Adjectives vs. Adverbs – English Grammar Exercises for A2
You are writing an urgent post on your local community Facebook group to warn your neighbors about a reckless, possibly drunk driver on the road. Choose the best option (A, B, C, or D) to complete each sentence. Read carefully, as the questions get progressively more challenging!
1 “URGENT! Please avoid Main Street right now! There is a ______ driver on the road.”
(A) dangerously
(B) danger
(C) safe
(D) dangerous
2 “He is driving extremely ______ and swerving between the lanes.”
(A) safely
(B) dangerously
(C) dangerous
(D) danger
3 “The car looks really ______ because it has a broken headlight and a smashed bumper.”
(A) bad
(B) badly
(C) badness
(D) good
4 “The vehicle is moving very ______, so it’s hard to predict where it will go next.”
(A) fastly
(B) fasten
(C) fast
(D) slow
5 “I pulled over to the side of the road and called the police ______.”
(A) quick
(B) slowly
(C) quickly
(D) quickness
6 “The man in the red truck is behaving ______. Please stay away!”
(A) terribly
(B) terrible
(C) terror
(D) wonderfully
7 “He seems completely ______ of the other cars around him.”
(A) unawarely
(B) unawares
(C) careful
(D) unaware
8 “He hit the brakes so ______ at the red light that his tires started smoking.”
(A) hardly
(B) hard
(C) soft
(D) hardness
9 “The whole situation is ______ terrifying to watch.”
(A) absolute
(B) happily
(C) absoluteness
(D) absolutely
10 “A woman standing on the sidewalk screamed ______ when he almost hit her.”
(A) loudness
(B) loudly
(C) loud
(D) quietly
11 “Thankfully, the woman remained ______ and jumped out of the way in time.”
(A) calmly
(B) angry
(C) calm
(D) calmness
12 “He almost crashed into a bus, but the bus driver reacted ______.”
(A) terribly
(B) perfect
(C) perfectly
(D) perfection
13 “It is quite ______ at night, so the roads are a bit dark and extra risky.”
(A) late
(B) lately
(C) early
(D) lateness
14 “Please make sure you take a ______ route home tonight.”
(A) safely
(B) dangerous
(C) safety
(D) safe
15 “The police are doing their job ______, and they are chasing his car right now.”
(A) good
(B) badly
(C) well
(D) goodly
16 “The drunk driver could ______ keep the car in a straight line.”
(A) hardly
(B) hard
(C) easily
(D) hardness
17 “I looked ______ at his license plate to memorize the numbers for the police.”
(A) blindly
(B) closeness
(C) close
(D) closely
18 “The sound of his engine was ______, waking up the whole neighborhood.”
(A) deafeningly
(B) quiet
(C) deafening
(D) deafen
19 “He is driving so ______ that my hands are shaking as I type this.”
(A) reckless
(B) recklessly
(C) safely
(D) recklessness
20 “I won’t feel ______ until I see the news that he has been arrested.”
(A) securely
(B) terrified
(C) security
(D) secure
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (D) dangerous
- Why it’s correct: We need an adjective to describe the noun “driver”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “dangerously” is a Common Mistake (using an adverb to describe a noun). (B) “danger” is a Structural Error (noun). (C) “safe” is a Meaning Trap (you wouldn’t warn people about a safe driver).
2 (B) dangerously
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to describe how he is performing the action verb “driving”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (C) “dangerous” is a Common Mistake (adjective used instead of an adverb). (D) “danger” is a Structural Error (noun). (A) “safely” is a Meaning Trap (contradicts the warning).
3 (A) bad
- Why it’s correct: “Looks” is a linking verb (verb of senses) describing the appearance of the car. It must be followed by an adjective.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (B) “badly” is a Common Mistake (putting an adverb after a linking verb). (C) “badness” is a Structural Error (noun). (D) “good” is a Meaning Trap.
4 (C) fast
- Why it’s correct: “Fast” is an irregular word that acts as both an adjective and an adverb. Here, it is an adverb modifying the action verb “moving”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “fastly” is a very Common Mistake (adding -ly to fast is grammatically incorrect; the word does not exist). (B) “fasten” is a Structural Error (verb meaning to buckle up). (D) “slow” is a Meaning Trap (a slow vehicle is usually easier to predict).
5 (C) quickly
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to describe how the action verb “called” was performed.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “quick” is a Common Mistake (adjective). (D) “quickness” is a Structural Error (noun). (B) “slowly” is a Meaning Trap (in an emergency, you don’t call the police slowly).
6 (A) terribly
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to describe the action verb “behaving”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (B) “terrible” is a Common Mistake (adjective). (C) “terror” is a Structural Error (noun). (D) “wonderfully” is a Meaning Trap.
7 (D) unaware
- Why it’s correct: “Seems” is a linking verb. It connects the subject (he) to its description, so it requires an adjective.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “unawarely” is a Common Mistake (adverb after a linking verb). (B) “unawares” is a Structural Error (an idiom/adverb form not fitting this exact structure). (C) “careful” is a Meaning Trap (he is not being careful).
