An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause. An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as “how,” “when,” “where,” “how much”. While some adverbs can be identified by their characteristic “ly” suffix, most of them must be identified by untangling the grammatical relationships within the sentence or clause as a whole. Unlike an adjective, an adverb can be found in various places within the sentence. In the following examples, each of the highlighted words is an adverb: The seamstress quickly made the mourning clothes.
In this sentence, the adverb “quickly” modifies the verb “made” and indicates in what manner (or how fast) the clothing was constructed. The midwives waited patiently through a long labour. Similarly in this sentence, the adverb “patiently” modifies the verb “waited” and describes the manner in which the midwives waited. The boldly spoken words would return to haunt the rebel. In this sentence the adverb “boldly” modifies the adjective “spoken. ” We urged him to dial the number more expeditiously. Here the adverb “more” modifies the adverb “expeditiously. ”
Unfortunately, the bank closed at three today. In this example, the adverb “unfortunately” modifies the entire sentence. Conjunctive Adverbs You can use a conjunctive adverb to join two clauses together. Some of the most common conjunctive adverbs are “also,” “consequently,” “finally,” “furthermore,” “hence,” “however,” “incidentally,” “indeed,” “instead,” “likewise,” “meanwhile,” “nevertheless,” “next,” “nonetheless,” “otherwise,” “still,” “then,” “therefore,” and “thus. ” A conjunctive adverb is not strong enough to join two independent clauses without the aid of a semicolon.
The highlighted words in the following sentences are conjunctive adverbs: The government has cut university budgets; consequently, class sizes have been increased. He did not have all the ingredients the recipe called for;therefore, he decided to make something else. The report recommended several changes to the ways the corporation accounted for donations; furthermore, it suggested that a new auditor be appointed immediately. The crowd waited patiently for three hours; finally, the doors to the stadium were opened. Batman and Robin fruitlessly searched the building; indeed, the Joker had escaped through a secret door in the basement.
Written by Heather MacFadyen Top of Form Bottom of Form Definition Adverbs are words that modify * a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive? ) * an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car? ) * another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move? ) As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb.
The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives: * That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood. If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause: * When this class is over, we’re going to the movies. When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb): * He went to the movies. * She works on holidays. They lived in Canada during the war. And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why): * She hurried to the mainland to see her brother. * The senator ran to catch the bus. But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases: * He calls his mother as often as possible. Click on “Lolly’s Place” to read and hear Bob Dorough’s “Get Your Adverbs Here” (from Scholastic Rock, 1974). Schoolhouse Rock® and its characters andother elements are trademarks and service marks of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Used with permission. | Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb.
Thus we would say that “the students showed a really wonderful attitude” and that “the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude” and that “my professor is really tall, but not “He ran real fast. ” Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree. * Walk faster if you want to keep up with me. * The student who reads fastest will finish first. We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs: * With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients. * The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I’ve ever seen. * She worked less confidently after her accident. That was the least skillfully done performance I’ve seen in years. The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: “He can’t run as fast as his sister. ” A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn’t. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings: * He arrived late. * Lately, he couldn’t seem to be on time for anything. In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations: * She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers. * He did wrong by her. * He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.
Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples: * Emphasizers: * I really don’t believe him. * He literally wrecked his mother’s car. * She simply ignored me. * They’re going to be late, for sure. * Amplifiers: * The teacher completely rejected her proposal. * I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings. * They heartily endorsed the new restaurant. * I so wanted to go with them. * We know this city well. * Downtoners: * I kind of like this college. Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister. * His mother mildly disapproved his actions. * We can improve on this to some extent. * The boss almost quit after that. * The school was all but ruined by the storm. Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers: * She runs very fast. * We’re going to run out of material all the faster This issue is addressed in the section on degrees in adjectives. For this section on intensifiers, we are indebted to A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 978. pages 438 to 457. Examples our own. Using Adverbs in a Numbered List Within the normal flow of text, it’s nearly always a bad idea to number items beyond three or four, at the most. Anything beyond that, you’re better off with a vertical list that uses numbers (1, 2, 3, etc. ). Also, in such a list, don’t use adverbs (with an -ly ending); use instead the uninflected ordinal number (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. ). First (not firstly), it’s unclear what the adverb is modifying. Second (not secondly), it’s unnecessary. Third (not thirdly), after you get beyond “secondly,” it starts to sound silly.
