DEGREE OF COMPARISON

Position of Adjectives

Unlike Adverbs, which often seem capable of popping up almost anywhere in a sentence, adjectives nearly always appear immediately before the noun or noun phrase that they modify. Sometimes they appear in a string of adjectives, and when they do, they appear in a set order according to category. (See Below.) When indefinite pronouns — such as something, someone, anybody — are modified by an adjective, the adjective comes after the pronoun:

Anyone capable of doing something horrible to someone nice should be punished.
Something wicked this way comes.

And there are certain adjectives that, in combination with certain words, are always "postpositive" (coming after the thing they modify):

The president select, heir apparent to the Glitzy fortune, lives in New York proper.

See, also, the note on a- adjectives, below, for the position of such words as "ablaze, aloof, aghast."

Degrees of Adjectives

Adjectives can express degrees of modification:

• Gladys is a rich woman, but Josie is richer than Gladys, and Sadie is the richest woman in town.

The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. (Actually, only the comparative and superlative show degrees.) We use the comparative for comparing two things and the superlative for comparing three or more things. Notice that the word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the precedes the superlative. The inflected suffixes -er and -est suffice to form most comparatives and superlatives, although we need -ier and -iest when a two-syllable adjective ends in y (happier and happiest); otherwise we use more and most when an adjective has more than one syllable.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
rich	richer	richest
lovely	lovelier	loveliest
beautiful	more beautiful	most beautiful

Certain adjectives have irregular forms in the comparative and superlative degrees:

Irregular Comparative and Superlative Forms
good	better	best
bad	worse	worst
little	less	least
much many some	more	most
far	further	furthest

Be careful not to form comparatives or superlatives of adjectives which already express an extreme of comparison — unique, for instance — although it probably is possible to form comparative forms of most adjectives: something can be more perfect, and someone can have a fuller figure. People who argue that one woman cannot be more pregnant than another have never been nine-months pregnant with twins.

Grammar's Response

According to Bryan Garner, "complete" is one of those adjectives that does not admit of comparative degrees. We could say, however, "more nearly complete." I am sure that I have not been consistent in my application of this principle in the Guide (I can hear myself, now, saying something like "less adequate" or "more preferable" or "less fatal"). Other adjectives that Garner would include in this list are as follows:

absolute	impossible	principal
adequate	inevitable	stationary
chief	irrevocable	sufficient
complete	main	unanimous
devoid	manifest	unavoidable
entire	minor	unbroken
fatal	paramount	unique
final	perpetual	universal
ideal	preferable	whole

From The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Styleby Bryan Garner. Copyright 1995 by Bryan A. Garner. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., www.oup-usa.org, and used with the gracious consent of Oxford University Press.

Be careful, also, not to use more along with a comparative adjective formed with -er nor to use most along with a superlative adjective formed with -est (e.g., do not write that something is more heavier or most heaviest).

The as — as construction is used to create a comparison expressing equality:

• He is as foolish as he is large.
• She is as bright as her mother.

Premodifiers with Degrees of Adjectives

Both adverbs and adjectives in their comparative and superlative forms can be accompanied by premodifiers, single words and phrases, that intensify the degree.

• We were a lot more careful this time.
• He works a lot less carefully than the other jeweler in town.
• We like his work so much better.
• You'll get your watch back all the faster.

The same process can be used to downplay the degree:

• The weather this week has been somewhat better.
• He approaches his schoolwork a little less industriously than his brother does.

And sometimes a set phrase, usually an informal noun phrase, is used for this purpose:

• He arrived a whole lot sooner than we expected.
• That's a heck of a lot better.

If the intensifier very accompanies the superlative, a determiner is also required:

• She is wearing her very finest outfit for the interview.
• They're doing the very best they can.

Occasionally, the comparative or superlative form appears with a determiner and the thing being modified is understood:

• Of all the wines produced in Connecticut, I like this one the most.
• The quicker you finish this project, the better.
• Of the two brothers, he is by far the faster.

Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission.

Less versus Fewer

When making a comparison between quantities we often have to make a choice between the words fewer and less. Generally, when we're talking about countable things, we use the word fewer; when we're talking about measurable quantities that we cannot count, we use the word less. "She had fewer chores, but she also had less energy." The managers at our local Stop & Shop seem to have mastered this: they've changed the signs at the so-called express lanes from "Twelve Items or Less" to "Twelve Items or Fewer." Whether that's an actual improvement, we'll leave up to you. We do, however, definitely use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions: It's less than twenty miles to Dallas. He's less than six feet tall. Your essay should be a thousand words or less. We spent less than forty dollars on our trip. The town spent less than four percent of its budget on snow removal. In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.

