Adjectives Are Not Adverbs
The English
language, when spoken or written proper, is understood clear and
effortless. Now, please read the same sentence again. The
English language, when spoken or written properly, is
understood clearly and effortlessly. Does the
first sentence grate like nails on a blackboard while the second
is as smooth as butter? Adjectives modify nouns—people, places,
and things. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other
adverbs—they tell how, when, where, and to what degree.
Increasingly, journalists, radio announcers, and television
personalities are using adjectives as adverbs. This trend, which
is below the standard for the English language, lessens the
credibility of the speaker or writer and imparts an erroneous and
poor message to American youth.
If a student
opens the adverb section of a grammar book, he or she will find
that the most widely used adverbs answer the question how
and end in “-ly”—e.g., immediately, carefully, quickly,
exceedingly, and dramatically. It is incorrect
grammar to use the adjective to modify a verb and say, “Go
quick,” or “Step careful.” Also, good is an adjective
and well is an adverb. Therefore, it is not appropriate to
say, “It’s going good.” Rather, one would correctly say, “It’s
going well.” Adverbs that modify adjectives include
quite, very, and too. These are less often misused, as
they can also modify adverbs; for example, it is appropriate to
say both “very careful” and “very carefully,” depending on
the context. One would not, however, say, “I drove the car very
careful,” because in that sentence “careful” is answering how
the car was driven, requiring it to be in adverb form (carefully),
rather than in adjective form. Some adverbs answer the question
when. One would say, “The power is off temporarily,”
not “The power is off temporary.” Other adverbs tell where
and include here, there, and everywhere. These are
harder to misuse also.
By far, the
situation in which adjectives are most frequently misused as
adverbs is in answering the question to what degree of
comparison, or how. One uses the positive form
to say, “He works carefully.” The comparative form is,
“He works more carefully than his coworker,” and the
superlative form is, “He works most carefully in all his
tasks.” We frequently hear the morning traffic reporter say,
“Traffic is moving smooth today” when the proper form is,
“Traffic is moving smoothly today.” The same reporter
will also say, “Traffic is flowing smoother than yesterday” when
he or she means, “Traffic is flowing more smoothly than
yesterday.” To continue the traffic example, we will hear, not
surprisingly, “Traffic is moving the smoothest it has all week,”
when the appropriate statement would be, “Traffic is moving the
most smoothly it has all week.” Smooth, smoother,
and smoothest are adjectives. They are inappropriate to
use when determining the degree of comparison.
Is it
possible that journalists, announcers, and newscasters don’t
realize they are lessening their credibility as professional
members of the media—and perhaps lowering their ratings, too—by
their misuse of adjectives as adverbs? The adverb-offenders
present themselves as undereducated, underperforming, or
uncaring. A cooking show host who turns classic meals into
30-minute meals will often say her methods enable her to
“complete the meal a lot easier.” As explained in the previous
section, the last clause should read, “complete the meal more
easily.” She also “chops ingredients into small pieces so
they cook quick.” She should say, “so they cook quickly.”
A newspaper headline may shout “NASA Wants to Travel Lighter.”
The editor has clearly misused the adjective “lighter” when
clearly “more lightly” or “less heavily” is needed
to answer the question to what degree of comparison
properly.
Radio
announcers have a particular responsibility to use adverbs
appropriately. Almost everyone listens to a live broadcast on
the radio at some point—in the car, in the home, or at
work—during the day. If broadcasters are consistently reporting
the news “precise” and predicting the weather “accurate,” then
they are incorrectly using adjectives where they should be
employing adverbs. They demean themselves and serve their
listeners poorly.
Publishing
and announcing reach almost everyone in our society. For adults,
the inappropriate use of adjectives as adverbs can result in
disapproving clucks from others or the setting of one’s teeth on
edge. At the very least, it redirects one’s attention from the
content and places it on the form. In addition, the constant
hammering of poor grammar as it is transmitted and printed daily
in our country is harming an entire generation of young people.
How will they learn to speak properly if they don’t hear or read
the language correctly? They will mature thinking such catch
phrases as “Eat healthy,” “Drive careful,” “Go slow,” and “Party
hearty” are standard English when they are not. They will
transfer these errors to their own writing and may well be the
losers on college admissions forms and job applications. If they
speak incorrectly, they may fail abysmally in interviews or may
perform poorly if hired. They will not correct their own
children because they will not know they are in error. If not
halted, the cycle will continue through the generations.
In
conclusion, the ramifications of using adjectives improperly as
adverbs are broad. In all cases of incorrect usage, the
appropriate standard of the English language is no longer met.
The quality of the printed and broadcast word is lessened, as is
the esteem in which the public holds journalists, radio
announcers, and television personalities. Worst of all, the next
generation is growing up lacking the knowledge and skills
necessary to speak the language properly. To correct the
language slippage in this country, we can write individual
journalists, television personalities, and radio announcers in a
grass roots attempt to hold them accountable for their frequent
misuse of adjectives as adverbs. We can insist they speak and
write the language in a proper and consistent manner. To raise
the quality, we must raise the bar.
