9.5  Common confusions between adverbs, adjectives and some expressions  (see also 10.5)

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9.5.1  Bad or Badly?

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When you want to describe how you feel, you should use the adjective bad, because an adjective always follows verbs like “feel, taste, smell, sound, look, appear, and seem” — when it modifies the noun before the verb. So you would say, “I feel bad,” or “It tastes bad.”

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You would use the adverb badly to modify dynamic verbs, so you would say, ”Sam plays football badly.”

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9.5.2  Good or Well?

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Good is an adjective, so you do not do good or live good, but you do well and live well—well used here as an adverb. Remember, though, that an adjective follows sense-verbs and be-verbs, so you also feel good, look good, smell good, are good, have been good, etc.

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Confusion can occur because well can function either as an adverb or an adjective. When well is used as an adjective, it means “not sick” or “in good health.” For this specific sense of well, you could say I feel well or I am well — for example, after recovering from an illness. When not used in this health-related sense, however, well functions as an adverb; for example, “I did well on my exam.”

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9.5.3  Double-negatives

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Scarcely and hardly are already negative adverbs. To add another negative term is redundant, because in English only one negative is ever used at a time.

• I can scarcely hear you. (not scarcely not...)

• Hardly anyone came to the party. (not hardly no one...)

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9.5.4  Sure or Surely?

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Sure is an adjective, and surely is an adverb. Sure is also used in the idiomatic expression sure to be. Eg.

• I am sure that you were there.
  (sure is an adjective that modifies the pronoun I.)

• He is surely ready to take on the project.
  (surely is an adverb that modifies the adjective ready.)

• She is sure to be a great leader.
  (sure to be is an idiomatic phrase that functions as an adjective that modifies the pronoun she.)

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9.5.5  Real or Really?

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Real is an adjective, and really is an adverb. Eg.

• She did really well on that test.
  (really is an adverb that modifies the adverb well.)

• In China, the real problem is corruption.
  (real is an adjective that modifies the noun problem.)

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9.5.6  Near or Nearly?

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Near can function as a verb, an adverb, an adjective, or a preposition. Nearly is used as an adverb to mean “in a close manner” or “almost but not quite.” Eg.

• Facebook’s 2009 revenue neared $800 million.
  (neared is a verb in the past tense.)

• The project is nearly finished.
  (nearly is an adverb that modifies the verb finished.)

• The cat crept near.
  (near is an adverb of place that modifies the verb crept.)

• First cousins are more nearly related than second cousins.
  (nearly is an adverb that modifies the verb related.)

• The detective solves the mystery in a scene near the end of the movie.
  (near is a preposition. The prepositional phrase near the end of the movie modifies the noun scene.)

Some materials are adapted from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/537/02/.
 

9.5.7  Art vs Arts

 

    Art and arts can also be used as adjectives, when art refers to artistic藝術的,

and arts refers to things about a branch of learning. Eg.

• art collector（藝術收藏家）

• art form（藝術形式）

• art gallery（藝術品陳列館）

• arts subject（文科）

• arts degree（文學學位）

• arts faculty（文學院）

   Art and arts can also be nouns. See 8.9.1.

 

9.5.8  Few vs A few

 

Few, when used without a preceding a, means "very few", "not enough" or "none at all". On the other hand, a few is used to indicate "not a large number". Eg.

• I heard from few close friends. (suggests that my close friends have abandoned me.)

• I heard from a few close friends. (suggests that a close circle of people have communicated with me.)

• This machine is hard to use. There are few suggestions about how to use it. (not enough suggestions)

• This machine is easy to use. There are a few suggestions about how to use it. (several suggestions)