What does the word adverbs mean

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering questions such as how, in what way, when, where, to what extent. This is called the adverbial function and may be performed by single words (adverbs) or by multi-word adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses.

Adverbs are traditionally regarded as one of the parts of speech. Modern linguists note that the term «adverb» has come to be used as a kind of «catch-all» category, used to classify words with various types of syntactic behavior, not necessarily having much in common except that they do not fit into any of the other available categories (noun, adjective, preposition, etc.) ^[1]

Functions[edit]

The English word adverb derives (through French) from Latin adverbium, from ad- («to»), verbum («word», «verb»), and the nominal suffix -ium. The term implies that the principal function of adverbs is to act as modifiers of verbs or verb phrases.^[2] An adverb used in this way may provide information about the manner, place, time, frequency, certainty, or other circumstances of the activity denoted by the verb or verb phrase. Some examples:

• She sang loudly (loudly modifies the verb sang, indicating the manner of singing)
• We left it here (here modifies the verb phrase left it, indicating place)
• I worked yesterday (yesterday modifies the verb worked, indicating time)
• You often make mistakes (often modifies the verb phrase make mistakes, indicating frequency)
• He undoubtedly did it (undoubtedly modifies the verb phrase did it, indicating certainty)

Adverbs can also be used as modifiers of adjectives, and of other adverbs, often to indicate degree. Examples:

• You are quite right (the adverb quite modifies the adjective right)
• She sang very loudly (the adverb very modifies another adverb – loudly)

They can also modify determiners, prepositional phrases,^[2] or whole clauses or sentences, as in the following examples:

• I bought practically the only fruit (practically modifies the determiner the in the noun phrase, «the only fruit» wherein «only» is an adjective)
• She drove us almost to the station (almost modifies the prepositional phrase to the station)
• Certainly we need to act (certainly modifies the sentence as a whole)

Adverbs thus perform a wide range of modifying functions. The major exception is the function of modifier of nouns, which is performed instead by adjectives (compare she sang loudly with her loud singing disturbed me; here the verb sang is modified by the adverb loudly, whereas the noun singing is modified by the adjective loud). However, because some adverbs and adjectives are homonyms, their respective functions are sometimes conflated:

• Even numbers are divisible by two
• The camel even drank.

The word «even» in the first sentence is an adjective, since it is a prepositive modifier that modifies the noun «numbers». The word «even» in the second sentence is a prepositive adverb that modifies the verb «drank.»

Although it is possible for an adverb to precede or to follow a noun or a noun phrase, the adverb nonetheless does not modify either in such cases, as in:

• Internationally there is a shortage of protein for animal feeds
• There is a shortage internationally of protein for animal feeds
• There is an international shortage of protein for animal feeds

In the first sentence, «Internationally» is a prepositive adverb that modifies the clause, «there is …» In the second sentence, «internationally» is a postpositive adverb that modifies the clause, «There is …» By contrast, the third sentence contains «international» as a prepositive adjective that modifies the noun, «shortage.»

Adverbs can sometimes be used as predicative expressions; in English, this applies especially to adverbs of location:

• Your seat is there.
• Here is my boarding pass (wherein «boarding pass» is the subject and «here» is the predicate in a syntax that entails a subject-verb inversion).

When the function of an adverb is performed by an expression consisting of more than one word, it is called an adverbial phrase or adverbial clause, or simply an adverbial.

Formation and comparison[edit]

In English, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often formed by adding -ly to adjectives, but flat adverbs (such as in drive fast, drive slow, and drive friendly) have the same form as the corresponding adjective. 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, as in German and Dutch, where for example schnell or snel, respectively, mean either «quick» or «quickly» depending on the context. Many other adverbs, however, are not related to adjectives in this way; they may be derived from other words or phrases, or may be single morphemes. Examples of such adverbs in English include here, there, together, yesterday, aboard, very, almost, etc.

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 formation and use of adverbs in English, see English grammar § Adverbs. For other languages, see § In specific languages below, and the articles on individual languages and their grammars.

Adverbs as a «catch-all» category[edit]

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 describe adverbs as a «catch-all» category that includes all words that do not belong to one of the other parts of speech.^[3]

A logical approach to dividing words into classes relies on recognizing which words can be used in a certain context. For example, the only type of word that can be inserted in the following template to form a grammatical sentence is a noun:

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 and Naturally, she gave birth, the word naturally has different meanings: in the first sentence, as a verb-modifying adverb, it means «in a natural manner», while in the second sentence, as a sentential adverb, it means something like «of course».

