You will read an article below (about the Eurovision song contest) that uses lots of adjectives and adverbs.
So, first of all, let’s look at some English grammar rules to see the difference between adverbs and adjectives.
ADVERB RULES
Adverbs tell us about a verb – how something happens or how somebody does something Lots of adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective…
| Adjective | Quick | different | amazing |
| Adverb | Quickly | differently | amazingly |
After studying at SGI, he speaks perfect English (Perfect is an adjective that describes the noun, ‘English’)
After studying at SGI, he speaks English perfectly (Perfectly is an adverb that describes the verb, ‘speaks’)
IRREGULAR ADVERBS
| Adjective | Good | Fast | Hard | Late |
| Adverb | Well | Fast | Hard | Late |
She sang really well. (NOT * She sang really good!!!)
Students who speak and read a lot learn English very fast. (‘Fastly’ is not a word)
Teachers work really hard. (‘Hardly’ actually means ‘a very small amount’)
My train arrived late this morning. (‘Lately’ actually means ‘recently’)
USEFUL ADVERB RULE… but NOT perfect!
Sometimes, it’s difficult to decide whether you should use an adverb or an adjective. This rule is helpful if you really can’t decide…but it’s NOT a perfect rule!
If the word that you think could be an adjective or an adverb comes at the end of a sentence, then it is probably an adverb
Example: The crowd shouted loudly NOT * The crowd shouted loud
CHANGE THE VOTING
Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. I don’t want to ban the Eurovision Song Contest completely! But if I were in charge, I would definitely plan to change the way that people vote. Every year the same countries happily give the maximum number of points for a song to their neighbours, e.g. Portugal always give 12 points to Spain. The same thing happens with Greece and Cyprus, Belgium and France and lots of countries from the Baltic and Balkan regions. It’s the same every year.
IT’S NOT FAIR
I’m not complaining because I’m a bad loser. I don’t really care where the UK finishes in the competition, so I’m not bothered that they lost again. But, it’s not fair that artists work really hard to write the best song that they can and sing and perform it well on the night, only for lots of countries to ignore them and automatically give 12 points to their neighbours.
WHY DO THEY DO IT?
Why do these countries do this tactical voting anyway? Do they think that if they are friendly to countries that they share a border with in a song competition that they will do well in business or they will easily prevent a war?!?!? It’s stupid! They do it so obviously, as well. Aren’t they ashamed? On Saturday, whenever a country gave 12 points for political reasons, the crowd booed loudly.
GUESS THE MAXIMUM
Nowadays, the voting happens really fast. The low scoring points appear quickly and then the viewers watch patiently while a local TV presenter gives the high scoring points (8, 10 & 12). It’s actually fun to try and guess correctly about who will receive the top score because of people voting politically. So, maybe they shouldn’t change anything!
THE BEST? – AUSTRIA
If things had happened differently, then maybe Nadine Beiler from Austria would have won. She was clearly the best singer. She sang amazingly and her song was Eurovision-tastic.
WELL DONE, AZERBAIJAN
Anyway, good luck to the winners from Azerbaijan. Maybe they will be the next ABBA (who also won Eurovision) and sell millions of records… or maybe not!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE….
FREE ONLINE GRAMMAR TEST – Test your English knowledge with the SGI Grammar test. There are 40 grammar questions and then you get your results which gives you an idea about your current level of English.
Adjective Alphabet – An adjective list to improve your vocabulary knowledge. Do the writing task – get corrections from your SGI teacher
Better English vocabulary – A to Z of ‘great’ adjectives
No Native English speaker says this: Essential Grammar Rule – How to use adjectives and adverbs together