Taller than I / me ??

When making a comparison with "than" do we end with a subject form or object form, "taller than I/she" or "taller than me/her." The correct response is "taller than I/she." We are looking for the subject form: "He is taller than I am/she is tall." (Except we leave out the verb in the second clause, "am" or "is.") Some good writers, however, will argue that the word "than" should be allowed to function as a preposition. If we can say "He is tall like me/her," then (if "than" could be prepositional like like) we should be able to say, "He is taller than me/her." It's an interesting argument, but — for now, anyway — in formal, academic prose, use the subject form in such comparisons. We also want to be careful in a sentence such as "I like him better than she/her." The "she" would mean that you like this person better than she likes him; the "her" would mean that you like this male person better than you like that female person. (To avoid ambiguity and the slippery use of than, we could write "I like him better than she does" or "I like him better than I like her.")

More than / over ??

In the United States, we usually use "more than" in countable numerical expressions meaning "in excess of" or "over." In England, there is no such distinction. For instance, in the U.S., some editors would insist on "more than 40,000 traffic deaths in one year," whereas in the UK, "over 40,000 traffic deaths" would be acceptable. Even in the U.S., however, you will commonly hear "over" in numerical expressions of age, time, or height: "His sister is over forty; she's over six feet tall. We've been waiting well over two hours for her."

The Order of Adjectives in a Series

It would take a linguistic philosopher to explain why we say "little brown house" and not "brown little house" or why we say "red Italian sports car" and not "Italian red sports car." The order in which adjectives in a series sort themselves out is perplexing for people learning English as a second language. Most other languages dictate a similar order, but not necessarily the same order. It takes a lot of practice with a language before this order becomes instinctive, because the order often seems quite arbitrary (if not downright capricious). There is, however, a pattern. You will find many exceptions to the pattern in the table below, but it is definitely important to learn the pattern of adjective order if it is not part of what you naturally bring to the language.

The categories in the following table can be described as follows:

1. Determiners — articles and other limiters. See Determiners
2. Observation — postdeterminers and limiter adjectives (e.g., a real hero, a perfect idiot) and adjectives subject to subjective measure (e.g., beautiful, interesting)
3. Size and Shape — adjectives subject to objective measure (e.g., wealthy, large, round)
4. Age — adjectives denoting age (e.g., young, old, new, ancient)
5. Color — adjectives denoting color (e.g., red, black, pale)
6. Origin — denominal adjectives denoting source of noun (e.g., French, American, Canadian)
7. Material — denominal adjectives denoting what something is made of (e.g., woolen, metallic, wooden)
8. Qualifier — final limiter, often regarded as part of the noun (e.g., rocking chair, hunting cabin, passenger car, book cover)

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
Determiner	Observation	Physical Description				Origin	Material	Qualifier	Noun
		Size	Shape	Age	Color
a	beautiful			old		Italian		touring	car
an	expensive			antique			silver		mirror
four	gorgeous		long- stemmed		red		silk		roses
her			short		black				hair
our		big		old		English			sheepdog
those			square				wooden	hat	boxes
that	dilapidated	little						hunting	cabin
several		enormous		young		American		basketball	players
some	delicious					Thai			food

It would be folly, of course, to run more than two or three (at the most) adjectives together. Furthermore, when adjectives belong to the same class, they become what we call coordinated adjectives, and you will want to put a comma between them: the inexpensive, comfortable shoes. The rule for inserting the comma works this way: if you could have inserted a conjunction — and or but — between the two adjectives, use a comma. We could say these are "inexpensive but comfortable shoes," so we would use a comma between them (when the "but" isn't there). When you have three coordinated adjectives, separate them all with commas, but don't insert a comma between the last adjective and the noun (in spite of the temptation to do so because you often pause there):

a popular, respected, and good looking student

See the section on Commas for additional help in punctuating coordinated adjectives.

