I avoid telling my students to "look for -er or 'ly", simply
because it's too vague. And, I very definitely don't want my
students just looking up the word in a dictionary, as that will
definitely lead them astray too.

An adjective provides information ONLY for nouns and pronouns.
Granted, not many pronouns get adjectives, but there are a few.
(Poor, pitiful me)Adjectives come either before the noun/pronoun,
or at the end of a sentence, following one of those
pesky "linking" verbs.

An adverb is powerful, because it provides information for verbs,
adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs can come before, in the
middle, after, or in a few cases a few words away from the word
it modifies. The BEST way to determine if X might be an adverb
is to examine the word it's modifying. Not a noun or pronoun?
Not a verb? Not part of a prepositional phrase? Then look
closely - it may be supporting a verb, adjective, adverb - it's
an adverb!

Every so often a student will begin to confuse an adverb with one
of the verbs in a perfect tense, but usually we can resolve that
quickly.

Diagramming is an excellent method of understanding adverbs. I've
also had students circle adverbs and draw arrows to the word
being modified. This is also an excellent opportunity to discuss
misplaced words and dangling modifiers.

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