Words like very afford another 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 there that 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 the 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 when considering adverbs like naturally that have different meanings in their different functions. Rodney Huddleston distinguishes between a word and a lexicogrammatical-word.^[4]

Grammarians find difficulty categorizing negating words, such as the English not. Although traditionally listed as an adverb, this word does not behave grammatically like any other, and it probably should be placed in a class of its own.^[5][6]

In languages[edit]

• In Dutch adverbs have the basic form of their corresponding adjectives and are not inflected (though they sometimes can be compared).
• In German the term Adverb is defined differently from its use in the English language. German adverbs form a group of uninflectable words (though a few can be compared). An English adverb which is derived from an adjective is arranged in German under the adjectives with adverbial use in the sentence. The others are also called adverbs in the German language.
• In Scandinavian languages, adverbs are typically derived from adjectives by adding the suffix ‘-t’, which makes it identical to the adjective’s neuter form. Scandinavian adjectives, like English ones, are inflected in terms of comparison by adding ‘-ere’/’-are’ (comparative) or ‘-est’/’-ast’ (superlative). In inflected forms of adjectives, the ‘-t’ is absent. Periphrastic comparison is also possible.
• In most Romance languages, many adverbs are formed from adjectives (often the feminine form) by adding ‘-mente’ (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Italian) or ‘-ment’ (French, Catalan) (from Latin mens, mentis: mind, intelligence, or suffix -mentum, result or way of action), while other adverbs are single forms which are invariable. In Romanian, almost all adverbs are simply the masculine singular form of the corresponding adjective, one notable exception being bine («well») / bun («good»). However, there are some Romanian adverbs built from certain masculine singular nouns using the suffix «-ește», such as the following ones: băieț-ește (boyishly), tiner-ește (youthfully), bărbăt-ește (manly), frăț-ește (brotherly), etc.
• Interlingua also forms adverbs by adding ‘-mente’ to the adjective. If an adjective ends in c, the adverbial ending is ‘-amente’. A few short, invariable adverbs, such as ben («well»), and mal («badly»), are available and widely used.
• In Esperanto, adverbs are not formed from adjectives but are made by adding ‘-e’ directly to the word root. Thus, from bon are derived bone, «well», and bona, «good». See also: special Esperanto adverbs.
• In Hungarian adverbs are formed from adjectives of any degree through the suffixes -ul/ül and -an/en depending on the adjective: szép (beautiful) → szépen (beautifully) or the comparative szebb (more beautiful) → szebben (more beautifully)
• Modern Standard Arabic forms adverbs by adding the indefinite accusative ending ‘-an’ to the root: kathiir-, «many», becomes kathiiran «much». However, Arabic often avoids adverbs by using a cognate accusative followed by an adjective.
• Austronesian languages generally form comparative adverbs by repeating the root (as in WikiWiki) as with the plural noun.
• Japanese forms adverbs from verbal adjectives by adding /ku/ (く) to the stem (haya- «swift» hayai «quick/early», hayakatta «was quick», hayaku «quickly») and from nominal adjectives by placing /ni/ (に) after the adjective instead of the copula /na/ (な) or /no/ (の) (rippa «splendid», rippa ni «splendidly»). The derivations are quite productive, but for a few adjectives, adverbs may not be derived.
• In the Celtic languages, an adverbial form is often made by preceding the adjective with a preposition: go in Irish or gu in Scottish Gaelic, meaning ‘until’. In Cornish, yn is used, meaning ‘in’.
