THE ADVERB

-modifies or adds to the meaning of VERBS (by telling how, when, where something
happens or is done), ADJECTIVES, or other ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES,
COMPLETE SENTENCES or EVEN NOUNS.
- According to FORM, adverbs can be:
A. SINGLE WORDS: here, soon, then
B. COMPOUND, made of:
1. Two different parts of speech

e.g. : abroad, anywhere, downstairs

2. an ADJECTIVE/NOUN + suffix- LY

e.g. : badly, briefly, soundly, loudly

!!! adjectives ending in -E retain E and add -LY

e.g. : extremely, largely BUT !! due duly, true truly, whole - wholly

!!!!adjectives ending in -LE drop -E and add -Y

e.g. : capably, gently

!!!!! adjectives ending in-L, preceded by a VOWEL, retain -L and add -LY

e.g.: beautifully, finally, usually

!!!!!adjectives ending in -LL just add -Y

e.g.: fully, dully.

!!!!!!adjectives ending in -Y change Y into I and then add -LY.

e.g.: easily, happily. BUT

!! Coyly, shyly, wryly!!

!!!!!! adjectives ending in -LY as cowardly, friendly, likely, lively, lovely, manly,
motherly, sickly, silly can be used as ADVERBS if only used with
IN A .FASHION/MANNER/WAY

e.g.: He greeted me in a friendly way.

3. A NOUN + the suffixes -WAYS, -WARDS, -WISE:

e.g. : SIDEWAYS , BACKWARDS, CROSSWISE

4.the prefix A- + NOUN/ADJECTIVE: ALOFT, ASHORE, ABROAD

e.g.: The sailor went ashore.

C. COMPLEX made up of:

ADVERB+ADVERB

e.g.: soon after, shortly after, over there, down there, far behind, straight ahead,
close by, far off.

PREPOSITION+ADVERB
e.g.: at once, before long, at least, at last.

ADVERB +and+ ADVERB

e.g.: by and by, here and there, now and then, in and out, on and off, on and on.

!! There are some adjectives that have both their adjective forms used as adverbs
and -ly forms

Some of them have the same meaning:bright/brightly, cheap/cheaply,

dead/deadly, dear/dearly, fair/fairly, sound/soundly, tight/tightly.
e.g.: We sold those fruit cheap/cheaply. Fair : play fair, hit fair, fight fair,
be fair to.

!! The forms CHEAP may occur when combined with TO BUY, TO GET, TO
SELL, but when combined with other verbs, only CHEAPLY can be used :
e.g.: We traveled cheaply all over Europe.
!! FAIRLY can also have the meaning quite/rather/moderately.
e.g. He played fairly well.

Some of them have a different meaning:

CLEAN (Completely) -

CLEANLY( in a clear manner)

!!Before prep: CLEAR (Right) - CLEARLY (in a clear manner)

CLOSE(Near, quite) - CLOSELY has a descriptive use

DEEP (Fardown / into) - DEEPLY (very greatly)
DIRECT (+to come/to go/to send) - DIRECTLY (at once/direction)
DUE( points of compass/exactly) - DULY( properly/punctually)
EASY(Go/take in an easy manner)

- EASILY (clearly/very likely)

FREE(without payment) - FREELY (in a free manner/willingly)

FULL (completely) - FULLY (exactly/completely/quite/at last)
HARD(with great effort)

- HARDLY (never/almost no/none)

HIGH (at a great distance from ground/sea level) - HIGHLY(very

much)
JUST (exactly/on the point of )

- JUSTLY(in a fair/reasonable

manner)
LARGE( Sail/write/talk) - LARGELY(mainly/chiefly/to a great extent)
LATE(After the expected time) - LATELY (recently)
MOST (to a great extent) - MOSTLY (on the whole/mainly)
NEAR(at a very small dist) - NEARLY(Almost - used for degree)
PRETTY(With degree: fairly) - PRETTILY (in a pretty manner)
PRESENT (adj) -- PRESENTLY (at the present time/soon)
RIGHT (+degree :exactly, immediately) - RIGHTLY
(correctly/accurately)
SHARP (punctually/abruptly) - SHARPLY (in a sharp manner/distinctly)
SHORT(Suddenly/abruptly) - SHORTLY (soon)

* Some adverbs have the same form as the adjectives and are similar in meaning:
ALIKE, ALONE, FAR, EARLY, HARD, LONG, FAST, LITTLE, NEXT, ONLY,
OUTSIDE, PAST, STRAIGHT.
e.g.: My teacher treats all the pupils alike. My twin sisters are very alike.
!! The -LY form is often preferred in FIGURATIVE SPEECH

These adverbs can make the word they modify WEAKER or STRONGER they

may be : ADJECTIVES (e.g.: rather, difficult)

ADVERBS (e.g.: quite fluently)
VERBS (e.g.: I didnt quite understand.)
NOUNS (e.g.: That was quite an experience.)
FAIRLY - LESS THAN THE HIGHEST DEGREE

Combined with ADJ. /ADV.

suggest a good state of affairs
Less complimentary then quite.