8 (B) hard
- Why it’s correct: “Hard” is an irregular adverb modifying the action verb “hit”. It means “with a lot of force”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “hardly” is a Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap. “Hardly” means “almost not at all”. If he hit the brakes hardly, his tires wouldn’t smoke! (D) “hardness” is a Structural Error (noun). (C) “soft” is a Meaning Trap.
9 (D) absolutely
- Why it’s correct: Adverbs can modify adjectives. We need the adverb “absolutely” to modify the adjective “terrifying”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “absolute” is a Common Mistake (using an adjective to modify another adjective). (C) “absoluteness” is a Structural Error (noun). (B) “happily” is a Meaning Trap.
10 (B) loudly
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to modify the action verb “screamed”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (C) “loud” is a Common Mistake (adjective). (A) “loudness” is a Structural Error (noun). (D) “quietly” is a Meaning Trap (screaming quietly is an oxymoron).
11 (C) calm
- Why it’s correct: “Remained” is a linking verb (meaning to stay in a particular state). It must be followed by an adjective.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “calmly” is a Common Mistake (using an adverb after the linking verb ‘remain’). (D) “calmness” is a Structural Error (noun). (B) “angry” is a Meaning Trap (being angry wouldn’t help her jump out of the way in time).
12 (C) perfectly
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to modify the action verb “reacted”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (B) “perfect” is a Common Mistake (adjective). (D) “perfection” is a Structural Error (noun). (A) “terribly” is a Meaning Trap (if he reacted terribly, they would have crashed).
13 (A) late
- Why it’s correct: “Late” is an irregular word acting as an adjective here after the linking verb “is”. It refers to the time of night.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (B) “lately” is a Strong Distractor/Meaning Trap. It is an adverb, but it means “recently” (e.g., I have seen him lately). (D) “lateness” is a Structural Error (noun). (C) “early” is a Meaning Trap (early night isn’t usually extra dark).
14 (D) safe
- Why it’s correct: We need an adjective to describe the noun “route”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “safely” is a Common Mistake (adverb modifying a noun). (C) “safety” is a Structural Error (noun). (B) “dangerous” is a Meaning Trap.
15 (C) well
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to modify the action phrase “doing their job”. The adverb form of “good” is “well”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “good” is a Common Mistake (adjective used for an action). (D) “goodly” is a Structural Error (fake word). (B) “badly” is a Meaning Trap (you are praising the police, so they aren’t doing it badly).
16 (A) hardly
- Why it’s correct: We need the adverb “hardly” here, which means “barely” or “almost not at all”. He could almost not keep the car straight.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (B) “hard” is a Common Mistake/Strong Distractor (it means “with effort”, which doesn’t fit the verb “keep”). (D) “hardness” is a Structural Error (noun). (C) “easily” is a Meaning Trap (a drunk driver cannot easily drive straight).
17 (D) closely
- Why it’s correct: “Looked AT” is an action verb here (the physical action of directing your eyes). Therefore, we need an adverb to describe how you looked.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (C) “close” is a Strong Distractor/Common Mistake (students memorize “look + adjective” for linking verbs like “You look good”, but forget that “look at” is a physical action requiring an adverb). (B) “closeness” is a Structural Error (noun). (A) “blindly” is a Meaning Trap.
18 (C) deafening
- Why it’s correct: “Was” is a linking verb (verb to be). We need an adjective to describe the noun “sound”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “deafeningly” is a Common Mistake (adverb after a linking verb). (D) “deafen” is a Structural Error (verb). (B) “quiet” is a Meaning Trap (a quiet engine wouldn’t wake the neighborhood).
19 (B) recklessly
- Why it’s correct: We need an adverb to describe the action verb “driving”.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “reckless” is a Common Mistake (adjective). (D) “recklessness” is a Structural Error (noun). (C) “safely” is a Meaning Trap.
20 (D) secure
- Why it’s correct: “Feel” is a linking verb of senses. It must be followed by an adjective describing the speaker’s state of mind.
- Analysis of incorrect options: (A) “securely” is a Common Mistake (putting an adverb after the linking verb ‘feel’). (C) “security” is a Structural Error (noun). (B) “terrified” is a Meaning Trap (you wouldn’t wait for his arrest to feel terrified; you already feel that way).
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- The Basic Rule:
- Adjectives describe nouns (a dangerous driver, a safe route).
- Adverbs describe verbs (driving dangerously, reacting perfectly) or other adjectives (absolutely terrifying).
- Action Verbs vs. Linking Verbs:
- Action Verbs show a physical or mental action (drive, run, look at). They take Adverbs. (I looked at the car closely.)
- Linking Verbs (be, seem, look, feel, remain) connect a subject to its description. They do not show action. They take Adjectives! (The car looks bad. I feel secure.)
- The Irregular Traps (Memorize these!):
- Fast: Always remains “fast”. (“Fastly” is not a word).
- Hard vs. Hardly: Hard means “with force/effort” (he hit the brakes hard). Hardly means “almost not at all” (he could hardly drive straight).
- Late vs. Lately: Late means “not on time” or “late at night”. Lately means “recently”.
- Good vs. Well: Good is an adjective (a good job). Well is the adverb form (doing it well).