4. Pick out the numerals from the following sentences and sort them out into two groups.
Six times nine equals fifty-four.
She was the second to come.
Towards the fifth century Europe went into a period of decline sometimes called “The Dark Ages”.
He drove about one hundred miles.
I will give you a second chance.
Bus 13 will take you to the centre.
How can you name the groups?
What part o f speech do they modify?
Golden Rules
1. Spelling Notes:
a final e is retained: e.g. nice — nicely, extreme — extremely.
(Exceptions: true- truly, whole-wholly).
a final y changes to i after a consonant: e.g. easy- easily, lucky- luckily. Also angrily, happily, heavily, etc.
adjectives ending in -able/-ible drop the final e and add y: e.g. possible - possibly, probable - probably Also comfortably, reasonably, sensibly, terribly, etc.
adjectives ending in a vowel + / add -/y: e.g. final-finally, beautiful-beautifully,
adjectives ending in -ie add -ally. e.g. dramatic - dramatically, sarcastic - sarcastically Also automatically, scientifically, etc. (Exception: publicly).
we add -th to a cardinal numeral to form an ordinal numeral: e.g. four-fourth, ten-tenth (Exception: one-first, two-second, three-third).
2. Meaning and Usage:
1) Adjectives denote a quality or feature of an object. They may qualify an object directly, i.e. by denoting its size, shape, colour, etc. – qualitative adjectives (pretty, low, round) or indirectly, i.e. through its relation to another object - relative adjectives (woolen, wooden, silver).
Remember that only qualitative adjectives can be gradable, i.e. they can change their forms to express degrees of comparison.
2) With the exception of leisurely and kindly adjectives ending in –ly e.g .friendly, lively, lonely, elderly, likely, cowardly, motherly, fatherly silly, ugly, manly, womanly, sickly, have no adverb forms:
Meg’s a friendly girl. John gave me a friendly handshake.
If we want to use these words as adverbs we can use a prepositional phrase with fashion, manner or way:
Meg always greets me in a friendly way. (Not “greets me friendly/friendlily”)
3) We do not use adverbs after such link verbs as to be, to become, to feel, to get, to look, to seem. We use adjectives after them:
Sue felt happy (not “She felt happily”).
Adjectives can also follow some verbs (such as be, get, become, look, seem, appear, sound, taste, smell, feel):
Everything seemed pleasant when we started.
The flowers smelt beautiful and the gardens looked wonderful.
But the weather got very hot and we all felt exhausted by the end of the day.
4) Most participle adjectives ending in –ed don’t have an adverb form and we can use a similar prepositional phrase:
They rose to greet me in a subdued manner. She walked around the room in an agitated way. (or …in agitation).
However, some have an adverb form with –ly including the following common ones: contentedly, deservedly, excitedly, hurriedly, pointedly, repeatedly, supposedly, unexpectedly, wickedly, allegedly, belatedly, reputedly, undoubtedly, wholeheartedly, etc:
The weather had turned unexpectedly stormy.
5) Some adverbs have two forms, one ending in –ly and the other not. We can sometimes use either of the two forms of the adverb without changing the meaning, although the form ending in –ly is more usual in a formal style:
I’ll be there as quick(ly) as I can. Try to sing loud(ly) in the last verse.
Other words like this include cheap(ly), clean(ly), thin(ly).
6) In other cases there is a difference in the meaning of the adverb with and without –ly (see the Reference Section):
-
“Do I have to change trains in Leeds?” No, you can go direct (without stopping)
I'll be with you directly (=very soon).
He saw Susan directly (straight ahead).
She worked really hard and passed her exams
The telephone line was so bad, I could hardly (almost not) hear what he was saying
He kicked the ball high over the goal.
Everyone thinks highly of her teaching. (=they praise her for it)
They cut short their holiday when John became ill. (went home early)
The speaker will be arriving shortly. (=soon) Please take your seats.
The door was wide (completely) open so I just went straight in.
It won't be difficult to get the book. It's widely available. (=in many places)
I arrived late for the concert.
I haven't seen John lately. (=recently)
We got into die concert free. (=without paying)
The animals are allowed to wander freely. (uncontrolled)
7) Some adverbs, such as coldly, coolly, hotly and warmly, can refer to feelings and behaviour and can be used with verbs such as act, behave, react, speak, welcome, receive:
They behaved coolly in a dangerous situation (calmly, courageously). She welcomed me warmly (in a friendly way).
We received them coldly (in an unfriendly way).
Deeply is used chiefly in an emotional sense:
He was deeply hurt (his feelings were hurt very much).
NB! Remember the following set phrases: painfully embarrassed, highly respected, greatly appreciative, bitterly cold, badly needed.
She was highly respected in her village.
A new playground for our children is badly needed.
8) The adverb of good is well:
We all did well in the test.
She plays the violin very well.
Well can also be an adjective meaning in good health:
My mother was very ill but she's quite well again now.
How are you? - Very well, thank you.
9) Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form. Some common ones are fast, early, hard, late, daily, weekly, monthly:
Adjectives Adverbs
He caught the fast train. He ran fast to catch the train.
He caught the early train. He always arrives early.
She's a hard worker. She works hard.
The bus is always late. I arrived home late.
My daily newspaper costs 50p. I swim daily.
10) We use cardinal numerals to denote the number of objects, we use ordinal numerals to denote the numerical order of objects:
He had two cups of coffee. (cardinal numeral)
The second cup tasted bitter. (ordinal numeral)
11) Normally we use the with ordinal numerals:
It’s the first time I’ve driven a car.
A with ordinal numerals denotes one more:
I will have a second cup of coffee.
Noun phrases with cardinal numerals take the zero article.
Open your book at page 24.
12) The words hundred, thousand, million, billion, dozen are generally considered to be nouns, even when used in combinations with other numerals. They take no –s after a numeral and the words few, several :
three dozen bottles; a few hundred times; several million pounds
Grammar
in Focus