QUITE - a little stronger than fairly

- When used with GRADABLE ADJECTIVES/ADVERBS:less than the
highest degree, better than expected
e.g. His answers were quite good. They played quite well.
- When used with NON GRADABLE ADJECTIVES/ ADVERBS: dead,
marvelous, perfectly, impossible: absolutely, completely
e.g.: This painting is quite unique.
- The meaning depends on intonation: rising tone - positive
falling tone- negative.

May be followed by A/AN, THE, (noteworthy) SOME (considerable)

RATHER - stronger than QUITE - more than is usual/expected

e.g.: Its rather warm today.
!! When making - FAVOURABLE comments: QUITE is preferred to RATHER

-UNFAVOURABLE comments: RATHER is used.

PRETTY - similar to RATHER, but mostly used in informal language.

TYPES OF ADVERBS
There are :
* ADVERBS of MANNER : describe a VB ,showing the manner of an event
or situation
e.g.: accurately , brightly , carefully, nicely
:also, indicate the feelings of the person who does it
e.g.: angrily , anxiously, calmly, shyly
: also, indicate the circumstance in which an action
takes place
e.g.: accidentally, alone, full-time, illegally, wholesale
*ADVERBS of PLACE : give information about a place indicating either
LOCATION, POSITION or DIRECTION, DESTINATION
DIRECTION : ahead, around, backwards, left, on, sideways, east, round, up
DESTINATION : abroad, ashore, home, inside, near, outdoors, there,
underground
* some prepositional/adverbial phrases can be also used as adverbs
e.g.: behind, between, opposite, over, back and forth, in front of, to and
fro, up and down, under
*ADVERBS of TIME : can refer to DEFINITE TIME , indicating " exactly when
" something happens or to duration
*ADVERBS of DEFINITE TIME refer to the current time or to certain
days, years. When more than one adverbs is used, the more particular must precede the
more general ( time+day+date+year )
e.g.: at 3 o'clock, yesterday, today, tomorrow, last month, when, then, ago.
e.g.: We'll have to meet at 10 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, May 21st,
1995.
*ADVERBS of DURATION indicate how long something lasts or takes,
and can be expressed either by adverbs such as always,all day long, for ever,

indefinitely, or by prepositional phrases such as : after, before, by, for,from...to,

since, till,during
* among the adverbs of time there are also included :
*THE ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY: - definite: once/twice a week ,
every month, daily, weekly, on Sundays/ weekdays
- indefinite: always, generally, seldom,
frequently, hardly, from time to time.
*ADVERBS of DEGREE: indicate the extent of an action or the degree to which
an action is performed.
e.g.: absolutely, almost, partly, radically, very, too, totally, really, fairly, quite,
rather
*INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS: how, when, where ,why
- are used to begin a question
*LINKING/ RELATIVE ADVERBS : are used to introduce a clause and are
employed
A. when an extra piece of information is added: also, as well, besides,
furthermore, moreover
e.g.: These shoes are expensive; besides, they're too small.
B. when there is made a comparison : as compared to, equally, likewise,
similarly.
C. when a contrast is pointed to : alternatively, even so, however, instead,
nevertheless, rather, still, thought, yet
e.g.: It rained, but even so, we enjoyed the day.
D. when we want to indicate that something that happend before or after an event
we've already mentioned: afterwards, beforehand, ever since , finally, first , last,
later, next, soon, suddenly, then, meanwhile
E. when we want to summarise the things mentioned above: all in all, and so on ,
essentially,
e.g.: She reminded me of what I owed her and so on .

*FOCUS ADVERBS : chiefly, especially, even, just, merely, only, principally,

really, simply
* precede the word they qualify to focus attention on it
* the position of the adverbs is flexible, according to the word we want to
focus on
e.g.: Even Mary could do that exercise. (although she's not very
good at Maths) .Mary could do even that exercise. (among other things)
*VIEWPOINT ADVERBS: indicate the speaker's attitude to the fact or event
he's talking about.
-The speaker may show:
A. HOW SURE HE IS ABOUT SOMETHING: evidently, honestly,
maybe, obviously, perhaps, possibly, really
B. THAT HE'S GOING TO BE BRIEF: anyhow, anyway, briefly, in
brief
C. WHAT HIS OPINION IS: fortunately, frankly, happily, honestly,
oddly, luckily

