Exercises On ADJECTIVES And ADVERBS

1. Exercises on ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS.

Use the adjectives in brackets to make adverbs and fill in the gaps.

1. Franca picked up the sleeping baby ___gently______. (gentle) 2. When she handed him his lost walled, he smiled at her ____gratefully______. (grateful) 3. Irma couldn’t see her son anywhere and called his name ______anxiously______. (anxious) 4. They followed the directions to the hotel _____easily______. (easy) 5. Tom admitted his mistake and apologized ____sincerely______. (sincere)

Underline the correct words. 1. Eleni stepped confident/confidently onto the stage to begin her talk. 2. The meeting at lunchtime was a complete/completely waste of time. 3. Maria did good/well in the exam and she won a prise. 4. Mark tried hard/hardly to make the hotel receptionist understand him, but his Spanish wasn’t fluent/fluently enough. 5. After looking at the computer screen all day I had an awful/awfully headache. 6. Even though Deborah did the job efficient/efficiently, they sacked her after two months. 7. The doctor couldn’t understand why Carol felt so hot because her temperature was normal/normally. 8. The boy behaved bad/badly on a school trip so the school refused to take him on any more.

Rewrite each sentence with the adverbs in brackets in suitable positions. 1. Katja plays the guitar incredibly well for her age. (incredibly) ______2. They rarely eat steak because it is so expensive nowadays. (rarely, nowadays) ______3. In the summer holidays, my grandfather used to take us swimming in the lake. (in the summer holidays, in the lake) ______4. There is usually a good film on TV on Sunday evenings. (usually, on Sunday evenings) ______5. My mother insisted that good manners are always terribly important. (terribly, always) ______

Use one word from the list below to fill in the gap.

Always, earlier, hardly, now, rather, silently, skilfully, stiffly, very, warmly

She shut the door silently (1) after her. Her father wasn’t expecting her—she had arrived______(2) than she had said. He was sitting where he ______(3) sat, in his favourite armchair by the window. It was ______(4) old but had been repaired ______(5) so that he could continue using it. The room had been redecorated since her last visit and was looking ______(6) elegant. On the shelves were all the books which her father ______(7) ever looked at any more. She called her father’s name. He stood up and she noticed that he moved very ______(8). He smiled and held out his arms to her. She hadn’t been in touch with him for five years but ______(9) he welcomed her as ______(10) as he always had.

Adjective Order size age shape colour origin material purpose (an) old red car enormous (a) small oval French mirror (an) antique silver soup spoon

Underline the correct adjectives

1. James told us some fascinating/fascinated stories about the music business. 2. Why are you looking so depressing/depressed? What’s wrong? 3. Sarah’s got an amazing/amazed collection of rock CD’s. 4. Felix has this really annoying/annoyed habit or reading my letters. 5. The boring/bored students started causing trouble in class. 6. I watched the show for a while, but it wasn’t really interesting/interested, so I left. 7. As the football team came out onto the pitch, their exciting/excited fans were wild. 8. The food in this canteen is absolutely disgusting/disgusted.

Choose the correct sentence from each pair.

1. a That was the worse film I’ve ever seen. b That was the worst film I’ve ever seen. 2. a Michael’s got a fantastic new leather jacket. b Michael’s got a leather new fantastic jacket. 3. a I didn’t eat any bread because I thought it stale looked. b I didn’t eat any bread because I thought it looked stale. 4. a Our last holiday wasn’t so enjoyable than this one. b Our last holiday wasn’t so enjoyable as this one. 5. a My boyfriend is tall dark handsome. b My boyfriend is tall, dark and handsome. 6. a Lucia should catch an earlier train if she wanted to get to London by five. b Lucia should catch a more earlier train if she wants to get to London by five.

2. Fill in the gaps with suitable prepositions

1. How are you? We’re having a great time in Thailand. _____ the moment, we’re still _____ the north of the country. This evening we’re flying to Bangkok where we’ll visit the amazing palaces ____the morning and then go shopping _____ a few hours. _____the weekend we’ll head south to Phuket. We’re going to book a morning flight so we’ll be there _____midday at the latest. We’ll go to Phi Phi island from there ______Monday. We’ve booked a bungalow. The tourist office says it’s _____ the end of a long beach, _____gardens which lie_____ the beach and the hillside. We’re going to go snorkelling and we can’t wait to go swimming _____ the tropical fish! We’ll stay there _____ about a week and then we’ll come home.

2. The wedding took place last Saturday of a couple who fell ____love through the internet. Penny and Peter communicated ____e-mail for six months until they discovered _____ accident that they worked _____ the same building. ‘Actually, I had noticed her before and liked her, but I was too shy to speak to her _____ public,’ said blushing Peter. ‘When I realized she was my internet friend, at first I suspected her ____ laughing _____ me, and I was quite angry ______it. But luckily she succeeded _____ persuading me that I was wrong. Now we’re looking forward _____ spending out lives together.’

