Adjectives and Adverbs: Careful or Carefully?
By the end: I can describe a person or thing and describe how an action happens.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Start here
Describe a careful person and something they do carefully.
Read each explanation, say your answer aloud, then open the model and try again. You may write your answer if you prefer. Use invented personal details whenever you like.
Useful preparation: Be and present simple; common adjectives and action verbs.
Allow a first attempt before opening the model. Start: 3 minutes. Learn and You say: 18. Practice: 8. Listening: 9. Quiz and correction: 8. Speaking: 11. Recap: 3.
Choose a play button when you are ready.
Describe a person or thing
An adjective describes a person or thing. Put it before a noun or after be: a careful driver; the driver is careful. Keep the adjective after looks when you describe an appearance: The room looks nice.
She’s a careful driver.
The room is quiet.
Describe an action
An adverb can tell us how an action happens: She drives carefully. Many manner adverbs add -ly to an adjective: careful → carefully; quiet → quietly. After a consonant + y, happy becomes happily. Do not add -ly to every word automatically.
She drives carefully.
They speak quietly.
Happy changes spelling before the adverb ending
Two adverbs describe different aspects of driving
Slowly tells us about the speed.
Carefully tells us how much care she takes.
Good, well and fast
Use good as an adjective and well for doing an action successfully: a good cook; she cooks well. Fast can be both adjective and adverb: a fast runner; he runs fast. Do not write fastly. In She looks happy, happy describes her appearance, not how she looks at something.
He’s a good cook. He cooks well.
She’s a fast runner. She runs fast.
Guided practice
Try each answer first. Check it, or open a model and its explanation.
Try the form
Compare an answer and explanation
careful
Describe the noun driver with an adjective.
Compare an answer and explanation
quietly
Describe how they speak.
Compare an answer and explanation
well
Use well for the action.
Compare an answer and explanation
fast
Fast is also an adverb.
Build or change a sentence
Compare an answer and explanation
She drives carefully.
Use carefully with drives.
Compare an answer and explanation
He cooks well.
Good changes to well here.
Compare an answer and explanation
The room is quiet.
Use the adjective after be to describe the room.
Compare an answer and explanation
happily
Change consonant + y to ily.
Listen to a short conversation
Listen. Then open the words and read aloud. Try one part with a partner, or say both parts on your own.
Open the conversation transcript
A: Is Mia a good driver?
B: Yes. She drives carefully.
A: Does she speak English well?
B: Yes, and she speaks very clearly.
Listening checks
Read the question, play its recording, then choose an answer. You can open the transcript whenever you need it.
Listening 1
Read the transcript
Mia is a careful driver. She drives slowly and carefully.
Listening 2
Read the transcript
Ben is a good cook. He cooks well, but he works slowly.
Listening 3
Read the transcript
Eva is a fast runner. She runs fast and trains every day.
Mastery quiz
Choose the best answer for each situation. Aim for 7 out of 8, then correct anything you missed.
Answer key with explanations
careful An adjective describes student.
carefully An adverb describes how he drives.
quiet An adjective describes the room after is.
well Well is the manner adverb.
fast Fast works as an adverb without ly.
a good cook; cooks well Good describes the cook; well describes the action.
happy Use an adjective for how she appears.
happily Change y to i and add ly.
This quiz checks this lesson, not your overall English level.
Make it yours
Speak first, compare a model, then say a new version. These tasks are ungraded.
Speaking task 1
Describe two people and how they do an activity.
Compare a possible response
She’s a careful driver. She drives carefully. He’s a quiet speaker. He speaks quietly.
Success check: Change the adjective to an adverb where needed.
This is one possible response. Try again with your own details.
Tutor follow-up: What one detail can you change?
Speaking task 2
Describe a skill using good and well. Then describe speed using fast.
Compare a possible response
She’s a good cook. She cooks well. He’s a fast runner. He runs fast.
Success check: Use well and do not invent fastly.
This is one possible response. Try again with your own details.
Tutor follow-up: What one detail can you change?
Speaking task 3
Give three simple suggestions for a class activity: speak clearly, read carefully and work quietly.
Compare a possible response
Speak clearly, please. Read the question carefully. Work quietly for two minutes.
Success check: Use adverbs to describe how to do the actions.
This is one possible response. Try again with your own details.
Tutor follow-up: What one detail can you change?
Recap
Listen and repeat. She’s a careful driver. She drives carefully. He’s a good cook. He cooks well.
I can describe a person or thing and describe how an action happens.
- I can use the main pattern.
- I can make one sentence of my own.
- I know one thing to practise again.