形容詞與副詞

形容詞（quick、careful、clear）描述人或事物——放在名詞前面，或者 be / look / feel… 後面。副詞（quickly、carefully、clearly）描述動作是怎樣做的——通常放在動詞後面；如果有賓語，就放在賓語後面。

• The library is always very quiet.

  圖書館總是很安靜。（be + 形容詞）

• She closed the door quietly.

  她輕輕地關上了門。（closed + 副詞）

• Nam is a slow eater. He eats very slowly.

  阿南吃飯很慢。他吃得非常慢。

💡中文裡“慢”既能說“他很慢”，也能說“慢慢地吃”，詞形基本不變（最多加個“地”）。英語則必須選：描述人或事物 → slow；描述動作怎麼做 → slowly。問問自己：這個詞說的是名詞還是動詞？

有些以 -ly 結尾的詞其實是形容詞：friendly、lovely、lonely、lively、elderly、silly、ugly。它們沒有副詞形式，所以要描述動作怎樣做時，用 in a … way。

• It was a lovely evening.

  那是一個美好的夜晚。（lovely 是形容詞）

• He explained the rules in a friendly way.

  他和氣地給大家講解了規則。

副詞還可以放在形容詞前面、其他副詞前面和過去分詞前面，表示程度或方式：really cosy，amazingly fast，beautifully organised。關於 “fairly”，見“Quite / pretty / rather / fairly”一課。

• The homework was surprisingly short today.

  今天的作業出奇地少。（副詞 + 形容詞）

• My little brother types amazingly fast.

  我弟弟打字快得驚人。（副詞 + 副詞）

• The wedding was beautifully organised.

  婚禮辦得很漂亮。（副詞 + 過去分詞）

• My grandmother was seriously ill last winter.

  去年冬天我奶奶病得很重。

有些特殊的詞要單獨記：

• Thu is a good cook. She cooks really well.

  阿秋廚藝很好。她做飯真的很好吃。

• Hoa can't come today. She isn't well.

  阿花今天來不了。她身體不舒服。（well = 身體好，形容詞）

• My brother runs very fast.

  我哥哥跑得很快。

• I've worked hard all week.

  我這一整週都工作得很辛苦。

• The bus was late, so I got to work late.

  公交車晚點了，所以我上班遲到了。

• Have you talked to Linh lately?

  你最近和阿玲聊過嗎？

Hardly = 幾乎不。它放在實義動詞前面（can / could 或助動詞後面），常和 any、anyone、anything、ever 連用：hardly any（幾乎沒有），hardly ever（幾乎從不）。

• It was so noisy that I could hardly hear the teacher.

  太吵了，我幾乎聽不見老師說話。

• I hardly know my neighbours.

  我跟鄰居幾乎不認識。

• There's hardly any milk left.

  牛奶幾乎沒剩了。

• Nam works hard, but his brother hardly works.

  阿南工作很努力，可他弟弟幾乎不幹活。

💡在隨意的口語中，尤其是美式英語，你會聽到 “I'm doing good”、“Drive safe”、“Come here quick!”。這些在對話中很常見，但寫作和考試中要用標準形式：doing well，drive safely，come quickly。

• ✗Lan answered the questions very quick.

  ✓Lan answered the questions very quickly.

  描述她回答的方式 → 副詞。

• ✗Nam speaks English very good.

  ✓Nam speaks English very well.

  good 的副詞是 well。

• ✗He works very hardly.

  ✓He works very hard.

  hard 既是形容詞也是副詞；hardly = 幾乎不。

• ✗Have you been to the cinema late?

  ✓Have you been to the cinema lately?

  “最近” → lately。

• ✗The hotel was unusual quiet.

  ✓The hotel was unusually quiet.

  修飾形容詞 → 用副詞。

• ✗She smiled at me friendly.

  ✓She smiled at me in a friendly way.

  friendly 是形容詞，沒有副詞形式。