◄ Adjective or adverb? | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 |

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[Adjective or adverb? #8]

Task (1): Search for the verbs look and turn immediately followed by the adjective pale. How many hits do you get for each verb? (Remember to include all verb forms.)
Task (2): What element does pale typically modify/describe? Please give an example.
Task (3): Search for the same verbs immediately followed by an adverb (search string: e.g. look*/turn* + *ly). The adverb should modify the verb. Give examples with both verbs + adverb.
Task (4): Explain how the same verbs can be followed both by adjectives and adverbs?



Suggested answer:
(1) A form of "look" ("look", "looks", "looked", "looking") immediately followed by the adjective "pale" yields 9 hits in the corpus.

A form of "turn" ("turn", "turns", "turned", "turning") immediately followed by the adjective "pale" yields 26 hits in the corpus.

(2) The adjective "pale" typically describes a noun in these cases.
Example: ... the cook turned pale ... ("pale" describes the noun "cook".)

(3)
"look" + adverb:
Example (1) ... and looking coolly in his niece's face ...
Example (2) ... the visitor, abstracted in meditation, looked fixedly, not to say sullenly, over his stiff neckcloth ...

"turn" + adverb:
Example (1) "Do you want me then," said Estella, turning suddenly with a fixed and serious, if not angry, look ...
Example (2) ... as they turn slowly ...

(4) Some verbs can function both as copular verbs and full verbs; "look" and "turn" are two such verbs. When followed by adjectives as in "Miss Tox turned pale.", "turn" functions as a copular verb and is followed by a subject predicative (realized by the adjective "pale"). In contexts such as "The child looked quickly from one nurse to the other", "looked" is modified by an adverb and functions as a full verb.
Even if the verbs can be immediately followed by an adjective they are not modified by it. Only adverbs can modify verbs.

Read about the use of adjectives vs. adverbs here.
Read about verbs with different functions here (end of page). They may, for instance, be linking (i.e. copular) verbs, transitive verbs, and intransitive verbs, e.g. turn.
Terminology: adjective, adverb, and copular verb.

Last updated 4 October 2023, SOE
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