• In Modern Greek, an adverb is most commonly made by adding the endings <-α> or <-ως> to the root of an adjective. Often, the adverbs formed from a common root using each of these endings have slightly different meanings. So, <τέλειος> (<téleios>, meaning «perfect» and «complete») yields <τέλεια> (<téleia>, «perfectly») and <τελείως> (<teleíos>, «completely»). Not all adjectives can be transformed into adverbs by using both endings. <Γρήγορος> (<grígoros>, «swift») becomes <γρήγορα> (<grígora>, «swiftly»), but not normally *<γρηγόρως> (*<grigóros>). When the <-ως> ending is used to transform an adjective whose stress accent is on the third syllable from the end, such as <επίσημος> (<epísimos>, «official»), the corresponding adverb is accented on the second syllable from the end; compare <επίσημα> (<epísima>) and <επισήμως> (<episímos>), which both mean «officially». There are also other endings with particular and restricted use as <-ί>, <-εί>, <-ιστί>, etc. For example, <ατιμωρητί> (<atimorití>, «with impunity») and <ασυζητητί> (<asyzitití>, «indisputably»); <αυτολεξεί> (<aftolexí> «word for word») and <αυτοστιγμεί> (<aftostigmí>, «in no time»); <αγγλιστί> [<anglistí> «in English (language)»] and <παπαγαλιστί> (<papagalistí>, «by rote»); etc.
• In Latvian, an adverb is formed from an adjective by changing the masculine or feminine adjective endings -s and -a to -i. «Labs», meaning «good», becomes «labi» for «well». Latvian adverbs have a particular use in expressions meaning «to speak» or «to understand» a language. Rather than use the noun meaning «Latvian/English/Russian», the adverb formed from these words is used. «Es runāju latviski/angliski/krieviski» means «I speak Latvian/English/Russian» or, literally, «I speak Latvianly/Englishly/Russianly». If a noun is required, the expression used means literally «language of the Latvians/English/Russians», «latviešu/angļu/krievu valoda».
• In Russian, and analogously in Ukrainian and some other Slavic languages, most adverbs are formed by removing the adjectival suffixes «-ий» «-а» or «-е» from an adjective, and replacing them with the adverbial «-о». For example, in Ukrainian, «швидкий», «гарна», and «смачне» (fast, nice, tasty) become «швидко», «гарно», and «смачно» (quickly, nicely, tastily), while in Russian, «быстрый», «хороший» and «прекрасный» (quick, good, wonderful) become «быстро», «хорошо», «прекрасно» (quickly, well, wonderfully). Another wide group of adverbs are formed by gluing a preposition to an oblique case form. In Ukrainian, for example, (до onto) + (долу bottom) → (додолу downwards); (з off) + (далеку afar) → (здалеку afar-off) . As well, note that adverbs are mostly placed before the verbs they modify: «Добрий син гарно співає.» (A good son sings nicely/well). There is no specific word order in East Slavic languages.
• In Korean, adverbs are commonly formed by replacing the -다 ending of the dictionary form of a descriptive verb with 게. So, 쉽다 (easy) becomes 쉽게 (easily). They are also formed by replacing the 하다 of some compound verbs with 히, e.g. 안녕하다 (peaceful) > 안녕히 (peacefully).
• In Turkish, the same word usually serves as adjective and adverb: iyi bir kız («a good girl»), iyi anlamak («to understand well).
• In Chinese, adverbs are not a separate class. Adjectives become adverbs when they are marked by an adverbial suffix, for example 地 de（e.g., 孩子們快樂地唱歌 haizimen kuaile.de changge ‘the children happily sing a song’), or when adjectives are preceded by a verbal suffix such as 得 (e.g., 她說漢語說得很好 ta shuo hanyu shuo.de henhao ‘she speaks Chinese very well’).
• In Persian, many adjectives and adverbs have the same form such as «خوب», «سریع», «تند» so there is no obvious way to recognise them out of context. The only exceptions are Arabic adverbs with a «اً» suffix such as «ظاهراً» and «واقعاً».