Adverbs that number in this manner are treated as disjuncts (see below. ) Adverbs We Can Do Without Review the section on Being Concise for some advice on adverbs that we can eliminate to the benefit of our prose: intensifiers such as very, extremely, and really that don’t intensify anything andexpletive constructions (“There are several books that address this issue. “) Kinds of Adverbs Adverbs of Manner She moved slowly and spoke quietly. Adverbs of Place She has lived on the island all her life. She still lives there now. Adverbs of Frequency She takes the boat to the mainland every day.
She often goes by herself. Adverbs of Time She tries to get back before dark. It’s starting to get dark now. She finished her tea first. She left early. Adverbs of Purpose She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks. She shops in several stores to get the best buys. Positions of Adverbs One of the hallmarks of adverbs is their ability to move around in a sentence. Adverbs of manner are particularly flexible in this regard. * Solemnly the minister addressed her congregation. * The minister solemnly addressed her congregation. * The minister addressed her congregation solemnly.
The following adverbs of frequency appear in various points in these sentences: * Before the main verb: I never get up before nine o’clock. * Between the auxiliary verb and the main verb: I have rarely written to my brother without a good reason. * Before the verb used to: I always used to see him at his summer home. Indefinite adverbs of time can appear either before the verb or between the auxiliary and the main verb: * He finally showed up for batting practice. THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS | Verb| Manner| Place| Frequency| Time| Purpose| Beth swims| enthusiastically| in the pool| every morning| before dawn| to keep in shape. Dad walks| impatiently| into town| every afternoon| before supper| to get a newspaper. | Tashonda naps| | in her room| every morning| before lunch. | | | In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence: “Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper. ” When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma. * She has recently retired. Order of Adverbs There is a basic order in which adverbs will appear when there is more than one. It is similar to The Royal Order of Adjectives, but it is even more flexible. More Notes on Adverb Order As a general principle, shorter adverbial phrases precede longer adverbial phrases, regardless of content. In the following sentence, an adverb of time precedes an adverb of frequency because it is shorter (and simpler): * Dad takes a brisk walk before breakfast every day of his life. A second principle: among similar adverbial phrases of kind (manner, place, frequency, etc. , the more specific adverbial phrase comes first: * My grandmother was born in a sod house on the plains of northern Nebraska. * She promised to meet him for lunch next Tuesday. Bringing an adverbial modifier to the beginning of the sentence can place special emphasis on that modifier. This is particularly useful with adverbs of manner: * Slowly, ever so carefully, Jesse filled the coffee cup up to the brim, even above the brim. * Occasionally, but only occasionally, one of these lemons will get by the inspectors. Inappropriate Adverb Order Review the section on Misplaced Modifiers for some additional ideas on placement.
Modifiers can sometimes attach themselves to and thus modify words that they ought not to modify. * They reported that Giuseppe Balle, a European rock star, had died on the six o’clock news. Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a position immediately after “they reported” or even to the beginning of the sentence — so the poor man doesn’t die on television. Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such as only and barely: * She only grew to be four feet tall. It would be better if “She grew to be only four feet tall. ” Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts
Regardless of its position, an adverb is often neatly integrated into the flow of a sentence. When this is true, as it almost always is, the adverb is called an adjunct. (Notice the underlined adjuncts or adjunctive adverbs in the first two sentences of this paragraph. ) When the adverb does not fit into the flow of the clause, it is called a disjunct or a conjunct and is often set off by a comma or set of commas. A disjunct frequently acts as a kind of evaluation of the rest of the sentence. Although it usually modifies the verb, we could say that it modifies the entire clause, too.
Notice how “too” is a disjunct in the sentence immediately before this one; that same word can also serve as an adjunct adverbial modifier: It’s too hot to play outside. Here are two more disjunctive adverbs: * Frankly, Martha, I don’t give a hoot. * Fortunately, no one was hurt. Conjuncts, on the other hand, serve a connector function within the flow of the text, signaling a transition between ideas. * If they start smoking those awful cigars, then I’m not staying. * We’ve told the landlord about this ceiling again and again, and yet he’s done nothing to fix it.
