Errors with Adjectives and
Adverbs
Mistakes with adjectives and adverbs. The first one involves the word “enough”:
Error 1
Don’t say:
• This box isn't enough big for all the books.
Say:
• This box isn't big enough for all the books.
Enough goes after adjectives, adverbs, and verbs:
• Are you old enough to see this movie?
• She’s smart enough to take the advanced class.
• You sing well enough to be a professional!
• The teacher speaks slowly enough for me to understand.
• I play the piano, but I don’t practice enough.
• Make sure you eat enough now so that you’re not hungry later.
Enough goes before nouns:
• There are enough chairs for everybody to sit down.
• There isn’t enough information in this report; I need more details.
• We don’t have enough people to form a soccer team.
• Do you have enough money to buy that motorcycle?
Error 2
Don’t say:
• I can’t believe how much stubborn he is.
Say:
• I can’t believe how stubborn he is.
We only use how much and how many before nouns.
With adjectives and adverbs, we use only how:
• How tall are you?
• I want to see how comfortable the couch is before buying it.
• How quickly can they finish the project?
• This software measures how efficiently the employees are working.
Error 3
Don’t say:
• These are my favorites shoes.
Say:
• These are my favorite shoes.
• These shoes are my favorites.
Adjectives before nouns are always singular in English, even if the noun is plural!
• Our house has three small rooms.
• The forest is filled with giant trees.
• I have a couple of friendly dogs.
• I’ve finished this book, now I’ll read the other ones I borrowed from
the library.
Some adjectives - especially “others” - can be used in plural form, if the noun was
mentioned earlier (and is not directly after the adjective). Here are two examples:
• I have many pairs of shoes, but these red shoes are my favorites.
(= favorite shoes)
• The boss gave raises to some employees but not
others. (= other employees)
• Some of the shows on this channel are great, and others are
terrible. (= other shows on this channel)
Error 4
Don’t say:
• Last night I was a lot tired.
Say:
• Last night I was so/very/really tired.
The words so, very, really, are all used before adjectives and adverbs to
add emphasis or describe something that is intense:
• This book is so/very/really interesting.
• She plays the piano so/very/really well!
• They moved here so/very/really recently.
A lot of / lots of are used before nouns to describe a large quantity:
• I ate a lot of / lots of pizza last night.
• There were a lot of / lots of kids at the playground.
Note that it’s always a lot and never alot.
We can also use a lot after verbs to describe something we do frequently/often:
• I read a lot.
• Do you exercise a lot?
Error 5
Don’t say:
• My new computer is more better than my old one.
Say:
• My computer is better than my old one.
• My computer is much better than my old one.
Let’s review how we form comparative adjectives:
• 1 syllable: fast → faster
• Words ending in Y: easy → easier
• 2+ syllables: popular → more popular
• Irregular: good/bad → better/worse
We only use “more” to make comparisons using adjectives of 2+ syllables:
more popular, more interesting, more efficient, more comfortable, etc. The
word “better” is already a comparative, so we shouldn’t add “more.”
If you want to add extra emphasis to a comparative, you can add “much”:
• My new computer is much better than my old one.
(not just a little bit better… MUCH better)
• This lesson is much easier than yesterday’s.
• My sister is much more popular than me.
• The problem is much worse than we imagined.
Error 6
Don’t say:
• My apartment is ten miles far from here.
Say:
• My apartment is ten miles away from here.
When talking about general long distances, we can say far from or far away from:
• My apartment is far (away) from here.
However, when talking about a specific distance, we say away from or
simply from:
• My apartment is ten miles away from here.
• My apartment is ten miles from here.
This is confusing because the question might ask "How far...?" but we don't use
the word "far" when giving an answer with a specific distance:
• How far is the nearest gas station? / Where is the nearest gas station?
It's about two blocks away.
• How far is the museum from here?
At least five miles - you should probably take the bus.
You can only use "far" in the answer when speaking in general terms:
• It's not far. (it's a short distance away)
• It's pretty/quite/very far. (it's a long distance away)
