V4 - comparisons, adjectives and adverbs

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Comparisons, Adjectives & Adverbs

Quantifiers

Adjectives and adverbs

What is the difference between an adjective (bijvoeglijk naamwoord) and an adverb (bijwoord)?

Ellen is beautiful
Ellen sings beautifully

Daan is a good piano player
Daan plays the piano well

Adjectives

An adjective describes someone or something
It says something about a noun (zelfstandig naamwoord)

The cat is very fat
The bicycle is red
Mike is a good student

Says something about what a person/thing is

Adjectives

Je kunt de vraag stellen: ‘wat voor…?’

Het uitzicht was prachtig    (wat voor uitzicht was het?)    the view was wonderful

Het zijn goede muzikanten (wat voor muzikanten zijn het?) They are good musicians

Adjectives

Bijvoeglijke naamwoorden met een getal schrijf je met streepjes ertussen

An eight-year-old boy
A 30-minute walk
A seven-week holiday

Adverbs

Adverbs say something about words other than nouns (verb, adjective, another adverb, a phrase or sentence)
An adverb describes how/in what way something happens
It often says something about a verb

My brother smiles happily
The dog barks loudly
Jane works quickly

Adverbs

Je kunt de vraag stellen: ‘Hoe …?’

We speelden niet slecht (hoe speelden jullie?) we didn’t play badly

Karin had alles perfect georganiseerd (hoe had Karin alles georganiseerd?) Karin had organised everything perfectly

Adverbs

Adverbs can say something about adjectives

Frank is an extremely good singer
My brother is an awfully careful driver
It’s an absolutely perfect video clip

Adverbs

Adverbs can say something about other adverbs

Frank sings absolutely beautifully
My brother drives very carefully
That clip was filmed extremely well

Adverbs

Adverbs can say something about a phrase or sentence

Surely, that was a mistake
Fortunately, I had been able to reach him

How to form an adverb

Put -ly after the adjective

• Sure – surely, beautiful – beautifully
  

Sometimes the spelling changes:

y -> ily            easy – easily
le -> ly            probable– probably

ic -> ically     fantastic - fantastically

Watch out: The adverb of 'good' is 'well'

Adjectives & Adverbs

Adjectives:
My brother is a careful driver
It’s a perfect video clip
David is a quick writer

Adverbs:
My brother drives carefully
The video clip was filmed perfectly
David writes quickly

Adjectives & Adverbs

Check:

Does it say something about a noun? Then it's an adjective.

Does it say something about any other type of word? Then it's an adverb.

Let's practice

For the next couple of questions, select whether the *word* between the asterisk is an adjective or adverb

She is a *wonderful* person

1. adjective
2. adverb

I have a *fantastic* brother

1. adjective
2. adverb

Steven learns very *quickly*

1. adjective
2. adverb

Those were some *easy* questions

1. adjective
2. adverb

Mark sings *well*

1. adjective
2. adverb

My new bicycle is *extremely* beautiful

1. adjective
2. adverb

Confusing adjectives & adverbs

Watch out: friendly, silly, lovely, unlikely are adjectives, not adverbs!

If you want to use them as adverbs, you need to use 'way' or 'manner'

• He spoke in a very friendly way

• They acted in a silly manner

Confusing adjectives & adverbs

Difficult and impossible don't have adverbs, so you need to rephrase

That boy speaks with great difficulty
I can’t possibly visit you next week

But:

That is an impossibly difficult job

Confusing adjectives & adverbs

Words can be both adverbs and adjectives
This counts for words ending in –ly: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, early

• It’s a daily paper            It comes out daily

• We took an early bus        We got up early

It also counts for: high, low, far, fast, wrong, strange

Confusing adjectives & adverbs

Adjectives and their adverbs can have different meanings

Short – shortly
Hard – hardly
High – highly
Late – lately

Confusing adjectives & adverbs

Na werkwoorden die een zintuiglijke waarneming uitdrukken, zoals taste, look, feel, smell, sound komt er een adjective, geen adverb

Your chocolates tasted very good
She looked bad

Let's practice!

Fill in the correct form of the word in brackets

You didn't do your work ____ (correct).

That engine is very ____ (noisy).

Sorry! I acted ____ (stupid).

That cake is decorated ____ (extreme) beautifully.

Tim is a very ____ (hard) worker.

Comparisons

If you want to compare things you can often use -er, -est

• Cheap – cheaper – cheapest

• Short – shorter – shortest

This counts for all 1-syllable and some 2-syllable words (y-le-er-ow)

If they end in a y, the spelling changes to i

• Easy – easier – easiest

• Happy – happier – happiest

Comparisons

If the word consists of 3 syllables or more, you use 'more' and 'most'

• Beautiful – more beautiful – most beautiful

• Attractive – more attractive – most attractive

Comparisons

Choose between more / most or–er / -est
These 2-syllable words: common, cruel, handsome, likely, pleasant, polite, quiet, simple, stupid (e.g. pleasanter/more pleasant)

2-syllable words that end in –le, -er en –ow
Simple - simpler / more simple – simplest / most simple
Clever – cleverer / more clever – cleverest / most clever
Narrow – narrower / more narrow – narrowest / most narrow

Irregular comparisons

Good        better        best             goed
Bad           worse        worst           slecht, erg
Much       more          most            veel
Many        more          most           veel
Little         less            least            weinig
Little        smaller      smallest    klein (littler - littlest kan ook)
Few          fewer          fewest        weinig

Words with 2 forms

Old            older                oldest
Old            elder                eldest

Late            later                last
Late            later                latest
    
Far            farther / further            farthest / furthest

Other ways to compare

Even … als = as … as

• He’s as old as I am

Niet zo … als = not … as / not so … as

• She’s not as old as I am
• They were not as good as we thought
  

Other ways to compare

Hoe … hoe = the … the    /    steeds = more and more

• The sooner, the better
• It was getting more and more difficult

Dan = than / then (than na vergrotende trap, then in alle andere gevallen)

• It’s cheaper than you think

• First we’re going to London and then to Oxford

Any questions?