100 : Adjectives and adverbs 1 (quick/quickly)

   A   

Look at these examples:

• Our holiday was too short ㅡ the time passed very quickly.
• Two people were seriously injured in the accident.

 

Quickly and seriously are adverbs. Many adverbs are formed from an adjective + -ly:

 

adjective:	quick        serious       careful       quiet       heavy      bad
adverb:	quickly    seriously    carefully    quietly    heavily    badly

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, silly, lovely

 

 

   B   

Adjective or adverb?

 

Adjectives (quick/careful etc.) tell us about a noun (somebody or something). We use adjectives before nouns: Sam is a careful driver. (not a carefully driver) We didn't go out because of the heavy rain.

Adverbs (quickly/carefully etc.) tell us about a verb (how somebody does something or how something happens): Sam drove carefully along the narrow road. (not drove careful) We didn't go out because it was raining heavily. (not raining heavy)

 

Compare:

She speaks perfect English. (adjective + noun)

She speaks English perfectly. (verb + noun + adverb)

 

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

Please be quiet. I was disappointed that my exam results were so bad. Why do you always look so serious? I feel happy.

Please speak quietly. I was unhappy that I did so badly in the exam. (not did so bad) Why do you never take me seriously? The children were playing happily.

 

 

   C   

We 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. (not terrible sorry)
• 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 meeting was badly organised.

 

 

 

(참고)

※ take something/somebody + adv./prep.

: to react to something/somebody in a particular way

• He took the criticism surprisingly well.
• These threats are not to be taken lightly.
• I wish you'd take me seriously. (나를 진지하게 대해줬으면 좋겠다.)

 

 

 

※ serious :

 

 

serious : 진지한, 진중한(진지하고 무거운)

 

1. not silly

• Be serious for a moment; this is important.
• I'm afraid I'm not a very serious person.

 

2. not joking

• Believe me, I'm deadly (= extremely) serious.
• Don't laugh, it's a serious suggestion.
• serious about doing something 

// Is she serious about wanting to sell the house?

// He knew it was time to get serious about losing weight.

•  serious about somebody/something 

// He's really serious about Penny and wants to get engaged.

•  (informal) You can't be serious! (= you must be joking)

 

3. 진중한(진지하고 무거운 / 심각한)

• a serious article/newspaper
• serious questions/concerns/doubts/allegations/charges
• a serious illness/offence/crime/problem/issue
• to cause serious injury/damage/harm

 

 

 

※ sincere :

 

 

sincere : 

 

1.  showing what you really think or feel

• a sincere apology
• a sincere attempt to resolve the problem
• sincere regret
• Please accept our sincere thanks.
• We offer our sincere sympathy to the two families.

 

2. saying only what you really think or feel

• He seemed sincere enough when he said he wanted to help.
• sincere in something 

// She is never completely sincere in what she says about people.

// I think he is sincere in his desire to keep the economy growing.

• sincere about something 

// his refusal to be sincere about his feelings