Adjective: A word that describes, identifies or qualifies a noun or pronoun. An adjective usually, but not all the time, comes before the noun or the pronoun which it modifies.
For example:
- The cute cat was sleeping.
- The cat was cute. The word "cute" is describing and modifies the noun cat.
- The plum was purple.
- The girl is pretty.
- The duckling is fuzzy.
- That is a sweet little dog.
Adverb: An adverb is a bit more flexible because it describes or modifies a verb, adjective, or anotheradverb. Unlike an adjective, an adverb can be found in various places within the sentence. Adverbs are most likely to end in "ly" (but not always). An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as "how," "when," "where," "how much".
For example:
- The dog quickly ran to his owner. The word "quickly" describes and modifies the verb ran. It also answers the question "how". How did the dog run? It ran "quickly".
- He chewed slowly.
- She dove deeply.
- The mouse nervously scurried.
Examples of adverbs modifying adjectives:
- It is too cold to go outside.
- She is quite beautiful.
- This is a rather lengthy explanation.
Examples of adverbs modifying other adverbs:
- She speaks very slowly.
- Becky worked really hard today.
So basically, adjectives are used to describe nouns or pronouns, while adverbs are used to describeverbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.