At the extreme edge of this category, we have the purely conjunctive device known as the conjunctive adverb (often called the adverbial conjunction): * Jose has spent years preparing for this event; nevertheless, he’s the most nervous person here. * I love this school; however, I don’t think I can afford the tuition. Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 126. Used with permission. Examples our own. Some Special Cases The adverbs enough and not enough usually take a postmodifier position: * Is that music loud enough? These shoes are not big enough. * In a roomful of elderly people, you must remember to speak loudly enough. (Notice, though, that when enough functions as an adjective, it can come before the noun: * Did she give us enough time? The adverb enough is often followed by an infinitive: * She didn’t run fast enough to win. The adverb too comes before adjectives and other adverbs: * She ran too fast. * She works too quickly. If too comes after the adverb it is probably a disjunct (meaning also) and is usually set off with a comma: * Yasmin works hard. She works quickly, too.
The adverb too is often followed by an infinitive: * She runs too slowly to enter this race. Another common construction with the adverb too is too followed by a prepositional phrase — for + the object of the preposition — followed by an infinitive: * This milk is too hot for a baby to drink. Relative Adverbs Adjectival clauses are sometimes introduced by what are called the relative adverbs: where, when, and why. Although the entire clause is adjectival and will modify a noun, the relative word itself fulfills an adverbial function (modifying a verb within its own clause).
The relative adverb where will begin a clause that modifies a noun of place: My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather used to be minister. The relative pronoun “where” modifies the verb “used to be” (which makes it adverbial), but the entire clause (“where my great grandfather used to be minister”) modifies the word “church. ” A when clause will modify nouns of time: My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day. And a why clause will modify the noun reason:
Do you know the reason why Isabel isn’t in class today? We sometimes leave out the relative adverb in such clauses, and many writers prefer “that” to “why” in a clause referring to “reason”: * Do you know the reason why Isabel isn’t in class today? * I always look forward to the day when we begin our summer vacation. * I know the reason that men like motorcycles. Authority for this section: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York. 1994. Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative Adverbs
A viewpoint adverb generally comes after a noun and is related to an adjective that precedes that noun: * A successful athletic team is often a good team scholastically. * Investing all our money in snowmobiles was probably not a sound idea financially. You will sometimes hear a phrase like “scholastically speaking” or “financially speaking” in these circumstances, but the word “speaking” is seldom necessary. A focus adverb indicates that what is being communicated is limited to the part that is focused; a focus adverb will tend either to limit the sense of the sentence (“He got an A just for attending the class. ) or to act as an additive (“He got an A in addition to being published. ” Although negative constructions like the words “not” and “never” are usually found embedded within a verb string — “He has never been much help to his mother. ” — they are technically not part of the verb; they are, indeed, adverbs. However, a so-called negative adverb creates a negative meaning in a sentence without the use of the usual no/not/neither/nor/never constructions: * He seldom visits. * She hardly eats anything since the accident. * After her long and tedious lectures, rarely was anyone awake.
An adverb is a part of speech. It is any word that modifies any part of language other than a noun (modifiers of nouns are primarily adjectives and determiners). Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentencesand other adverbs. Adverbs typically answer questions such as how? , in what way? , when? , where? , and to what extent?. In English, they often end in -ly. This function is called theadverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i. e. , adverbs) but byadverbial phrases and adverbial clauses. Contents [hide] * 1 Adverbs in English * 1. Adverbs as a “catch-all” category * 2 Other languages * 3 See also * 4 References * 5 External links| Adverbs in English In English, adverbs of manner (answering the question how? ) are often formed by adding -ly to adjectives. For example, great yields greatly, and beautiful yields beautifully. (Note that some words that end in -ly, such as friendlyand lovely, are not adverbs, but adjectives, in which case the root word is usually a noun. There are also underived adjectives that end in -ly, such as holy and silly. ) The suffix -ly is related to the Germanic word “lich” meaning corpse or body. There is also an obsolete English wordlych or lich with the same meaning. ) Both words are also related to the word like. The connection between -ly andlike is easy to understand. The connection to lich is probably that both are descended from an earlier word that meant something like “shape” or “form”. [1] In this way, -ly in English is cognate with the common German adjective ending -lich and the Dutch ending -lijk. This same process is followed in Romance languages with the ending -mente, -ment, or -mense meaning “of/like the mind”. In some cases, the suffix -wise may be used to derive adverbs from nouns.
