Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives describe nouns, while adverbs describe verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding -ly to the adjective (quick → quickly), but some are irregular, such as good → well. Adjectives also have three degrees: the positive (tall), the comparative (taller / more beautiful) and the superlative (the tallest / the most beautiful). Short adjectives usually take -er and -est, while longer adjectives use 'more' and 'the most', and a few are irregular: good/better/best, bad/worse/worst, far/farther/farthest. We use 'than' after a comparative (She is taller than me) and 'as ... as' to show that two things are equal (He is as tall as his brother). After link verbs such as be, seem, look, taste, smell and feel we use an adjective, not an adverb, because the word describes the subject. For example: 'It smells good' (adjective) is correct, while 'It smells well' is wrong, but 'She sings well' (adverb) is correct because the word describes how she sings.