See also[edit]

• Flat adverb (as in drive fast, drive slow, drive friendly)
• Category:Adverbs by type
• Prepositional adverb
• Pronominal adverb
• Grammatical conjunction

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Ernst, Thomas. 2002. The syntax of adjuncts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jackendoff, Ray. 1972. Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar. MIT Press,

External links[edit]

• The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology

Semantic
features. The
adverb is usually defined as a word expressing

either
property of an action, or property of another property, or
circumstances in

which
an action occurs. However, this definition fails to demonstrate the
difference

between
the adverb and the adjective. To overcome this drawback, we should

define
the adverb as a
notional word denoting a non-substantive property, that is,a property
of a non-substantive referent.
This feature sets the adverb apart from the adjective which, as
already known, denotes a substantive property.

Adverbs
are commonly divided into qualitative, quantitative and
circumstantial.

Qualitative
adverbs express immediate, inherently non-graded qualities of

actions
and other qualities. The typical adverbs of this kind are qualitative
adverbs

in
-ly.

Quantitative
adverbs are specific lexical units of semi-functional nature

expressing
quality measure, or gradational evaluation of qualities. They may be

subdivided
into several sets:

1.
Adverbs of high degree («intensifiers»): very,
quite, entirely, utterly,

highly,
greatly, perfectly, absolutely, strongly, considerably, pretty, much.

2.
Adverbs of excessive degree (direct and reverse) also belonging to
the

broader
subclass of intensifiers: too,
awfully, tremendously, dreadfully, terrifically.

3.
Adverbs of unexpected degree: surprisingly,
astonishingly, amazingly.

4.
Adverbs of moderate degree: fairly,
comparatively, relatively, oderately,
rather.

5.
Adverbs of low degree: slightly,
a little, a bit.

6.
Adverbs of approximate degree: almost,
nearly.

7.
Adverbs of optimal degree: enough,
sufficiently, adequately.

8.
Adverbs of inadequate degree: insufficiently,
intolerably, unbearably,ridiculously.

9.
Adverbs of under-degree: hardly,
scarcely.

Although
the degree adverbs are traditionally described under the heading of

«quantitative»,
in reality they occupy an intermediate position between qualitative

and
quantitative words and therefore can be referred to qualitative
adverbs. Thus,

the
latter are subdivided into qualitative adverbs of full notional value
and degree

adverbs
– specific functional words.

Circumstantial
adverbs are also divided into notional and functional. The

functional
circumstantial adverbs are words of pronominal nature. They include

numerical
adverbs, adverbs of time, place, manner, cause, consequence. Many of

them
are used as syntactic connectives and question-forming words (now,
here,

when,
where, so, thus, how, why, etc.)

Notional
circumstantial adverbs include two basic sets: adverbs of time and

adverbs
of place: today,
tomorrow, already, ever, never, shortly, recently, seldom,early,
late; homeward, eastward, near, far, outside, ashore, etc.

Just
like adjectives, adverbs can be divided into evaluative and
specificative,

connected
with the categorial expression of comparison. Each adverb subject to

evaluation
grading by degree words expresses the category of comparison. Thus,

not
only qualitative adverbs are included into the categorial system of
comparison.

Morphological
features.
As to their word-building structure adverbs may

be
non-derived, or simple (e.g.
here, there, now, then, so, quick, why, how, where,when, very,
rather)
and derived (e.g.
slowly, sideways, clockwise, homewards,away, ahead, apart, across).
We can also distinguish composite forms and phrasal forms of the
adverb: sometimes,
nowhere, anyhow; at least, at most, at last, to and
fro,
upside down.
A prolific source of adverbs is the adjective: many –ly
adverbs
are transformationally related to respective adjectives. The suffix
–ly
is
a typical

marker
of the adverb. However, many adverbs related to adjectives may not be

necessarily
used with the suffix –ly,
e.g.
fast, late, hard, high, clean, clear, close,loud, tight, firm, quick,
right, sharp, slow, wide, etc.

Special
mention should be made of preposition-adverb like elements which

form
a semantic blend with verbs: to
give up, to give in, to give out, to give away,to give over, etc; to
set up, to set in, to set forth, to set down, etc.; to get on, to get
off,
to get through, to get about , etc.
The verb-adverb combination goes by several names: two-part verbs,
composite verbs, phrasal verbs. The verbs in such combinations are
mostly one-syllable words; the most common adverbs are those denoting
place,
e.g. in, out, on, off, over, up, down, through, etc. Some
of the adverbs may be separated by objective complements, e.g.
Please hand in your
papers.
vs. Please hand your papers in.
Others are non-separable, e.g.
John called

on
me. vs. *John called me on.

In
verb-adverb combinations the second element may:

a)
retain its adverbial properties of showing direction (e.g.
to go out, to go

in,
to go away);

b)
change the aspect of the verb, i.e. mark the completeness of the
process

(e.g.
to eat – to eat up; to stand – to stand up; to sit – to sit
down; to lie – to lie
down;
to shave – to shave off; to speak – to speak out);

c)
intensify the meaning of the process (e.g.
to end – to end up; to finish – to
finish
up (off); to cut – to cut off; to talk – to talk away);

d)
lose its lexical meaning and form an integral whole, a set expression
(e.g.

to
fall out ‘to quarrel’; to give in ‘to surrender’; to come off
‘to take place’; to
leave
off ‘to stop’; to boil down ‘to be reduced in quantity’).

