Adjectives vs Adverbs : GMAT Ultimate Grammar Guide

In the first sentence:

“The students speak….”

“Speak” is the transitive verb. The Direct Object answers the question WHAT do the students speak.

“fluent English.”

If the word were an Adverb, the sentence would be the following:

“The students speak fluently.”


In the first sentence, “fluent” is an adjective that modifies the Noun functioning as the direct object. In other words, “fluent” describes the Noun “English.”

The adjective “fluent” answers the question WHAT KIND of English do the students speak? “fluent English”


The second sentence:

“The fee is considerably more than I expected.”

The finite form of the verb -to be (is, am, were, are, etc.), when it is not functioning as a helping verb, is what some call a Linking Verb. What follows “is” is what is known as a Subject Complement. It will usually take the form of a Noun or Adjective.

“Mike is fast.” —— “fast” is an adjective in the Subject Complement slot, describing the Subject Noun “Mike”

“The box is a present.” —— “present” is a Noun in the Subject Complement slot, effectively renaming the subject noun.

In the second sentence, you can ask WHAT “is” the “fee”? Doing so will help to find the subject complement (adjective or noun)

“The fee is….more…..”

“more” functions as the Adjective describing the “fee” in the Subject slot.

A single word adverb can modify words and phrases other than just the verb. Single word adverbs can modify Adjectives and even Other Adverbs.

In the second sentence, “considerably” is an Adverb modifying the adjective “more”

It answers the question HOW MUCH “more” ———> “considerably more”

I hope some of it helped? Sorry if I went overboard with the terminology.

Practicing how to “break down” each of the sentences bit-by-bit certainly helps.

Once you’ve gone through the Grammar Guide on GMATClub, there are other treatises that take it to the next level.

Or you can just practice breaking down the official sentences bit-by-bit. Someone on the forum should always be willing to help.



Posted from my mobile device

fluent modifies English therefore it is and adjective

In your example: Fluent modifies English and hence is a adjective.

You need to go through more examples.