ADVERBS

Adverbs are traditionally defined as words that describe verbs.

Adverbs answer any of the following questions about verbs: how? when? where? why?

The following examples illustrate adverbs modifying verbs:

How did he lift the barbell? Easily is an adverb.

When will we use it? Tomorrow functions as an adverb.

Where did she hide the key? Nearby is an adverb.

Adverbs are the most moveable of all parts of speech; therefore, it is sometimes difficult to identify an adverb on the basis of its position in a sentence.

For example, the adverb slowly will fit into three places in the sentence

He climbed the ladder:

Most adverbs end in -ly. In fact, most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to adjectives:

Like adjectives of more than one syllable, adverbs usually become comparative and superlative by using more and most. Examples:

Flat adverbs

Adjectives that do not change form (add -ly) to become adverbs are called "flat adverbs."

Typical flat adverbs are early, late, hard, fast, long, high, low, deep, near.

To determine whether these words are functioning as adjectives or adverbs, one must determine

1) what the word is describing (noun or verb) 2) what question the word is answering

The following examples illustrate the distinction.

Early as adjective:

Early describes the noun train and answers the question "which one?"

Early as adverb:

Early describes the verb arrived and answers the question "when?"

Hard as adjective:

Hard describes the noun pass and answers the question "what kind?"

Hard as adverb:

Hard describes the verb threw and answers the question "how?"

Kinds of Adverbs

Here you can see the basic kinds of adverbs.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.

He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?) They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?) James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his cars?) We normally use Adverbs of Manner with dynamic (action) verbs, not with stative or state verbs. He ran fast. She came quickly. They worked happily.

She looked beautifully. It seems strangely. They are happily. Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs.

Please sit here. (Where should I sit?) They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?) Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?) Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens. Adverbs of Time mainly modify verbs.

They can answer the question "when?":

He came yesterday. (When did he come?) I want it now. (When do I want it?) Or they can answer the question "how often?":

They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the newspaper?) We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?) Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?) Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is Mary?)

He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously? How dangerously did he drive?)

An adverb is a word that changes or qualifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, other adverb, clause, sentence or any other word or phrase, except that it does not include the adjectives and determiners that directly modify nouns. Adverbs are traditionally regarded as one of the parts of speech, although the wide variety of the functions performed by words classed as adverbs means that it is hard to treat them as a single uniform category. Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?. This function is called the adverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses.

Adverbs are words like slowly, now, soon, and suddenly. An adverb usually modifies a verb or a verb phrase. It provides information about the manner, place, time, frequency, certainty, or other circumstances of the activity denoted by the verb or verb phrase. Examples: 1. She was walking slowly (Slowly is the adverb.) 2. The kids are skating together. (Here, the adverb together provides information about how the kids are skating.) Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. 1. You are quite right. (Here, the adverb quite modifies the adjective right.) 2. She spoke quite loudly. (Here, the adverb quite modifies another adverb loudly.) In English, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often formed by adding -ly to adjectives. Other languages often have similar methods for deriving adverbs from adjectives (French, for example, uses the suffix -ment), or else use the same form for both adjectives and adverbs. Some examples are listed under Adverbs in specific languages below. Where the meaning permits, adverbs may undergo comparison, taking comparative and superlative forms. In English this is usually done by adding more and most before the adverb (more slowly, most slowly), although there are a few adverbs that take inflected forms, such as well, for which better and best are used. For more information about the use of adverbs in English, see English grammar: Adverbs. For use in other languages, see Adverbs in specific languages below, and the articles on individual languages and their grammars.