Capitalizing Proper Adjectives

When an adjective owes its origins to a proper noun, it should probably be capitalized. Thus we write about Christian music, French fries, the English Parliament, the Ming Dynasty, a Faulknerian style, Jeffersonian democracy. Some periods of time have taken on the status of proper adjectives: the Nixon era, a Renaissance/Romantic/Victorian poet (but a contemporary novelist and medieval writer). Directional and seasonal adjectives are not capitalized unless they're part of a title:

We took the northwest route during the spring thaw. We stayed there until the town's annual Fall Festival of Small Appliances.

See the section on Capitalization for further help on this matter.

Collective Adjectives

When the definite article, the, is combined with an adjective describing a class or group of people, the resulting phrase can act as a noun: the poor, the rich, the oppressed, the homeless, the lonely, the unlettered, the unwashed, the gathered, the dear departed. The difference between a Collective Noun (which is usually regarded as singular but which can be plural in certain contexts) and a collective adjective is that the latter is always plural and requires a plural verb:

• The rural poor have been ignored by the media.
• The rich of Connecticut are responsible.
• The elderly are beginning to demand their rights.
• The young at heart are always a joy to be around.

Adjectival Opposites

The opposite or the negative aspect of an adjective can be formed in a number of ways. One way, of course, is to find an adjective to mean the opposite — an antonym. The opposite of beautiful is ugly, the opposite of tall is short. A thesaurus can help you find an appropriate opposite. Another way to form the opposite of an adjective is with a number of prefixes. The opposite of fortunate is unfortunate, the opposite of prudent is imprudent, the opposite of considerate is inconsiderate, the opposite of honorable is dishonorable, the opposite of alcoholic is nonalcoholic, the opposite of being properly filed is misfiled. If you are not sure of the spelling of adjectives modified in this way by prefixes (or which is the appropriate prefix), you will have to consult a dictionary, as the rules for the selection of a prefix are complex and too shifty to be trusted. The meaning itself can be tricky; for instance, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing.

A third means for creating the opposite of an adjective is to combine it with less or least to create a comparison which points in the opposite direction. Interesting shades of meaning and tone become available with this usage. It is kinder to say that "This is the least beautiful city in the state." than it is to say that "This is the ugliest city in the state." (It also has a slightly different meaning.) A candidate for a job can still be worthy and yet be "less worthy of consideration" than another candidate. It's probably not a good idea to use this construction with an adjective that is already a negative: "He is less unlucky than his brother," although that is not the same thing as saying he is luckier than his brother. Use the comparative less when the comparison is between two things or people; use the superlative least when the comparison is among many things or people.

• My mother is less patient than my father.
• Of all the new sitcoms, this is my least favorite show.

Some Adjectival Problem Children

Good versus Well

In both casual speech and formal writing, we frequently have to choose between the adjective good and the adverb well. With most verbs, there is no contest: when modifying a verb, use the adverb. He swims well. He knows only too well who the murderer is. However, when using a linking verb or a verb that has to do with the five human senses, you want to use the adjective instead. How are you? I'm feeling good, thank you. After a bath, the baby smells so good. Even after my careful paint job, this room doesn't look good. Many careful writers, however, will use well after linking verbs relating to health, and this is perfectly all right. In fact, to say that you are good or that you feel good usually implies not only that you're OK physically but also that your spirits are high. "How are you?" "I am well, thank you."

Bad versus Badly

When your cat died (assuming you loved your cat), did you feel bad or badly? Applying the same rule that applies to good versus well, use the adjective form after verbs that have to do with human feelings. You felt bad. If you said you felt badly, it would mean that something was wrong with your faculties for feeling.

Other Adjectival Considerations

Review the section on Compound Nouns and Modifiers for the formation of modifiers created when words are connected: a four-year-old child, a nineteenth-century novel, an empty-headed fool.

Review the section on Possessives for a distinction between possessive forms and "adjectival labels." (Do you belong to a Writers Club or a Writers' Club?)

Adjectives that are really Participles, verb forms with -ing and -ed endings, can be troublesome for some students. It is one thing to be a frightened child; it is an altogether different matter to be a frightening child. Do you want to go up to your professor after class and say that you are confused or that you are confusing? Generally, the -ed ending means that the noun so described ("you") has a passive relationship with something — something (the subject matter, the presentation) has bewildered you and you are confused. The -ing ending means that the noun described has a more active role — you are not making any sense so you are confusing (to others, including your professor).

