of ‘reds roses’. English in this aspect differs from several other Indo-European languages in which the adjective should follow the noun in number and gender too.
What are Adverbs?
An adverb is a part of speech that is used to describe an action or a verb. Let us look at these examples.
She ran fast.
He spoke intelligently.
He is writing the letter slowly.
In all the three sentences given above, you can find that the adverbs ‘fast’, ‘intelligently’ and ‘slowly’ describe the verbs ‘ran’, ‘spoke’ and ‘writing’ respectively. Sometimes adverbs don the role of adjectives too as in the following sentences.
He gave a fast reply.
He gave a brilliant answer.
In both the sentences given above, you can see that the adverbs ‘fast’ and ‘brilliant’ don the role of adjectives.
What is the difference between Adjectives and Adverbs?
• Adjective is a word that qualifies a noun whereas adverb is a word that describes a verb. This is the main difference between adjectives and adverbs.
• As an adjective, the word should qualify the noun it describes.
• It is very important to know that an adjective should closely follow the noun that it qualifies.
• However, an adjective needs not take the same number of the noun that it qualifies.
• An adverb is a part of speech that is used to describe an action or a verb.
• Sometimes adverbs don the role of adjectives. For example, adverbs such as fast are sometimes used as adjectives in sentences.
In this manner, if you clearly understand the difference between adjectives and adverbs, you will be able to use the English language very effectively with less trouble.