Historically, -wise competed with a related form -ways and won out against it. In a few words, like sideways, -ways survives; words like clockwise show the transition. Again, it is not a foolproof indicator of a word being an adverb. Some adverbs are formed from nouns or adjectives by appending the prefix a- (such as abreast, astray). There are a number of other suffixes in English that derive adverbs from other word classes, and there are also many adverbs that are not morphologically indicated at all. Comparative adverbs include more, most, least, and less (in phrases such as more beautiful, most easily etc. . The usual form pertaining to adjectives or adverbs is called the positive. Formally, adverbs in English are inflected in terms of comparison, just like adjectives. The comparative and superlative forms of some (especially single-syllable) adverbs that do not end in -ly are generated by adding -er and -est (She ran faster; He jumps highest). Others, especially those ending -ly, are periphrastically compared by the use of more or most (She ran more quickly) — while some accept both forms, e. g. oftener and more often are both correct. Adverbs also take comparisons with as … as,less, and least.
Not all adverbs are comparable; for example in the sentence He wore red yesterday it does not make sense to speak of “more yesterday” or “most yesterday”. Adverbs as a “catch-all” category Adverbs are considered a part of speech in traditional English grammar and are still included as a part of speech in grammar taught in schools and used in dictionaries. However, modern grammarians recognize that words traditionally grouped together as adverbs serve a number of different functions. Some would go so far as to call adverbs a “catch-all” category that includes all words that do not belong to one of the other parts of speech.
A more logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context. For example, a noun is a word that can be inserted in the following template to form a grammatical sentence: The _____ is red. (For example, “The hat is red”. ) When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories. For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others cannot. Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same.
For example, in the sentences She gave birth naturally andNaturally, she gave birth, the word naturally has different meanings. (Actually the first sentence could be interpreted in the same way as the second, but context makes it clear which is meant. ) Naturally as a sentential adverb means something like “of course” and as a verb-modifying adverb means “in a natural manner”. This “naturally” controversy demonstrates that the class of sentential adverbs is a closed class (there is resistance to adding new words to the class), whereas the class of adverbs that modify verbs isn’t.
Words like very and particularly afford another useful example. We can say Perry is very fast, but not Perry very won the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words like here and therethat cannot modify adjectives. We can say The sock looks good there but not It is a there beautiful sock. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these functions can confuse this issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is really two or more words that serve different functions.
However, this distinction can be useful, especially considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different functions. Huddleston distinguishes between a word and a lexicogrammatical-word[2]. «Azerbaijan linguistic school» does not consider adverb to be an independent part of speech, as it is adverbializedform of other parts of speech. I. e. recognition of its equity, alongside with other parts of speech, violates the second and fourth laws of logic division. Adverb is derived from other parts of speech.
Its functions are performed by otherparts of speech when they play role of “means of expression” for adverbial. That is, other parts of speech, playing role of adverbial, automatically transform (convert) into an adverb. [3][4]. Not is an interesting case. Grammarians have a difficult time categorizing it, and it probably belongs in its own class (Haegeman 1995, Cinque 1998). oun| 1. | adverb – the word class that qualifies verbs or clausesmajor form class – any of the major parts of speech of traditional grammaradverb – a word that modifies something other than a noun| | 2. | adverb – a word hat modifies something other than a nounadverb – the word class that qualifies verbs or clausesmodifier, qualifier – a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verbpositive, positive degree – the primary form of an adjective or adverb; denotes a quality without qualification, comparison, or relation to increase or diminutioncomparative, comparative degree – the comparative form of an adjective or adverb; “`faster’ is the comparative of the adjective `fast'”; “`less famous’ is the comparative degree of the adjective `famous'”; “`more surely’ is the comparative of the adverb `surely'”superlative degree, superlative – the superlative form of an adjective or adverb; “`fastest’ is the superlative of the adjective `fast'”; “`least famous’ is the superlative degree of the adjective `famous'”; “`most surely’ is the superlative of the adverb `surely'”adverbial – a word or group of words function as an adverb| Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that is primarily used to modify a verb, adjective, or other adverb. Adverbs can also modify prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses, and completesentences. Adjective: adverbial. Positions of an Adverb: An adverb that modifies an adjective (“quite sad”) or another adverb (“very carelessly”) appears immediately in front of the word it modifies.