Intransitive, transitive and copular (linking) verbs Transitive verb and direct object (dO) : the direct object is underlined in the sentences below. Turn the sentence into a question using who or was indicated in parentheses. Use one of these words to replace the direct object. Position the operator and the subject after who or what, as in the following example:

She introduced the school head to her parents. (Who) Who did she introduce to her parents? 1. Norma’s parents met her English and Biology teachers at the Open Day. (Who) Who did Norma’s parents meet at the Open Day? 2. Caroline submitted a poem about her dog to the school magazine. (What) What did Caroline submit to the school magazine? 3. All the members of staff considered Janet the best student in the Upper Sixth. (Who) Who did all the members of staff consider the best student in the Upper Sixth? 4. The school head recommended a careers advice test. (What) What did the school head recommend? 5. Marilyn chose Sussex as her first preference on her application form for university entrance. (What) What did Marilyn choose as her first preference….? 6. Her parents preferred York or Lancaster. (What) What did her parents prefer?

Demonstrate that the underlined groups of words are adverbials by substituting an equivalent adverb.

1. In recent years, the number of cases has increased. Recently 2. These files can be analysed by the computer with great accuracy. Accurately 3. The newspaper was produced with great professionalism by the students. Professionally 4. They spoke with confidence. Confidently 5. In California, they have both sun and smog. There 6. He only answered with a foolish smile. Smiling foolishly 7. They all treated her with kindness. Kindly

Transitive Verbs and Direct Objects: In each sentence underline the direct objects. If a sentence contains more than once clause, it may have more than one direct object.

Example: The president has offered substantial concessions, but he should not expect much gratitude.

1. The president promised the end of racial discrimination, but he rejected the black demand for one man, one vote. 2. That sort of democracy would mean rule by a black majority, which might feel an understandable urge for retribution for past oppressions. 3. Whites, equally understandably, want safeguards for white rights, but you cannot ensure safeguards once you surrender your power. 4. Having made his gamble, the president will find himself under pressure from two directions. 5. Among blacks, he has created an upward surge of expectations which he may be unable to fulfill. 6. He has frightened white defenders of apartheid, who might attempt a final, desperate, and perhaps violent defense of their racist stance.

Linking verbs and subject complement: Underline the subject complement in each sentence below.

1. Outside, the company sign seems modest. 2. Inside, the atmosphere is one of rush and ferment. 3. The company is a genetic engineering firm. 4. It has become the leader of a brand-new industry. 5. The focus of the project is DNA recombination. 6. The DNA recombination is the transfer of pieces of DNA from one type of organism to another. 7. The leaders of the company are research scientists. 8. They are also shareholders of the company. 9. All the shareholders seem happy with the progress of the company. 10. They do not feel afraid of competition.

Intransitive verbs and adverbials: Underline the adverbials in the sentences below. Some sentences may have more than one adverbial.

1. Opossums frequently appear to be dead. 2. Sometimes they merely pretend to be dead. 3. In that way they avoid attacks by predators. 4. Often they simply are dead. 5. Few opossums remain alive far into the second year. 6. According to one biologist, the two-year-old opossums show the symptoms of advanced old age. 7. Over many centuries, opossums have died at early ages because of accidents and predators. 8. As a result, natural selection ends especially early in opossums’ lives. 9. Bad mutations accumulate in older opossums. 10. The natural-selection theory apparently explains their short lives.

Direct object and indirect object: Underline the indirect object in the sentences below. Some sentences do not have an indirect object.

1. Can you tell me the time, please? 2. Who taught you how to do that? 3. Paul’s parents promised him a bicycle for his twelfth birthday. 4. You can save yourself the bother. 5. The college provides accommodation for all first-year students. 6. I owe my parents several hundred pounds. 7. Show me your latest videos. 8. Our local council gives a maintenance grant to all students in higher education. 9. What can I offer you now? 10. The restaurant does not serve vegetarian meals. 11. What a meal they ordered for us!

Direct object and indirect object: use each of the verbs below to make up a sentence containing both a direct object and an indirect object.

1. pay 2. bring 3. leave 4. read 5. find 6. make 7. cook 8. spare 9. ask 10. charge

Direct object and object complement: in each of the following sentences, state whether the underlined phrase is an object complement (oC) or an adverbial complement (aC).

1. Jack has put his coat and hat in my bedroom. 2. The noise is driving me mad. 3. They keep their house too warm. 4. I can see you home. 5. She made me her assistant. 6. My friend wants her coffee black. 7. Make yourself comfortable. 8. I want you outside. 9. We found everybody very helpful. 10. Show me to my seat.

The basic sentence structures: identify each element by writing the appropriate abbreviation in the brackets after it: S (subject) V (verb) dO (direct object) iO (indirect object) sC (subject complement) oC (object complement) aC (adverb complement) A (adverbial)

1. Salt ( S ) was ( Vcop ) the first food seasoning ( SC ). 2. Many people ( S ) consider ( V ) the accidental spilling of salt ( DO ) bad luck ( OC ). 3. The Romans (S ) gave ( V) their soldiers ( IO ) special allowances for salt (DO ). 4. They ( S ) called ( V ) the allowance ( DO ) salarium ( OC ). 5. That ( S ) is ( Vcop ) the original of our word ‘salary’ ( SC). 6. By 6500 BC ( A ), Europeans ( S ) were ( V ) actively ( A) mining ( V ) salt ( DO ). 7. The first salt mines ( S ) were located ( Vcop ) in Austria ( AC ). 8. Today ( A ) these caves ( S ) are ( Vcop ) tourist attractions ( SC ). 9. Salt (S) preserved ( V ) meat and fish ( DO ). 10. Ancient peoples ( S ) used ( V ) salt ( DO ) in all their major sacrifices ( A ).