THE POSITION OF ADVERBS

When a sentence contains more than one kind of ADV. , the usual order should be:
SB+PR+I.O. + D.O.+ MANNER + PLACE + TIME

According to their position in the sentence, adverbs can be:

A. FRONT-POSITION ADVERBS
1. INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS
e.g. How old is their sister? Where do you go from there?
2. in EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES, the adverbs have always front
position
e.g. Here comes the bus!
3. in narrative writing, ADVERBS OF MANNER such as
QUIETLY, GENTLY, SLOWLY, can begin a sentence and are followed by comma
e.g. The bandit entered the room. Slowly, he moved his hand
towards the gun.
4. when we want to emphasize LOCATION, adverbs of PLACE may
begin a sentence.
e.g. Outside it was snowing hard.

When there is more than 1 adverbial of place we place one at the beginning to
avoid ambiguity.
e.g. In Romania, most people work on farms.
5. ADVERBS OF DEFINITIVE TIME can have front position
e.g. Yesterday we played tennis.

* Sometimes, in order to avoid ambiguity, ADVERBS OF DEFINITE

PREQUENCY may begin a sentence.
e.g. Once a year, she buys him one of the books he likes.

6. ADVERBS OF INDEFINITE FREQUENCY like FREQUENTLY,

GENERALLY, NORMALLY, USSUALLY can begin a sentence, when
EMPHASIS/CONTRAST is required
e.g. Generally he goes to work by bus.
7. VIEWPOINT ADVERBS may come in any position , but the
FRONT position is most usual.
e.g. Fortunately , the dogs didnt see him.
8. A large number of ADVERBIAL PHRASES: By and by, By now, Up to now, Before
then, How long, How much, How often, At first, At last, At present, At least, may be
used in FRONT POSITION.
INVERSION AFTER ADVERBS
*for emphasis, some adverbs/adverbial phases - with RESTRICTIVE or NEGATIVE
meaning - are placed AT THE BEGINNIG of the sentence + THE INVERTED FORM
of the VERB (similar to the INTERROGATIVE)
a) NEGATIVE ADVERBS : seldom, hardly, barely when..., no sooner ... than , under no
circumstances, on no account, little, nowhere, not until... , neither , nor , rarely
e.g. Never have I seen such a good movie! My sister doesn`t like coffee.
Neither do I .
Little does she speak about her childhood.
Not until I saw house did I realize that I was wrong .
b) RESTRICTIVE ADVERBS : ONLY BY, ONLY NOW, ONLY WHEN, ONLY
THEN, ONLY THERE, NOT ONLY. BUT ALSO
e.g. Only by confessing, will he be redeemed.
c) after the adverbs HERE & THERE or the adverbial particles BACK, DOWN, OFF,
UP, ROUND, FORWARD
e.g. Here is a new article about friendship. In came Jane.
!!! When the SBJ is a pronoun, NO INVERSION is necessary.
e.g. In she came. Here she goes.

d) SO + adjective + THAT/SUCH . + THAT

e.g. So difficult was the problem that none of us could do it. Such was the fate of that
woman.
The problem was so difficult that
that we all started crying.

The fate of that woman was so terrible

B. MID - POSITION ADVERBS

*are placed BETWEEN SBJ & PR ( SIMPLE PRES. or PAST)
AFTER THE 1st aux. / MODAL VB
AFTER the vb. TO BE
1. ADVERBS of MANNER (emphasis): BRAVELY, CLEVERLY, CRUELLY,
FOOLISHLY, GENEROUSLY, SECRETELY, SIMPLY
e.g. He simply refused to talk. (=absolutely)
Nancy was very simply dressed. (=in a simple manner)
2. ADVERBS of INDEFINITE TIME
e.g. We recently found out the truth.
3. ADVERBS of INDEFINITE FREQUENCY: ALWAYS, NEVER, USUALLY
e.g. Shes never careful.
4. VIEWPOINT ADVERBS
e.g. They are obviously right. You perhaps met the man before.
C. END POSITION
1. ADVERBS of DEFINITE TIME : YESTERDAY, AGO, LAST .
E.g. Our friends left London yesterday.
2. ADVERBS of DEFINITE FREQUENCY: ONCE/TWICE a week, EVERY
week
e.g. They visit us once a week.

3. ADVERBS of INDEFINITE FREQUENCY / EMPHASIS

e.g. He will love her always.
4. ADVERBS of MANNER must be placed AFTER the VB (with NO DIRECT
OBJECT) of AFTER the DIRECT OBJECT
e.g. It was raining heavily. I closed the door carefully.
5. ADVERBS of PLACE
e.g. we walked in the park.
6. ADVERBS of DEGREE
e.g. He was paid very well.
7. VIEWPOINT ADVERBS
e.g. His brother isnt very well, unfortunately.