This post is part of our special series “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
How to use ADVERBS
- Adverb is used to modify verb, adjective or another adverb.
For example
Incorrect – She sings vey sweet.
Correct – she sings very sweetly.
- Word “too” shows excessive emphasis. Also too is used with unpleasant adjective and should not be used with positive adjectives such as too happy, too pleasant, too healthy, etc.
For example
Incorrect – The new born baby is too healthy.
Correct – The new born baby is very healthy.
- Words “too and so” cannot be in same sentence. Sentence can have “too to” or “so that” without changing the meaning of the sentence.
For example
Incorrect – He is too sick so that he cannot go to school.
Correct – He is too sick to go to school. OR He is so sick that he cannot go to school.
- Words “much too” is followed by unpleasant adjective. Whereas “too much” is followed by noun.
For example
Incorrect – His sickness is too much painful for his wife.
Correct – His sickness is much too painful for his wife
Incorrect – His rude behaviour is much too pain for his wife.
Correct – His rude behaviour is too much pain for his wife.
- Words “quite” and “all” are not used together.
For example
Incorrect – She is quite all right.
Correct – She is quite right. OR She is all right.
- Pleasant adjective cannot be used with “rather”. Unpleasant adjective cannot be used with “fairly”.
For example
Incorrect – It was rather good trip.
Correct – It was fairly good trip.
- Enough, when used as an Adverb, is preceded by a positive degree Adjective or Adverb.
For example
Incorrect – He is greater enough to pardon you.
Correct – He is great enough to pardon you.
- Two negatives cancel each other. Hence two negatives should not be used in the same sentence unless we make an affirmative sentence.
For example
Incorrect – I have not received nothing.
Correct – I have not received anything.
- “At present” means “at the present time”, “presently” means “shortly”. These should not be confused.
For example
Incorrect – This issue should be closed presently.
Correct – This issue should be closed at present.
Incorrect – He will be back at present.
Correct – He will be back presently.
- “Hard” means strong, difficult, diligently, strenuously. “Hardly” means scarcely, rarely.
For example
Incorrect – He tried hardly to win the gold medal.
Correct – He tried hard to win the gold medal.
- “Much” is used before past participles and Adjectives or Adverbs of comparative degree. “Very” is used before the present participles and Adjectives and Adverbs of positive degree.
For example
Incorrect – Morning’s robbery news is much shocking.
Correct – Morning’s robbery news is very shocking.
- Hardly is an Adverb which means rarely. Whereas hard is an Adjective which means tough, rigid.
For example
Incorrect – His loss hard means anything to him.
Correct – His loss hardly means anything to him.
- Ago is always used with Past Indefinite Tense.
For example
Incorrect – He has arrived at Manali a year ago.
Correct – He arrived at Manali a year ago.
- “At present” means at this moment and it is used with present tense, whereas “presently and shortly” are used for future action and generally used with Future Indefinite Tense.
For example
Incorrect – Presently he is in library.
Correct – At present he is in library.
- “Early” means “just after the beginning of anything” and soon means just after a point of time.
For example
Incorrect – Flowers bloomed soon this spring.
Correct – Flowers bloomed early this spring.
- The sentence which starts with either of “seldom, never, hardly, rarely or scarcely” takes an inverse structure, ie., Verb + Subject – Structure.
For example
Incorrect – Seldom he had seen such a beautiful sculptor.
Correct – Seldom had he seen such a beautiful sculptor.
- Inversion is also used in a sentence which starts with here/there/ away/out/up/indoor or outdoor
For example
Incorrect – Away Sita went.
Correct – Away went Sita.
To view all the posts in this series, go to — “100 Tips To Solve ‘Spot The Error’ English Questions“
Photo credit: Rex Pe / Source / CC BY
Need help? Leave a comment...