Grammar Bytes! The Writer's Guide To Grammar

Attack of the Adverbs

  And what is an adverb? I don't mind telling you that I was in high school before I really understood them myself. Well, let's start by defining adjectives, for some perspective.

  An adjective is a descriptive word that modifies a noun. Colors, for instance. Or words like short and tall, fat and skinny, stubborn and acquiescent, et cetera.

  Adjectives tell us what something is like, how it appears, or maybe how it tastes-- generally filling out the sensory perceptions attached to something.

  Adverbs are different, to varying degrees. An adjective is just an adjective, but there are several different types of adverbs. Adverbs not only modify verbs, but can also modify adjectives and other adverbs.

  There are several different types of adverbs, based on what they are describing. Let's focus on the type most commonly confused with adjectives: adverbs of manner.    

  Adverbs of manner, like quickly, succinctly, rationally, et cetera, describe how an action is performed.
These are often confused with adjectives, like in the all-too-common:

"Oh, I can do that easy."

Or,

"I can write so much easier now."

  Both of these are adjectives and should describe nouns. The correct phrases are as follows.

"Oh, I can do that easily."

  and,

"I can write so much more easily now."

  Typically, to arrive at an adverb of manner, you add -ly, -ily, -ally, or -y to an adjective, depending on the last letter of the original word. Here are some examples:

  If the word ends in a -y, as in happy, you drop the y and add -ily.

  If the word ends in -ic, as in energetic, you add -ally.

  If the word ends with -le, such as indelible, you exchange the e for a y.

  In any other case, or if the word already ends with an -l, then simply add -ly (as in radical-ly).

  Note, however, that not all adverbs of manner use the -ly suffix, as in the case of fast, which, in its own right, functions as an adjective (The boy was fast), as a verb (The doctor instructed her patient to fast), or as an adverb (The unfortunate bandit's cloak was held fast by an arrow).

  While we're here, I'd also like to point out the difference between good and well. These two words are probably the most commonly confused, but one is an adjective and the other is an adverb. To point out some common mistakes:

  "You did good, kid."

  "You dance so good!"

  "I don't feel good."

  Good is an adjective, unless it is a noun, but it is never an adverb. In the first two examples, well should be used in place of good because do and dance are verbs. Like so:

  "You did well, kid."

  "You dance so well!"

  The third example is a bit tricky, because of context. In a certain context, the same can be correct because "good" in this case is a subject complement, a word which describes the subject; whereas "feel" is a linking verb, or, a verb that links the subject to a description.

  But when referring to your state of health, the same statement is incorrect because "to feel well" means to be in good health. So if you get up in the morning and your first thought is to take some kind of medicine, you say, "I don't feel well."

  Lastly, if you are referring to the way you feel about something, such as an interaction, you would say, "I don't feel good about what she said to me."

  Now I'll give you some examples of when good is correct:

  "You did a good job, kid."

  "That was a very good dance."

  In these cases, now that good is no longer modifying the verbs did and dance, as only an adverb should, it is instead modifying the nouns job and dance.

  And for a little further clarification on the functions of the word "well," which can also be a subject complement, I'm going to provide a couple of links below that I found useful:

  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/confusion-adjectives-adverbs-timothy-minton#:~:text=%22I%20don't%20feel%20well,Confused%3F

  in which the differences between "good" and "well" are laid out more clearly, and

  https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/subject_complement.htm

  in which subject complements are defined along with linking verbs.