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I Feel Bad When You Speak or Write Badly
On Friday nights, after I’ve watched the local television news, I usually sit in my recliner and flip between the late-night talk shows. What drives me crazy about these shows, however, is the guests who don’t know the difference between an adjective and an adverb.
For example, I once heard a famous singer say that his voice sounded “poorly.” I also heard a Hollywood actress say she felt “badly” when her cat died. I even heard an ice-cream manufacturer say that he often had to sample his product to make sure that it tasted “well.” In each case, the speakers used adverbs when they should have used adjectives.
The basic difference between an adjective and an adverb is that an adjective describes a noun (a person, a place, a thing, or an idea) while an adverb describes a verb (an action word), an adjective, or another adverb.
To see the difference between the two, look at the following sentences:
“The careful woman tip-toed through the tulips.”
“The woman walked carefully through the rose bushes.”
In the first sentence, the word “careful” is an adjective that describes the woman, and…