The -ed ending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions (these are not the only choices):

• We were amazed at all the circus animals.
• We were amused by the clowns.
• We were annoyed by the elephants.
• We were bored by the ringmaster.
• We were confused by the noise.
• We were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils.
• We were disappointed in their performance.
• We were embarrassed by my brother.
• We were exhausted from all the excitement.
• We were excited by the lion-tamer.
• We were excited about the high-wire act, too.
• We were frightened by the lions.
• We were introduced to the ringmaster.
• We were interested in the tent.
• We were irritated by the heat.
• We were opposed to leaving early.
• We were satisfied with the circus.
• We were shocked at the level of noise under the big tent.
• We were surprised by the fans' response.
• We were surprised at their indifference.
• We were tired of all the lights after a while.
• We were worried about the traffic leaving the parking lot.

A- Adjectives

Adverbs

Definition

Adverbs are words that modify

• a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
• an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
• another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:

• That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.

If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:

• When this class is over, we're going to the movies.

When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):

• He went to the movies.
• She works on holidays.
• They lived in Canada during the war.

And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):

• She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.
• The senator ran to catch the bus.

But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:

• He calls his mother as often as possible.

Click on "Lolly's Place" to read and hear Bob Dorough's "Get Your Adverbs Here" (from Scholastic Rock, 1974). Schoolhouse Rock® and its characters and other elements are trademarks and service marks of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Used with permission.

Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.

• Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
• The student who reads fastest will finish first.

We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:

• With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
• The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.
• She worked less confidently after her accident.
• That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.

The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He can't run as fast as his sister."

A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings:

• He arrived late.
• Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.

In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:

• She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.
• He did wrong by her.
• He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.

Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:

• Emphasizers:
• I really don't believe him.
• He literally wrecked his mother's car.
• She simply ignored me.
• They're going to be late, for sure.
• Amplifiers:
• The teacher completely rejected her proposal.
• I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.
• They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
• I so wanted to go with them.
• We know this city well.
• Downtoners:
• I kind of like this college.
• Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister.
• His mother mildly disapproved his actions.
• We can improve on this to some extent.
• The boss almost quit after that.
• The school was all but ruined by the storm.

Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers:

• She runs very fast.
• We're going to run out of material all the faster

This issue is addressed in the section on degrees in adjectives.

For this section on intensifiers, we are indebted to A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 1978. pages 438 to 457. Examples our own.

Using Adverbs in a Numbered List

Within the normal flow of text, it's nearly always a bad idea to number items beyond three or four, at the most. Anything beyond that, you're better off with a vertical list that uses numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Also, in such a list, don't use adverbs (with an -ly ending); use instead the uninflected ordinal number (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.). First (not firstly), it's unclear what the adverb is modifying. Second (not secondly), it's unnecessary. Third (not thirdly), after you get beyond "secondly," it starts to sound silly. Adverbs that number in this manner are treated as disjuncts (see below.)

Adverbs We Can Do Without

Review the section on Being Concise for some advice on adverbs that we can eliminate to the benefit of our prose: intensifiers such as very, extremely, and really that don't intensify anything and expletive constructions ("There are several books that address this issue.")

Kinds of Adverbs

Adverbs of Manner
   She moved slowly and spoke quietly.

Adverbs of Place
   She has lived on the island all her life.
   She still lives there now.

Adverbs of Frequency
   She takes the boat to the mainland every day.
   She often goes by herself.

Adverbs of Time
   She tries to get back before dark.
   It's starting to get dark now.
   She finished her tea first.
   She left early.

Adverbs of Purpose
   She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.
   She shops in several stores to get the best buys.

Positions of Adverbs

One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly flexible in this regard.

• Solemnly the minister addressed her congregation.
• The minister solemnly addressed her congregation.
• The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.

The following adverbs of frequency appear in various points in these sentences:

• Before the main verb: I never get up before nine o'clock.
• Between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: I have rarely written to my brother without a good reason.
• Before the verb used to: I always used to see him at his summer home.

Indefinite adverbs of time can appear either before the verb or between the auxiliary and the main verb:

• He finally showed up for batting practice.
• She has recently retired.

Order of Adverbs

There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there is more than one. It is similar to The Royal Order of Adjectives, but it is even more flexible.

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS
Verb	Manner	Place	Frequency	Time	Purpose
Beth swims	enthusiastically	in the pool	every morning	before dawn	to keep in shape.
Dad walks	impatiently	into town	every afternoon	before supper	to get a newspaper.
Tashonda naps		in her room	every morning	before lunch.
	In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence: "Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper." When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma.