These
combinations have been treated by different scholars in different

ways.
Some scholars have treated the second element as a variety of
adverbs, as

preposition-like
adverbs (A. Smirnitsky, 1959, 376), as a special kind of adverb

called
adverbial postpositon (I. E. Anichkov, 1947), as postverbial
particles (L.

Kivimдgi
et al., 1968: 35), as a special kind of form-word called postpositive
(N.

N.
Amosova, 1963: 134), a postfix or postpositive affix (Y. Zhluktenko,
1954), a

separate
part of speech called postposition (B.A. Ilyish, 1948: 243 – 5). As
for B.

Ilyish,
he later (1971:148) changed his view arguing that, since the second
element

does
not indicate the circumstances in which the process takes place, the
whole

construction
is a phraseological unit: the whole has a meaning different from the

meanings
of the components. According to M. Blokh, these elements form a

special
functional set of particles based on their functional character. He
suggests

the
term “post-positives”.

The
great variety of interpretations shows the complexity of the problem.

Apparently,
the problem requires further research.

Syntactic
features. Adverbs
are characterized by combinability with verbs,

adjectives
and words of adverbial nature. The adverb performs the function of an

adverbial
modifier.

Lecture
9

Functional
Parts of Speech

1.
A general outline of functional parts of speech.

2.
The preposition.

3.
The conjunction.

4.
The particle.

5.
The interjection.

6.
The modal word.

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An adverb is a part of speech (or word class) that’s primarily used to modify a verb, adjective, or other adverbs and can additionally modify prepositional phrases, subordinate clauses, and complete sentences. Put another way, adverbs are content words that provide information about how, when, or where something happens. Adverbs are also called intensifiers because they intensify the meaning of the word or words they are modifying, notes Your Dictionary.

An adverb that modifies an adjective—as in quite sad—or another adverb—as in very carelessly—appears immediately in front of the word it modifies, but one that modifies a verb is generally more flexible: It may appear before or after—as in softly sang or sang softly—or at the beginning of the sentence—Softly she sang to the baby—with the position of an adverb typically affecting the meaning of the sentence. Adverbs can modify a verb or adjective in several ways, by providing information about emphasis, manner, time, place, and frequency.

Adverbs of Emphasis

Adverbs of emphasis are used to give added force or a greater degree of certainty to another word in a sentence or to the sentence as a whole, for example:

• He certainly liked the food.
• She is clearly the frontrunner.
• Naturally, I like my chicken crispy.

Other common adverbs of emphasis include absolutely, definitely, obviously, positively, really, simply, and undoubtedly. These types of adverbs serve to bolster the part of speech they modify.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of manner indicate how something is done. They are usually placed at the end of a sentence or before the main verb, as in:

• Tom drives quickly.
• She slowly opened the door.
• Mary waited for him patiently.

Other examples of adverbs of manner include quietly, fitfully, and carefully.

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of time tell you when or at what time something is done. Adverbs of time are usually placed at the end of a sentence. They can also be used at the beginning of a sentence followed by a comma.

• The meeting is next week. 
• Yesterday, we decided to take a walk.
• I’ve already bought my tickets for the concert. 

These adverbs are used with other time expressions, such as days of the week. The most common adverbs of time include yet, already, yesterday, tomorrow, next week (or month or year), last week (or month or year), now, and ago.

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of place indicate where something is done and usually appear at the end of a sentence, but they can also follow the verb.

• I decided to rest over there.
• She’ll wait for you in the room downstairs.
• Peter walked above me upstairs. 

Adverbs of place can be confused with prepositional phrases such as in the doorway or at the shop. Prepositional phrases indicate where something is, but adverbs of place can tell you where something occurs, such as here and everywhere.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of frequency tell you how often something is repeatedly done. They include usually, sometimes, never, often, and rarely. Adverbs of frequency are often placed directly before the main verb:

• She rarely goes to parties.
• I often read a newspaper.
• He usually gets up at 6 o’clock.

Adverbs of frequency that express infrequency are not used in the negative or question form. Sometimes, adverbs of frequency are placed at the beginning of a sentence:

• Sometimes, I enjoy staying at home instead of going on vacation.
• Often, Peter will telephone his mother before he leaves for work.

Adverbs of frequency follow the verb to be:

• He is sometimes late for work.
• I am often confused by computers.

