Adjectives and Prepositions

(R2G Quiz 1)

In English, a particular adjective often matches a particular preposition. For example:

 Stephen is fond of chocolate cake.

 The following examples are tested in R2G Quiz 1:

      fond of

      keen on

      interested in

      good at

      fascinated by

      terrified of

      annoyed with

      afraid of

      shy with

      different from

 Here are some further examples:

accustomed  to

accused  of

acquainted  with 

addicted  to

annoyed  about/with/at 

allergic  to 

amazed  at/by  

anxious  about 

appreciated  for

ashamed  of

associated  with

astonished  at/by 

aware  of

angry  with

afraid  of

attached  to        

bad  at 

based  on 

beneficial  to

boastful  for 

bored  with 

brilliant  at

busy  with        

capable  of 

careful with/about/of

certain  about

characteristic of

clever at

connected with

conscious  of 

content  with 

crazy  about 

crowded  with

curious  about         

dissatisfied with 

delighted at/about 

derived  from

different  from 

disappointed  with          

eager for 

eligible  for

enthusiastic  about 

excellent  in/at 

excited  about

experienced  in

exposed  to 

envious  of        

faithful  to

familiar  with 

famous  for 

fed up  with 

free  of/from 

frightened  of 

friendly  with

fond  of

furious  about

furnished  with

full of        

generous  with/about 

guilty of/about

gentle  with 

good  at 

grateful  to         

happy  about

hopeful  of/about          

identical  with/to 

immune  to

impressed  with 

inferior  to

indifferent to 

innocent of

interested  in 

involved  with

incapable  of        

jealous of        

kind to

keen  on         

late  for 

limited  to 

lucky  at         

nervous  of/about 

notorious  for          

opposed  to         

patient  with 

pessimistic  about 

pleased  with

polite to 

popular  with

presented  with 

proud  of 

punished  for

puzzled  by/about         

ready  for 

related  to 

relevant  to

respectful  for 

responsible  for 

rid  of          

sad  about 

safe  from 

satisfied  with 

scared  of 

sensitive  to 

serious  about 

sick  of 

similar  to 

shocked  by 

skilful  at 

slow  at 

sorry  for/about 

successful  in 

suitable  for 

sure  of/about 

superior  to 

surprised  at 

suspicious  of 

terrible  at 

terrified  of 

tired  of

thankful  to/for 

trilled  with 

troubled  with 

typical  of         

unaware  of 

upset  about 

used  to      

wrong  with/about 

worried  about 

Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives

(R2G Quizzes 2 & 177)

A verb is an action.

It may be a physical action, such as run, swim, jump.

It may be a mental or abstract action, such as think, consider, satisfy

Verbs have tenses:

jump, jumped, is jumping, has jumped and so on

A noun is a thing.

It may be a physical thing, such as house, car, chair

It may be an abstract thing, such as honor, goodness, confidence

An adjective is a description, such as green, old, big, small

An adjective cannot have a tense. However, some are spelled with –ed or –ing:

Example:          The movie was boring

                           I felt bored

These are usually adjectives of feeling (Click here for more details)

He has a lot of __________.

A) confident

B) confidence

We know that a NOUN must go in the blank, because you can have a THING and a noun is a thing.

Confidence is a noun, so it is the correct answer.

If you are not sure whether a word is a noun, verb or adjective, check your dictionary.

Summary:

Adjectives with –ed and –ing

(R2G quiz 3)

1 Some adjectives end in –ed or –ing. This does not mean that they are past or present tense. Adjectives do not have tenses. Only verbs have tenses.

Some examples of adjectives ending in –ed or –ing:

            A                     B

            bored                boring

            confused          confusing

            annoyed           annoying

            frustrated          frustrating

            charmed           charming

            amazed            amazing

2 Notice that the adjectives in column A mainly describe feelings. In fact, we can say:

            I am bored                    or         I feel bored.

            I am confused               or         I feel confused

...and so on. The adjectives are usually (but not always) applied to people.

3 Notice that the adjectives in column B describe things that give us a particular feeling:

            The book is confusing              (...so I feel confused.)

My boss is annoying                 (...so I feel annoyed.)

The magician was amazing     (...so I was amazed by his tricks.)

Adverbs  

(R2G Quizzes 4,5)

Rule 1:           An adverb is a word that describes a verb. Some examples are:

   quickly
   awkwardly
   softly
   gracefully

Example 1:    He left quickly.
‘quickly’ is an adverb that describes how he left.

Example 2:    She spoke softly.
‘softly’ is an adverb that describes how she spoke

Adverbs can be used in various places in the sentence:

Robert quickly scooped up all the leftovers.
Robert scooped up all the leftovers quickly.

Most adverbs end in –ly, but some don’t, such as ‘fast’

The adverbial form of ‘good’ is well (not ‘goodly’):

Wrong:              She plays tennis good.
Right:                She plays tennis well.

Rule 2:                  An adverb can describe the point of view of a sentence

Example 1:          Fortunately, nobody was injured in the accident.
Example 2:          Obviously, the dog never managed to catch its own tail.

Rule 3:                  An adverb can be used to describe an adjective.

Example 1:          This comedian is exceptionally funny.
Example 2:          The food was surprisingly tasty.

Also to note:

1 ‘really’ and ‘very’ are considered adverbs, but we only use ‘very’ to modify adjectives, not verbs:

Correct:                She is very funny.
Wrong:                 She very likes him.
Correct:                She is really funny.
Correct:                She really likes him.

2 ‘hard’ and ‘hardly’ have special meanings:
‘hard’ is the adverb of ‘hard’ – it doesn’t change form.
‘hardly’ means ‘not very much’

Example:             He is a good employee. He works hard.
Example:             He is a terrible employee. He hardly works.

3 With verbs describing senses – feel, look, sound, taste – we tend to use adjectives instead of adverbs

Example 1:          She looks great in that dress.
Example 2:          It feels nice to have a nap in the afternoon.

Adverbs of Frequency     

(R2G Quiz 6)

These adverbs describe how often an event takes place. They are very

common in spoken English. Here are the most commonly used ones:

Note that ‘sometimes’ has a different meaning without the ‘-s’ ending:

George sometimes eats steak.                (not so often)

We should go to Disneyland sometime. (when we get the chance)

It took some time to complete.      (an amount of time)

Adverbs of viewpoint

(R2G Quiz 7)

We can use an adverb at the beginning of a sentence to show our point of view. In this case, the adverb describes the complete sentence and not just the verb.

Some examples:

Fortunately, he got out of the boat before it sunk.

Recently, Jim has been feeling unwell.

As you can see, these adverbs are easy to use. What a great and easy way to expand your vocabulary.

The following examples are tested in R2G Quiz 7:

unfortunately

commonly

personally

usually

honestly

basically

fundamentally

obviously

clearly

surprisingly

certainly

secretly

theoretically

practically

mostly

Adverbial phrases

(R2G Quiz 8)

An adverbial phrase is a phrase that acts as an adverb and modifies or describes a sentence. For instance:

In a nutshell, you need a new car.

The phrase ‘in a nutshell’ means ‘to say it in brief’, and it modifies or describes the meaning of the main clause in the sentence, ‘you need a new car’.

R2G quiz number 8 tests the following adverbial phrases:

Much of the time

Surprisingly

As often as not

As much as possible

As long as…

During

Without

In less than…

Well enough

There are many, many phrases in English that can function as adverbial phrases.