More Notes on Adverb Order

As a general principle, shorter adverbial phrases precede longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. In the following sentence, an adverb of time precedes an adverb of frequency because it is shorter (and simpler):

• Dad takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day of his life.

A second principle: among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, etc.), the more specific adverbial phrase comes first:

• My grandmother was born in a sod house on the plains of northern Nebraska.
• She promised to meet him for lunch next Tuesday.

Bringing an adverbial modifier to the beginning of the sentence can place special emphasis on that modifier. This is particularly useful with adverbs of manner:

• Slowly, ever so carefully, Jesse filled the coffee cup up to the brim, even above the brim.
• Occasionally, but only occasionally, one of these lemons will get by the inspectors.

Inappropriate Adverb Order

Review the section on Misplaced Modifiers for some additional ideas on placement. Modifiers can sometimes attach themselves to and thus modify words that they ought not to modify.

• They reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died on the six o'clock news.

Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a position immediately after "they reported" or even to the beginning of the sentence — so the poor man doesn't die on television.

Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such as only and barely:

• She only grew to be four feet tall.

It would be better if "She grew to be only four feet tall."

Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts

Regardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When this is true, as it almost always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts or adjunctive adverbs in the first two sentences of this paragraph.) When the adverb does not fit into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct and is often set off by a comma or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the sentence. Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too. Notice how "too" is a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier: It's too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive adverbs:

• Frankly, Martha, I don't give a hoot.
• Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a transition between ideas.

• If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I'm not staying.
• We've told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he's done nothing to fix it.

At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the conjunctive adverb (often called the adverbial conjunction):

• Jose has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he's the most nervous person here.
• I love this school; however, I don't think I can afford the tuition.

Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 126. Used with permission. Examples our own.

Some Special Cases

The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a postmodifier position:

• Is that music loud enough?
• These shoes are not big enough.
• In a roomful of elderly people, you must remember to speak loudly enough.

(Notice, though, that when enough functions as an adjective, it can come before the noun:

• Did she give us enough time?

The adverb enough is often followed by an infinitive:

• She didn't run fast enough to win.

The adverb too comes before adjectives and other adverbs:

• She ran too fast.
• She works too quickly.

If too comes after the adverb it is probably a disjunct (meaning also) and is usually set off with a comma:

• Yasmin works hard. She works quickly, too.

The adverb too is often followed by an infinitive:

• She runs too slowly to enter this race.

Another common construction with the adverb too is too followed by a prepositional phrase — for + the object of the preposition — followed by an infinitive:

• This milk is too hot for a baby to drink.

Relative Adverbs

Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when, and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause).

The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place:

My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather used to be minister.

The relative pronoun "where" modifies the verb "used to be" (which makes it adverbial), but the entire clause ("where my great grandfather used to be minister") modifies the word "church."

A when clause will modify nouns of time:

My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day.

And a why clause will modify the noun reason:

Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?

We sometimes leave out the relative adverb in such clauses, and many writers prefer "that" to "why" in a clause referring to "reason":

• Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?
• I always look forward to the day when we begin our summer vacation.
• I know the reason that men like motorcycles.

Authority for this section: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994.

Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative Adverbs

A viewpoint adverb generally comes after a noun and is related to an adjective that precedes that noun:

• A successful athletic team is often a good team scholastically.
• Investing all our money in snowmobiles was probably not a sound idea financially.

You will sometimes hear a phrase like "scholastically speaking" or "financially speaking" in these circumstances, but the word "speaking" is seldom necessary.

A focus adverb indicates that what is being communicated is limited to the part that is focused; a focus adverb will tend either to limit the sense of the sentence ("He got an A just for attending the class.") or to act as an additive ("He got an A in addition to being published."

Although negative constructions like the words "not" and "never" are usually found embedded within a verb string — "He has never been much help to his mother." — they are technically not part of the verb; they are, indeed, adverbs. However, a so-called negative adverb creates a negative meaning in a sentence without the use of the usual no/not/neither/nor/never constructions:

• He seldom visits.
• She hardly eats anything since the accident.
• After her long and tedious lectures, rarely was anyone awake.

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always capitalized. A proper noun used as an addressed person's name is called a noun of address. Common nouns name everything else, things that usually are not capitalized.

