ESL Grammar: ADVERBS (7) – Adjective or Adverb?

In this ESL grammar worksheet, students must identify adjectives (and the nouns they modify) as well as adverbs (and the verbs they modify).

ESL Grammar: Understanding Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives describe or modify nouns, providing more information about the person, place, thing, or idea being discussed. They answer questions like “Which one?”, “What kind?”, or “How many?”.

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, offering details about how, when, where, or to what extent something happens. They answer questions like “How?”, “When?”, “Where?”, or “To what extent?”.

ESL Grammar: Identifying Adjectives and Their Nouns

1. Adjectives: An adjective provides additional information about a noun. To identify the noun modified by an adjective, look for the word that describes or gives more detail about a noun in the sentence.

Examples:

• The tall building is located in the city center. (The adjective “tall” modifies the noun “building”.)
• She wore a beautiful dress to the party. (The adjective “beautiful” modifies the noun “dress”.)

ESL Grammar: Identifying Adverbs and Their Verbs

2. Adverbs: An adverb describes how an action is performed, or modifies an adjective or another adverb. To identify the verb modified by an adverb, look for the word that describes or gives more detail about a verb in the sentence.

Examples:

• He runs quickly every morning. (The adverb “quickly” modifies the verb “runs”.)
• She sings very beautifully. (The adverb “beautifully” modifies the verb “sings”, and “very” modifies the adverb “beautifully”.)

The English grammar lesson below gives students a chance to identify the nouns modified by adjectives and the verbs modified by adverbs, in a clear and simple manner that is easy for beginner or intermediate English learners to understand. Our series of ESL grammar lessons on subjects and verbs introduce these concepts and reinforce them through helpful and instructive exercises.

This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on all different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and lots more!) in our comprehensive, beginner-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 1: Parts of Speech).