Category: Parts of Speech
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Adverbs of Place/Direction (Where?)
Adverbs of place/direction t hat indicate place/direction of the action in the sentence. They answer the question ‘ where is the action performed?’. Across, over, under, in, out, through, backward, there, around, here, sideways, upstairs, in the park, in the field, in that place, etc. are some common adverbs of place/direction. Example: I went through the jungle. He…
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Adverbs of Time/Frequency (When?)
Adverbs of time/frequency indicate time or frequency of the action in the sentence. They answer the question ‘when/how frequently is the action performed?’. Always, never, often, eventually, now, frequently, occasionally, once, forever, seldom, before, Sunday, Monday, 10 AM, 12 PM, etc. are common adverbs of time/frequency. Example: I went to school a little late yesterday. He always gets a good…
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Conjunctive Adverbs
A conjunctive adverb connects phrases or independent clauses. It provides transitions between ideas and shows relationships. Conjunctive adverbs are also called connectors. Example: It rained last night. Nonetheless, the final match has not been canceled. We are still confused, however, if the umpires will come. Last season there was a great drought; consequently, we could not grow crops.
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Definition
An adverb is a word/a set of words that modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. It tells when, where, and how an action is performed or indicates the quality or degree of the action. Many adverbs end in –ly but some words which end in –ly (such as friendly) are not adverbs. Many words can be both adverbs and adjectives according…
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The Degree of Adjectives
There are three degrees of adjectives: Positive, comparative, superlative. These degrees are applicable only for the descriptive adjectives. Examples: Positive degree: He is a good boy. Comparative degree: He is better than any other boy. Superlative: He is the best boy.
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Compound Adjectives
When compound nouns/combined words modify other nouns, they become a compound adjective. This type of adjective usually combines more than one word into a single lexical unit and modifies a noun. They are often separated by a hyphen or joined together by a quotation mark. Example: I have a broken-down sofa. I saw a six-foot-long snake. He gave…
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Articles
Articles also modify the nouns. So, articles are also adjectives. Articles determine the specification of nouns. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are used to refer to an unspecific noun, and ‘the’ is used to refer to a specific noun. Examples: A cat is always afraid of water. (Here, the noun ‘cat’ refers to any cat, not specific.) The cat…
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Indefinite Adjectives
An indefinite adjective describes or modifies a noun unspecifically. They provide indefinite/unspecific information about the noun. The common indefinite adjectives are few, many, much, most, all, any, each, every, either, nobody, several, some, etc. Examples: I gave some candy to her. I want a few moments alone. Several writers wrote about the recent incidents. Each student will have to submit homework tomorrow.
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Possessive Adjectives
A possessive adjective indicates possession or ownership. It suggests the belongingness of something to someone/something. Some of the most used possessive adjectives are my, his, her, our, their, your. All these adjectives always come before a noun. Unlike possessive pronouns, these words demand a noun after them. Examples: My car is parked outside. His cat is very cute. Our job is almost…
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Demonstrative Adjectives
A demonstrative adjective directly refers to something or someone. Demonstrative adjectives include the words: this, that, these, those. A demonstrative pronoun works alone and does not precede a noun, but a demonstrative adjective always comes before the word it modifies. Examples: That building is so gorgeously decorated. (‘That’ refers to a singular noun far from the speaker) This car is mine.…