An adverb that modifies a verb is generally more flexible: it may appear before or after the verb it modifies (“softly sang” or “sang softly”), or it may appear at the beginning of the sentence (“Softly she sang to the baby”). The position of the adverb may have an effect on the meaning of the sentence. Functions of an Adverb: Adverbs typically add information about time (rarely, frequently, tomorrow), manner (slowly, quickly, willingly), or place (here, there, everywhere). Forms of an Adverb: Many adverbs–especially adverbs of manner–are formed from adjectives by the addition of the ending -ly (easily, dependably). But many common adverbs (just, still, almost, not) do not end in -ly, and not all words that end in -ly (friendly, neighborly) are adverbs.
See “Observations,” below. n adverb is a part of speech that normally serves to modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, clauses, and sentences. Adverbs answer such questions as how? , when? , where? , in what way? , or how often? In English, adverbs often have the suffix -ly, but so do many adjectives. The -ly is a common, but not reliable marker of an adverb. Some others use the suffix -wise. It competed with a related form -ways and won out against it. In a few words, like sideways, -wayssurvives; words like crosswise show the transition. Some other adverbs are identical in form to their adjectives. Otherwise, other adverbs are derived from adjectives.
The comparative and superlative forms of adverbs that are identical to their adjectives are generated by adding -er and -est. The comparative and superlative forms of most other adverbs (except in poetic forms like wiselier) use more or most. Adverbs also take comparisons with as … as, less, and least. The usual form pertaining to adjectives or adverbs is called the positive. Thus the three grades are positive “happy”, comparative “happier”, and superlative “happiest”. Contents [hide]| 1 Non-English Adverbs2 Examples2. 1 as a verb-modifier 2. 2 as an adjective-modifier 2. 3 as an adverb-modifier 2. 4 adverb modifies a whole sentence3 four groups of adverbs4 Adverbs as a catch all category| ————————————————- Non-English Adverbs
Other languages may form adverbs in different ways, if they are used at all: * In German, adverbs have the basic form of their corresponding adjectives and are not inflected (except for comparation). * Romance languages form adverbs by adding -mente (Spanish, etc) or -ment (French). * In Esperanto, adverbs are not formed from adjectives but are made by adding -e directly to the word root. Thus, from bon are derivedbone, “well”, and bona, “good”. * Austronesian languages appear to form comparative adverbs by repeating the root (as in WikiWiki), similarly to the plural noun. ————————————————- Examples The following examples are in English, because that is the language of this text. Examples in other languages may be added, especially to show language independent properties of adverbs. s a verb-modifier (1) In the following examples, the adverb, as a verb-modifier, is highlighted in bold. The verb that it modifies is shown in italics. * It is tiring to run quickly. * My sister laughs loudly. * The sun shone brightly. * The captain went boldly. * The farmer worked hard. (NB: Not hardly) * The minister spoke well. (NB: Not goodly) as an adjective-modifier (2) In the following examples, the adverb, as an adjective-modifier, is highlighted in bold. The adjective it modifies is shown in italics. * His poetry is very beautiful. * The meaning of this passage is abundantly clear. * That sign is hardly visible. as an adverb-modifier 3) In the following examples, the adverb, as an adverb-modifier, is highlighted in bold. The adverb that it modifies is shown in italics. * I know that he can write more clearly. * The sun came out quite suddenly. * This species is the slightly slower growing one. adverb modifies a whole sentence (4) In the following examples the adverb modifies a whole sentence. * Finally, she went home. * Suddenly, the cat came in. * Today, we can go on a day trip. ————————————————- four groups of adverbs Adverbs can be put into 4 groups: 1. Adverbs of manner (adverbs that tell how) Examples: happily, quickly, slowly, badly 2.
