Unit

100 Adjectives and adverbs 1 (quick/quickly)

A You can say:
Our holiday was too short – the time passed very quickly.
Two people were seriously injured in the accident.
Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are adjective + -ly:
adjective quick serious careful bad heavy terrible
adverb quickly seriously carefully badly heavily terribly
For spelling, see Appendix 6.
Not all words ending in -ly are adverbs. Some adjectives end in -ly too, for example:
friendly lively elderly lonely lovely
It was a lovely day.

B Adjective or adverb?

Adjectives (quick/careful etc.) tell us about a Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about
noun (somebody or something). We use a verb (how somebody does something or
adjectives before nouns: how something happens):
Sam is a careful driver. Sam drove carefully along the narrow
(not a carefully driver) road. (not drove careful)
We didn’t go out because of the heavy We didn’t go out because it was raining
rain. heavily. (not raining heavy)

Compare:

She speaks perfect English. She speaks English perfectly.

adjective + noun verb + noun + adverb

C We use adjectives after some verbs, especially be, and also look/feel/sound etc.
Compare:

Please be quiet. Please speak quietly.

My exam results were really bad. I did really badly in the exam.
Why do you always look so serious? Why do you never take me seriously?
I feel happy. The children were playing happily.

D You can also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs. For example:
reasonably cheap (adverb + adjective)
terribly sorry (adverb + adjective)
incredibly quickly (adverb + adverb)
It’s a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.
I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to push you.
Maria learns languages incredibly quickly.
The exam was surprisingly easy.
You can also use an adverb before a past participle (injured/organised/written etc.):
Two people were seriously injured in the accident. (not serious injured)
The conference was badly organised.

200 Adjectives after be/look/feel etc. ➜ Unit 99C Adjectives and adverbs 2 ➜ Unit 101
 Unit
Exercises 100
100.1 Complete each sentence with an adverb. The first letters of the adverb are given.
1 We didn’t go out because it was raining he avily .
2 I had no problem finding a place to live. I found a flat quite ea .
3 We had to wait a long time, but we didn’t complain. We waited pat .
4 Nobody knew that Simon was coming to see us. He arrived unex .
5 Mike keeps fit by playing tennis reg .
6 I don’t speak French very well, but I can understand per if people speak
sl and cl .
100.2 Put in the correct word.
1 Sam drove carefully along the narrow road. (careful / carefully)
2 I think you behaved very . (selfish / selfishly)
3 The weather changed . (sudden / suddenly)
4 There was a change in the weather. (sudden / suddenly)
5 Liz fell and hurt herself really . (bad / badly)
6 I think I have flu. I feel . (awful / awfully)
7 Tanya is upset about losing her job. (terrible / terribly)
8 I could sit in this chair all day. It’s very . (comfortable / comfortably)
9 I explained everything as as I could. (clear / clearly)
10 Be careful on that ladder. It doesn’t look very . (safe / safely)
11 Have a good trip and I hope you have a journey. (safe / safely)
12 I’m glad you had a good trip and got home . (safe / safely)
100.3 Complete each sentence using a word from the box. Sometimes you need the adjective (careful
etc.) and sometimes the adverb (carefully etc.).
careful(ly) complete(ly) dangerous(ly) financial(ly) fluent(ly)
frequent(ly) nervous(ly) perfect(ly) permanent(ly) special(ly)

1 Sam doesn’t take risks when he’s driving. He’s always careful .
2 He’s late sometimes, but it doesn’t happen .
3 Maria’s English is very although she makes quite a lot of mistakes.
4 I cooked this meal for you, so I hope you like it.
5 Everything was very quiet. There was silence.
6 I tried on the shoes and they fitted me .
7 I’d like to buy a car, but it’s impossible for me at the moment.
8 I’m staying here only a few weeks. I won’t be living here .
9 Do you usually feel before exams?
10 Dan likes to take risks. He lives .
100.4 Choose two words (one from each box) to complete each sentence.
absolutely badly completely changed cheap damaged
happily reasonably seriously enormous ill long
slightly unnecessarily unusually married planned quiet

1 I thought the restaurant would be expensive, but it was reasonably cheap .

2 Will’s mother is in hospital.
3 This house is so big! It’s .
4 It wasn’t a serious accident. The car was only .
5 Our children are normally very lively, but they’re today.
6 When I returned home after 20 years, everything had .
7 The movie was . It could have been much shorter.
8 I’m surprised Amy and Joe have separated. I thought they were .
9 A lot went wrong during our holiday because it was .