Adverbs Modifying Adjectives

When adverbs modify an adjective, they are placed before the adjective:

• She is extremely happy.
• They are absolutely sure.

However, do not use very with adjectives to express increased quality of a basic adjective, such as fantastic:

• She is an absolutely fantastic piano player.
• Mark is an absolutely amazing lecturer.

You would not say, «She is very fantastic,» or «Mark is a very amazing lecturer.»

Forming Adverbs From Adjectives

Adverbs are often formed by adding -ly to an adjective, such as:

• Beautiful > beautifully
• Careful > carefully

However, some adjectives don’t change in the adverb form, such as fast and hard. Many common adverbs like just, still, and almost do not end in -ly. Good is probably the most important example. The adverb form of good is well, as in:

• He is good at tennis.
• He plays tennis well.

In the first sentence, good is an adjective that modifies the pronoun he; while in the second, well is an adverb that modifies plays (explains how he plays tennis). Additionally, not all words that end in -ly are adverbs, such as friendly and neighborly, which are both adjectives.

Distinguishing Between Adverbs and Adjectives

Sometimes the same word can be both an adjective and an adverb. To distinguish between them, it is important to look at the context of the word and its function in a sentence. 

For instance, in the sentence, «The fast train from London to Cardiff leaves at 3 o’clock,» the word fast modifies and comes before a noun, train, and is, therefore, an attributive adjective. However, in the sentence, «The sprinter took the bend fast,» the word fast modifies the verb took and is, therefore, an adverb.

Interestingly, -ly is not the only suffix that can be added to the end of a word to change its meaning or be used by both adjectives and adverbs. Additionally, -er and -est can combine with adverbs in a much more limited way wherein the comparative form of an adverb is likely to add more or most to the beginning of the adverb phrase rather than adding an -er or -est.

It’s important to refer to context clues when hints like the addition of an -ly or the word most to accompany a word doesn’t tell you whether it is an adjective or adverb. Look to the word that is being emphasized. If the word being emphasized is a noun, you have an adjective; if the word being emphasized is a verb, you have an adverb.

What is an Adverb?

An adverb is a word that is used to change, modify or qualify several types of words including an adjective, a verb, a clause, another adverb, or any other type of word or phrase, with the exception of determiners and adjectives, that directly modify nouns. A good way to understand adverbs is to think about them as the words that provide context. Specifically, adverbs provide a description of how, where, when, in what manner and to what extent something is done or happens. Normally, we can spot an adverb by the fact that it often ends in –ly, but there are lots of adverbs that don’t end in this way. Moreover, adverbs can be used in many combinations with each other.

Traditionally considered a single part of speech, adverbs perform a wide variety of functions, making it difficult to treat them as a single, unified category. However, spotting an adverb, especially one that ends in -ly is easy. Adverbs normally help paint a fuller picture by describing how something happens, such as

• When? She always arrives early.
• How? He drives carefully.
• Where? They go everywhere together.
• In what way? She eats slowly.
• To what extent? It is terribly hot.

This function of providing more information about how something is done is called the adverbial function, and it may be accomplished by using adverbial clauses and adverbial phrases as well as by adverbs that stand alone.

There are many rules for using adverbs, and these rules often depend upon which type of adverb you are using. Remember these basics and using adverbs to make sentences more meaningful will be easier for you.

• Adverbs can always be used to modify verbs. Notice that the second of these two sentences is much more interesting simply because it contains an adverb:
  • The dog ran. (You can picture a dog running, but you don’t really know much more about the scene.)
  • The dog ran excitedly. (You can picture a dog running, wagging its tail, panting happily, and looking glad to see its owner. You can paint a much more interesting picture in your head when you know how or why the dog is running.)
• Adverbs are often formed by adding the letters “-ly” to adjectives. This makes it very easy to identify adverbs in sentences. There are many exceptions to this rule; everywhere, nowhere, and upstairs are a few examples.
• An adverb can be used to modify an adjective and intensify the meaning it conveys. For example:
  • My math teacher is incredibly patient.
  • This movie is more interesting than the first one.

As you read the following adverb examples, you’ll notice how these useful words modify other words and phrases by providing information about the place, time, manner, certainty, frequency, or other circumstances of activity denoted by the verbs or verb phrases in the sentences.