Adverbs of time (adverbs that tell when) Examples: then, now, soon 3. Adverbs of place (adverbs that tell where) Examples: there, here, nowhere 4. Adverbs of degree (adverbs that tell to what extent) Examples: more, very, barely, vaguely ————————————————- Adverbs as a catch all category Adverbs are considered a part of speech in traditional English grammar, which is derived from Latin grammar, and are still included as a part of speech in grammar taught in schools and used in dictionaries. However, modern grammarians recognize that words traditionally grouped together as adverbs serve a number of different functions.
Some would go so far as to call adverbs a “catch all” category that includes all words that don’t belong to one of the other parts of speech. A more logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context. For example, a noun is a word that can be inserted in the following template to form a grammatical sentence: The ____ is red. When this approach is taken, it is seen that adverbs fall into a number of different categories. For example, some adverbs can be used to modify an entire sentence, whereas others can not. Even when a sentential adverb has other functions, the meaning is often not the same.
For example, in the sentences She gave birth naturally and Naturally, she gave birth, the word naturally has different meanings (actually the first sentence could be interpreted in the same way as the second, but context makes it clear which is meant). Naturally as a sentential adverb means something like “of course” and as a verb-modifying adverb means “in a natural manner”. The “hopefully” controversy (described below) demonstrates that the class of sentential adverbs is a closed class (there is resistance to adding new words to the class), whereas the class of adverbs that modify verbs is not. Words like very and particularly afford another useful example. We can say Jim is very fast, but not Jim very won the race. These words can modify adjectives but not verbs. On the other hand, there are words like here and there that cannot modify adjectives.
We can sayThe sofa looks good there but not It is a there beautiful sofa. The fact that many adverbs can be used in more than one of these functions can confuse this issue, and it may seem like splitting hairs to say that a single adverb is really two or more words that serve different functions. However, this distinction can be useful, especially considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different functions. Not is an interesting case. Grammarians have a difficult time categorizing it, and it probably belongs in its own class. Adverbs An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. An adverb “qualifies” or “modifies” a verb(The man ran quickly).
But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works very well). Many different kinds of word are called adverbs. We can usually recognise an adverb by its: 1. Function (Job) 2. Form 3. Position 1. Function The principal job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the word that it modifies is in italics. * Modify a verb: – John speaks loudly. (How does John speak? ) – Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live? ) – She never smokes. (When does she smoke? ) * Modify an adjective: – He is really handsome. * Modify another adverb: She drives incredibly slowly. But adverbs have other functions, too. They can: * Modify a whole sentence: – Obviously, I can’t know everything. * Modify a prepositional phrase: – It’s immediately inside the door. 2. Form Many adverbs end in -ly. We form such adverbs by adding -ly to the adjective. Here are some examples: * quickly, softly, strongly, honestly, interestingly But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. “Friendly”, for example, is an adjective. Some adverbs have no particular form, for example: * well, fast, very, never, always, often, still 3. Position Adverbs have three main positions in the sentence: * Front (before the subject): Now we will study adverbs. * Middle (between the subject and the main verb): – We often study adverbs. * End (after the verb or object): – We study adverbs carefully. Adverbs of Frequency always, sometimes, never… Adverbs of manner describe how something happens. Where there are two or more verbs in a sentence, adverb placement affects the meaning. Some commonly used adverbs of manner include: carefully correctly eagerly easily fast loudly patiently quickly quietly and well. Consider the following example: She decided to write her paper. (no adverbs) She quickly decided to write her paper. (her decision was quick) She decided to write her paper quickly. her writing was quick) Adverbs of place describe where something happens. Most adverbs of place are also used as prepositions. Some commonly used examples include the following: abroad anywhere downstairs here home in nowhere out outside somewhere there underground upstairs. I wanted to go upstairs. She has lived in the city since June. (in the city – prepositional phrase) Adverbs of purpose describe why something happens. Here are some common examples: so so that to in order to because since accidentally intentionally and purposely. Jenny walks carefully to avoid falling. Bob accidentally broke the vase. Adverbs of frequency describe how often something happens.
