Questões de Concurso

Some adverbs have the same form as adjectives.

Adjective Adverb

Louise caught the fast train. The train was going quite fast.

We didn't have a long wait. We didn't have to wait long.

Adverbials are typically used to talk about:

* where something happens (place): I put my bag on the floor.

* when something happens (time): The rain lasted all night.

* the way in which someone does something or something happens or exists (manner):

You‟re acting as if you were still a teenager.

The position of an adverbial depends on what it modifies. It can modify a word or phrase or a whole clause. Its position also depends on what type of adverbial it is and whether it is a single word or a phrase.

When an adverbial modifies a verb or a whole clause, there are three main places we can put it.

Front: Really, I can't say.

Mid: I can't really say.

End: I can't say, really.

Sometimes we can also put an adverbial after the subject: I really can't say.

Most adjectives can be used in two positions: attributive adjectives occur before the noun they describe, while predicative adjectives are used after certain verbs:

a black cat [attributive]

The cat was black. [predicative]

There are some adjectives that can only be used in one position or the other. For example, these two sentences are grammatically correct:

✓ She was alone that evening. ['alone‘ = predicative ]

✓ It was a mere scratch. ['mere‘ = attributive]

These sentences, on the other hand, are not correct:

✗ I saw an alone woman. ['alone‘ cannot be used in the attributive position]

✗ The scratch was mere. ['mere‘ cannot be used in the predicative position]

Most adjectives are gradable. This means that their meaning can be modified (made stronger, weaker, or otherwise altered) by placing one or more adverbs in front of them. For example: an expensive house - a very expensive house - a fairly expensive house - an extremely expensive house

The adverbs very, fairly, and extremely tell where this particular house belongs on the scale of 'expensiveness‘. By using them, we can make a significant difference to the meaning of an adjective.

Non-gradable adjectives are those with meanings which cannot be modified by adverbs. For example: the western side of the mountain - electronic devices - a nuclear reactor

All the adjectives have two different forms: the comparative, and the superlative:

                    comparative          superlative

sad              sadder                   saddest 

happy          happier                  happiest

unusual       more unusual        most unusual

bright

gloomy

dismal

overcast

murky