➜ Additional exercise 31 (page 320) 201

UnitAdjectives and adverbs 2
101 (well, fast, late, hard/hardly)
A good and well
Good is an adjective. The adverb is well:
Your English is good. but You speak English well.
Sophie is a good pianist. but Sophie plays the piano well.
We use well (not good) with past participles (known/educated etc.). For example:
well-known well-educated well-paid well-behaved
Sophie’s father is a well-known writer.
Well is also an adjective meaning ‘in good health’:
‘How are you today?’ ‘I’m very well, thanks.’

B fast, hard and late

These words are both adjectives and adverbs:
adjective adverb
Darren is a fast runner. Darren can run fast.
It’s hard to find a job right now. Kate works hard. (not works hardly)
Sorry I’m late. I got up late.
lately = recently:
Have you seen Kate lately?

C hardly
hardly = very little, almost not:
Sarah wasn’t very friendly at the party. She hardly spoke to me.
(= she spoke to me very little)
We’ve only met once or twice. We hardly know each other.
Compare hard and hardly:
He tried hard to find a job, but he had no luck. (= he tried a lot, with a lot of effort)
I’m not surprised he didn’t find a job. He hardly tried. (= he tried very little)
Hardly goes before the verb:
We hardly know each other. (not We know each other hardly)
I can hardly do something = it’s very difficult for me, almost impossible:
Your writing is terrible. I can hardly read it. (= it is almost impossible to read it)
My leg was hurting. I could hardly walk.

D You can use hardly + any/anybody/anyone/anything/anywhere: There’s hardly anything

A: How much money do we have? in the fridge.
B: Hardly any. (= very little, almost none)
These two cameras are very similar. There’s hardly any
difference between them.
The exam results were bad. Hardly anybody in our
class passed. (= very few students passed)
She was very quiet. She said hardly anything. or
She hardly said anything.
hardly ever = almost never:
I’m nearly always at home in the evenings. I hardly ever go out.
Hardly also means ‘certainly not’. For example:
It’s hardly surprising that you’re tired. You haven’t slept for three days.
(= it’s certainly not surprising)
The situation is serious, but it’s hardly a crisis. (= it’s certainly not a crisis)

202 Adjectives after verbs (‘You look tired’ etc.) ➜ Unit 99C Adjectives and adverbs 1 ➜ Unit 100
 Unit
Exercises 101
101.1 Put in good or well.
1 I play tennis but I’m not very good .
2 Joe’s exam results were very .
3 Joe did in his exams.
4 I didn’t sleep last night.
5 I like your hat. It looks on you.
6 Can you speak up? I can’t hear you very .
7 I’ve met her a few times, but I don’t know her .
8 Lucy speaks German . She’s at languages.

101.2 Complete these sentences using well + the following words:

behaved informed kept known paid written
1 The children were very good. They were well behaved .
2 I’m surprised you haven’t heard of her. She is quite .
3 Our neighbours’ garden is neat and tidy. It is very .
4 I enjoyed the book. It’s a great story and it’s very .
5 Tanya knows about everything. She is very .
6 Jane works very hard in her job, but she isn’t very .

101.3 Which is right?

1 I’m tired because I’ve been working hard / hardly. (hard is correct)
2 I wasn’t in a hurry, so I was walking slow / slowly.
3 I haven’t been to the cinema late / lately.
4 Slow down! You’re walking too fast / quick for me.
5 I tried hard / hardly to remember her name, but I couldn’t.
6 This coat is practically unused. I’ve hard / hardly worn it.
7 Laura is a good tennis player. She hits the ball very hard / hardly.
8 It’s really dark in here. I can hardly see / see hardly.
9 Ben is going to run a marathon. He’s been training hard / hardly.

101.4 Complete the sentences. Use hardly + the following verbs (in the correct form):
change hear know recognise say sleep speak
1 Scott and Tracy have only met once before. They hardly know each other.
2 You’re speaking very quietly. I can you.
3 I don’t feel good this morning. I last night.
4 We were so shocked when we heard the news, we could .
5 Kate was very quiet this evening. She anything.
6 Gary looks just like he looked 15 years ago. He has .
7 David looked different without his beard. I him.

101.5 Complete these sentences with hardly + any/anybody/anything/anywhere/ever.

1 I’ll have to go shopping. There’s hardly anything to eat.
2 It was a very warm day and there was wind.
3 ‘Do you know much about computers?’ ‘No, .’
4 The hotel was almost empty. There was staying there.
5 I listen to the radio a lot, but I watch TV.
6 It was very crowded in the room. There was to sit.
7 We used to be good friends, but we see each other now.
8 We invited lots of people to the party, but came.
9 It didn’t take us long to drive there. There was traffic.
10 There isn’t much to do in this town. There’s to go.

➜ Additional exercise 31 (page 320) 203