The following adverbs are commonly used in this way: always every never often rarely seldom sometimes and usually. Mackenzie gets a ride from her brother every day. The fish usually swims near the top of its tank. Adverbs of time describe when something happens. These examples are commonly used: after already during finally just last later next now recently soon then tomorrow when while and yesterday. He came home before dark. It will be too dark to play outside soon. Jessica finished her supper first. Andy left school early. Some adverbs often get overused, such as very, extremely, and really. Using there is/are or it is at the beginning of a sentence adds nothing.
Sentences with these adverb phrases become wordy, boring, and less clear. Look at some examples: * There are many bird species living in the sanctuary. Many bird species live in the sanctuary. * It is important to hold hands when crossing the street. Holding hands when crossing the street is important. * There may be more than one way to solve the problem. The problem may be solved in more than one way. Well, did you catch all that? Recognizing the various adverbs used in the English language can take practice. Using them properly can make writing and speaking far more interesting. Now you have a list of adverbs because you read this article carefully and thoroughly… Adverbs of Completeness
Everywhere here there List of Common Adverbs A abnormally absentmindedly accidentally acidly actually adventurously afterwards almost always angrily annually anxiously arrogantly awkwardly| B badly bashfully beautifully bitterly bleakly blindly blissfully boastfully boldly bravely briefly brightly briskly broadly busily| C calmly carefully carelessly cautiously certainly cheerfully clearly cleverly closely coaxingly colorfully commonly continually coolly correctly courageously crossly cruelly curiously | D daily daintily dearly deceivingly delightfully deeply defiantly deliberately delightfully diligently dimly doubtfully dreamily | E easily elegantly nergetically enormously enthusiastically equally especially even evenly eventually exactly excitedly extremely | F fairly faithfully famously far fast fatally ferociously fervently fiercely fondly foolishly fortunately frankly frantically freely frenetically frightfully fully furiously | G generally generously gently gladly gleefully gracefully gratefully greatly greedily| H happily hastily healthily heavily helpfully helplessly highly honestly hopelessly hourly hungrily| I immediately innocently inquisitively instantly intensely intently interestingly inwardly irritably| J jaggedly jealously joshingly joyfully joyously jovially jubilantly udgementally justly| K keenly kiddingly kindheartedly kindly kissingly knavishly knottily knowingly knowledgeably kookily| L lazily less lightly likely limply lively loftily longingly loosely lovingly loudly loyally | M madly majestically meaningfully mechanically merrily miserably mockingly monthly more mortally mostly mysteriously| N naturally nearly neatly needily nervously never nicely noisily not| O obediently obnoxiously oddly offensively officially often only openly optimistically overconfidently owlishly| P painfully partially patiently perfectly physically playfully politely poorly positively potentially powerfully promptly properly unctually | Q quaintly quarrelsomely queasily queerly questionably questioningly quicker quickly quietly quirkily quizzically | R rapidly rarely readily really reassuringly recklessly regularly reluctantly repeatedly reproachfully restfully righteously rightfully rigidly roughly rudely | S sadly safely scarcely scarily searchingly sedately seemingly seldom selfishly separately seriously shakily sharply sheepishly shrilly shyly silently sleepily slowly smoothly softly solemnly solidly sometimes soon speedily stealthily sternly strictly successfully suddenly surprisingly suspiciously sweetly swiftly sympathetically | T tenderly tensely terribly hankfully thoroughly thoughtfully tightly tomorrow too tremendously triumphantly truly truthfully | U ultimately unabashedly unaccountably unbearably unethically unexpectedly unfortunately unimpressively unnaturally unnecessarily utterly upbeat upliftingly upright upside-down upward upwardly urgently usefully uselessly usually utterly| V vacantly vaguely vainly valiantly vastly verbally very viciously victoriously violently vivaciously voluntarily| W warmly weakly wearily well wetly wholly wildly willfully wisely woefully wonderfully worriedly wrongly| Y yawningly yearly yearningly yesterday yieldingly youthfully| Z zealously zestfully zestily |