Types of Adverbs

Adverbs of Manner

An adverb of manner will explain how an action is carried out. Very often adverbs of manner are adjectives with -ly added to the end, but this is certainly not always the case. In fact, some adverbs of manner will have the same spelling as the adjective form.
Some examples of adverbs of manner include:

1. Slowly
2. Rapidly
3. Clumsily
4. Badly
5. Diligently
6. Sweetly
7. Warmly
8. Sadly

Adverb of manner examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

• She passed the exam easily.
• They walk quickly to catch the train.
• The dinner party went badly.
• John answered the question correctly.

Notice how the adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the adjectives bad, correct and quick, although there is a slight spelling change when forming an adverb with the adjective easy.

As mentioned, some adverbs of manner take the same spelling as the adjective and never add an -ly to the end:

• The boys had worked hard.
• The car drives
• Julia dances well.

Adverbs of place

An adverb of place, sometimes called spatial adverbs, will help explain where an action happens. Adverbs of place will be associated with the action of the verb in a sentence, providing context for direction, distance and position: southeast, everywhere, up, left, close by, back, inside, around. These terms don’t usually end in -ly.

Adverbs of place examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

Directions

• New York is located north of Philadelphia.
• They traveled down the mountainside.
• First, I looked here, and then I looked there, but I can’t find them anywhere.

Notice that here and there are often used at the beginning of a sentence to express emphasis or in exclamation.

• Here comes the sun.
• There is love in the air.
• Here you are!

Many times, adverbs of place can be used as prepositions as well. The difference is, when the phrase is used as an adverb, it is modifying a verb; when it is used as a preposition, it is always followed by a noun.

• New York is located north of Philadelphia -> New York is on the map.
• They travelled down river -> They travelled in the first compartment.
• That puppy was walking around by itself-> We put a collar around its neck.

Distance

• There was a deli
• Jane is moving far away.
• Carly is sitting close to me.

Position

• The treasure lies underneath the box.
• The cat is sleeping on the bed.
• Why are you standing in the middle of the dancefloor?

In addition, some adverbs of position will refer to a direction of movement. These often end in -ward or -wards.

• Oscar travelled onward to Los Angeles.
• Hannah looked upwards to the heavens.
• Molly, move forward to the front of the queue, please.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of frequency are used to express time or how often something occurs. Adverbs of frequency can be split two main groups. The first, adverbs of indefinite frequency, are terms that have an unclear meaning as to how long are how often something occurs: usually, always, normally. These adverbs will usually be placed after the main verb or between the auxiliary verb and infinitive.

Adverbs of frequency examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

• The adverb is usually placed before the main verb.
• I can normally make the shot.
• I will always love

Adverbs of definite frequency will usually be placed at the end of the sentence.

• We get paid hourly.
• I come here
• The situation seems to change monthly.
• The newspaper is bought daily.

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of time, while seemingly similar to adverbs of frequency, tell us when something happens. Adverbs of time are usually placed at the end of a sentence.

Adverbs of time examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

• I will see you
• Harvey forgot his lunch yesterday and again today.
• I have to go now.
• We first met Julie last year.

While it’s almost always correct to have the adverb of time at the end of the sentence, you can place it at the start of the sentence to put a different emphasis on the time if it is important to the context.

• Last year was the worst year of my life.
• Tomorrow our fate will be sealed.
• Yesterday my troubles seemed so far away.

Adverbs of Purpose

Adverbs of purpose, sometimes called adverbs of reason, help to describe why something happened. They can come in the form of individual words – so, since, thus, because – but also clauses – so that, in order to. Notice in the examples that the adverbs of purpose are used to connect sentences that wouldn’t make sense if they were formed alone.

Adverbs of purpose examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

• I was sick, thus didn’t go to work today.
• I started jogging so that I wouldn’t be late.
• Because I was late, I jogged a little faster.
• Since it’s your birthday, I will buy you a gift.

Positions of Adverbs

The positions of adverbs are not a fixed or set thing. As you have seen, adverbs can appear in different position in a sentence. However, there are some rules that help us decide where an adverb should be positioned. The rules will be different depending on whether the adverb is acting to modify an adjective or another adverb, a verb or what type of adverb it is.

Positional adverb examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

Adverb position with adjectives and other adverbs

These adverbs will usually be placed before the adjective or adverb being modified:

• We gave them a really tough match. The adverb really modifies the adjective tough.
• It was quite windy that night. The adverb quite modifies the adjective windy.
• We don’t go to the movies terribly often. The adverb terribly modifies the adverb often.