A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. A Noun Clause contains a subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:

What he does for this town is a blessing.

A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting as a noun: the oil depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose.

There is a separate section on word combinations that become Compound Nouns — such as daughter-in-law, half-moon, and stick-in-the-mud.

Categories of Nouns

Click on "Noun School" to read and hear Lynn Ahren's "A Noun is a Person Place or Thing" (from Scholastic Rock, 1973). Schoolhouse Rock® and its characters and other elements are trademarks and service marks of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Used with permission.

Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted (four books, two continents, a few dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns (or non-count nouns), which name something that can't be counted (water, air, energy, blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more than one individual person or items (jury, team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can be either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence:

1. He got into trouble. (non-count)
2. He had many troubles. (countable)
3. Experience (non-count) is the best teacher.
4. We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.

Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used with articles and determiners or not. (We would not write "He got into the troubles," but we could write about "The troubles of Ireland."

Some texts will include the category of abstract nouns, by which we mean the kind of word that is not tangible, such as warmth, justice, grief, and peace. Abstract nouns are sometimes troublesome for non-native writers because they can appear with determiners or without: "Peace settled over the countryside." "The skirmish disrupted the peace that had settled over the countryside." See the section on Plurals for additional help with collective nouns, words that can be singular or plural, depending on context.

Forms of Nouns

Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word case defines the role of the noun in the sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?

• The English professor [subject] is tall.
• He chose the English professor [object].
• The English professor's [possessive] car is green.

Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive, however, take a different form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s (except for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending first, and then add the apostrophe). See the section on Possessives for help with possessive forms. There is also a table outlining the cases of nouns and pronouns.

Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition of an -s or -es. Unfortunately, it's not always that easy, and a separate section on Plurals offers advice on the formation of plural noun forms.

Assaying for Nouns*

Back in the gold rush days, every little town in the American Old West had an assayer's office, a place where wild-eyed prospectors could take their bags of ore for official testing, to make sure the shiny stuff they'd found was the real thing, not "fool's gold." We offer here some assay tests for nouns. There are two kinds of tests: formal and functional — what a word looks like (the endings it takes) and how a word behaves in a sentence.

• Formal Tests
1. Does the word contain a noun-making morpheme? organization, misconception, weirdness, statehood, government, democracy, philistinism, realtor, tenacity, violinist
2. Can the word take a plural-making morpheme? pencils, boxes
3. Can the word take a possessive-making morpheme? today's, boys'
• Function Tests

4. Without modifiers, can the word directly follow an article and create a grammatical unit (subject, object, etc.)? the state, an apple, a crate
5. Can it fill the slot in the following sentence: "(The) _________ seem(s) all right." (or substitute other predicates such as unacceptable, short, dark, depending on the word's meaning)?

Testing the Tests:

With most nouns, the test is clear. "State," for example, can be a plural ("states"), become a possessive ("state's"), follow an article ("a/the state"), and fit in the slot ("the state seems all right"). It doesn't have a noun-making morpheme, but it passes all the other tests; it can pass as a noun. (The fact that "state" can also be a verb — "We state our case" — is not relevant.) "Greyness" cannot take plural ending nor can it be possessive, but it does contain a noun-making morphene and it can follow an article and fit in the slot sentence. Can the word "grey," which is obviously also an adjective, be a noun? It's hard to imagine it passing any of the formal tests, but it can follow an article and fill the slot: "The grey seems acceptable." And what about "running," which is often part of a verb (He is running for office)? Again, it won't pass the formal tests, but it will fit the slot sentence: "Running is all right." (It can also follow an article, but in rather an odd way: "The running is about to begin.") "Grey" and "running" are nouns, but just barely: one is an adjective acting like a noun, and the other is a verb acting like a noun (a gerund).

Additional Help With Nouns

A simple exercise in Naming Nouns will help answer any questions you might have about count and non-count nouns and help you distinguish between plural and singular forms.

The categories of count and non-count nouns can be confusing, however, and we suggest further review, especially for writers for whom English is a second language. The second section we offer is called Count and Non-Count, a basic review of those concepts and their uses in sentences, with many examples. Third, we offer WORKING WITH NOUNS, a more extensive (and somewhat more advanced) review of the count and non-count distinction, along with exercises. Finally, just when you thought you couldn't stand such riches, we suggest you review the uses of Articles, Determiners, and Quantifiers with count and non-count nouns.