Adverb position with verbs

This can be a bit trickier because, it will depend on the type of adverb – place, position, time etc. – and there are many exceptions to the rules. However, a basic set of guidelines is shown below:

Adverbs of manner or place are usually positioned at the end of the sentence:

• She laughed timidly.
• I stroked the cat gently.
• Janine lived here.
• There is money everywhere.

As mentioned, if the adverb is of definite time it will be placed at the end of the sentence.

• I did it yesterday.
• We can discuss it tomorrow.
• Let’s go to Paris next week.

However, if it is an indefinite period of time, it will go between the subject and main verb.

• We often go to Paris in the springtime.
• Debbie regularly swims here.
• Bobby and Audrey always loved fishing by the lake.

Order of Adverbs

Adverb order is so important it has clear rules. It’s already mentioned that some adverbs will act to modify another, but how do you decide the structure of a sentence with several adverbs? Thankfully, there is a simple set of rules to follow, called the order of adverbs. Handily, the order of adverbs, sometimes also called the royal order of adverbs, can help us determine sentence structure too. In short, the adverbs get preference (are placed first) in the following order:

1. Adverbs of manner.
2. Adverbs of place.
3. Adverbs of frequency.
4. Adverbs of time.
5. Adverbs of purpose.

Consider this sentence:

I run (verb) quickly (manner) down the road (place) every morning (frequency) before school (time) because (purpose) I might miss the bus.

While it is good to remember the order of adverbs, there is always flexibility with language, and we have already mentioned that adverbs of time and frequency can be placed at the start of a sentence to change the emphasis. So, bottom line: think of the order of adverbs as more of a guideline than a rule that can’t be broken.

Examples of Adverbs

As you read each of the following adverb examples, note that the adverbs have been italicized for easy identification. Consider how replacing the existing adverbs with different ones would change the meaning of each sentence.

1. She was walking rapidly.
2. The kids love playing together in the sandbox.
3. Please come inside now.
4. His jokes are always very
5. You don’t really care, do you?

Adverbs Exercises

The following exercises will help you gain greater understanding about how adverbs work. Choose the best answer to complete each sentence.

1. The driver stopped the bus _______________.
   A. Financially
   B. Exactly
   C. Abruptly
   D. Now

Answer: C. The driver stopped the bus abruptly.

1. During autumn, colorful leaves can be seen falling ______________ from trees.
   A. Everywhere
   B. Very
   C. Gently
   D. Loudly

Answer: C. During autumn, colorful leaves can be seen falling gently from trees.

1. My grandmother always smiled _______________.
   A. Cheerfully
   B. Sadly
   C. Never
   D. Yesterday

Answer: A. My grandmother always smiled cheerfully.

1. After the party, confetti was strewn _________________.
   A. Blandly
   B. Everywhere
   C. Later
   D. Carefully

Answer: B. After the party, confetti was strewn everywhere.

1. It’s time to go ____________.
   A. Before
   B. Now
   C. Yesterday
   D. Lightly

Answer: B. It’s time to go now.

Adverbs List

There are many different words that function as adverbs. The following list is broken down into segments which list adverbs by function. After reading, you will be able to think of additional adverbs to add to your own list – after all, there are thousands.

Many adverbs end in “-ly”. This makes it very easy to spot the adverbs in most sentences.

Abruptly

Boldly

Carefully

Deliberately

Excitedly

Financially

Horribly

Mildly

Naughtily

Openly

Poorly

Quickly

Sadly

Terribly

Willingly

Yearly

Some adverbs tell us where the action happened. These are known as adverbs of place.

Everywhere

Here

Inside

There

Underground

Upstairs

Certain adverbs let us know when or how often the action happened. These are known as adverbs of time and adverbs of frequency.

After

Always

Before

Later

Now

Today

Yesterday

Many adverbs tell us the extent of the action.

Almost

Enough

So

Too

Quite

Rather

Very

Some adverbs are used as intensifiers.

Absolutely

Certain

Completely

Heartily

Really

Certain adverbs called adverbs of manner tell us about the way in which something was done.

Briskly

Cheerfully

Expectantly

Randomly

Willingly

Some groups of words serve the same functions as adverbs. These are known as adverb clauses. Be sure to read the adverb clause section to learn new ways to make your sentences even more interesting.