What Is an Adverb? What are adverbs?

What Is an Adverb?

An adverb can be added to a verb to modify its meaning. Usually, an adverb tells you when, where, how, in what manner, or to what extent an action is performed.

Many adverbs end in ly — particularly those that are used to express how an action is performed.

Although many adverbs end ly, lots do not, e.g., fast, never, well, very, most, least, more, less, now, far, and there.

Examples:

·         Anita placed the vase carefully on the shelf.

(The word carefully is an adverb. It shows how the vase was placed.)

·         Tara walks gracefully.

(The word gracefully is an adverb. It modifies the verb to walk.)

·         He runs fast.

(The word fast is an adverb. It modifies the verb to run.)

·         You can set your watch by him. He always leaves at 5 o'clock.

(The word always is an adverb. It modifies the verb to leave.) 

·         The dinner guests arrived early.

(early modifies to arrive)

·         She sometimes helps us.

(sometimes modifies to help)

·         I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly. (Oscar Wilde)

(thoroughly modifies to know)

What are adverbs?

An adverb is a word that modifies verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

Adverbs vs Adjectives

The difference between an adverb and an adjective is the following:

·         An adjective modifies a noun.
Example:
"John is tall." (The adjective tall modifies the noun John)

·         An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. 
Examples:
"That idea is simply ridiculous." (The adverb simply modifies the adjective ridiculous)
"She sings nicely." (The adverb nicely modifies the verb sing) 
"She did it really well." (the adverb really modifies the adverb well)

Read the passage:

Mrs Smith immediately called the police when she saw the criminals assaulting the poor boy aggressively. It was the most horrible scene that she had ever witnessed in her life. She had always lived peacefully in that neighborhood. No one had ever disturbed her quiet nights there.

The words " immediately, aggressively, peacefully, ever, always, there" are adverbs.

What are the different types of adverbs?

Basically, most adverbs tell you how, in what way, when, where, and to what extent something is done. In other words, they describe the manner, place, or time of an action. Here are some examples:

·         He speaks quietly. ( quietly is an adverb of manner.)

·         I live here. (here is an adverb of place.)

·         We'll leave tomorrow . (tomorrow is an adverb of time.)

·         She never sleeps late . (never is an adverb of frequency.)

Adverb rules:

1. Regular adverbs:

Adverbs in English often end in -ly.

These adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of an adjective:

Adjective + ly

Examples:

Adjective	Adverb
slow	slowly
beautiful	beautifully
careful	carefully
violent	violently

Spelling rules:

·         true → truly (the silent e is dropped and add ly)

·         happy → happily ( y becomes i and add ly.)

·         possible → possibly (e after a consonant is dropped and ly is added.)

·         full → fully (after ll and add y is added.)

·         fanatic → fanatically (after adjectives ending in -ic add -ally - there is an exception: public-publicly)

2. Exceptions:

However, this is not the only way to form an adverb. Many adverbs do not end in -ly.

This is a list of adverbs that don't follow the rule:

Adjective	Adverb
fast	fast
hard	hard
late	late
early	early
daily	daily

Some adjectives change their form when they become adverbs:

adjective	adverb
good	well

3. Things to remember:

Many words are not adverbs although they end in -ly. Here are examples of adjectives that end in -ly.

Examples:

·         a kindly teacher

·         a lonely girl

·         an elderly person

·         a friendly policeman

To decide whether a word is an adverb ask questions with how, where and when.

·         How does James speak Spanish? He speaks Spanish fluently.

·         Where do the kids play soccer? They play soccer here.

·         When did she write the email to her husband? She wrote the email immediately.

Adverbs are words that are used in sentences to describe or change the meaning of a Verb or Adjective or even another Adverb. They add description to the sentence to make it more detailed and interesting. For example:

He walked slowly across the square.

Here, one can see that the Adverb ‘slowly’ is describing the Verb ‘walk’ by telling that the person was walking slowly.

Types of Adverbs

Adverbs are used in sentences to answer many questions about the Verbs/Adjectives/Adverbs themselves. The different types of Adverbs are as following:

Adverb of Time

E.g.: The results were announced yesterday.

Here the Adverb is yesterday which is answering the question: When were the results announced? ‘Announced’ is the verb in this sentence.

She will visit the hospital tomorrow.

Here the Verb is ‘visit’ and the Adverb is tomorrow as the question being asked is: Whenwill she visit the hospital?

Other examples of Adverbs of Time are – Once, Never, Tomorrow, Daily etc.

Adverb of Place

E.g.: They will meet you there.

The Adverb here is there that is specifying a place for the Verb meet and the question being answered is: Where will they meet you?

In spring, flowers bloom everywhere.

Here the Verb is bloom and the Adverb is everywhere, answering the question:Where do the flowers bloom in spring?

Other examples of Adverbs of Place are - Anywhere, Somewhere, Near, Far etc.

Adverb of Manner

E.g.: He quietly slipped away.

The Adverb here is quietly which is telling the way or manner in which the action was carried out and the Verb is slipped which is telling: How did he slip away.

She works fast.

The Verb here is work and the Adverb is fast and the question being asked is:How does she work?

These Adverbs tell about the manner of the action being done, whether it is done happily or haltingly etc. Other examples of Adverbs of Manner are - Honestly, Joyfully, Cunningly etc.

Adverb of Frequency

He likes to watch TV every day.

Here, the Adverb is every day and it is telling about the amount of time spent in doing the Verb, which is watch. The question in this sentence is: How oftendoes he watch TV?

They meet every week.

The Adverb here is every week and it is telling the frequency and the Verb ismeet. The sentence is telling us: How often do they meet?

These Adverbs are used to show the duration or timing of the action that is happening/had happened/will happen. They also tell us how often and how long these actions would be. Other examples of Adverbs of Frequency are - Frequently, Often, Yearly, Briefly etc.

Adverbs of Degree

She almost finished the work.

The Verb here is finished and the Adverb is almost which is telling us about the amount of the work finished. The question being asked is: How much of the work did she finish?

They were completely surprised by the windfall.

The adverb here is completely which is showing the degree to which ‘they’ weresurprised which is the Verb. The question being asked here is: How much were they surprised?

The Adverbs of Degree are used to show to what extent or how much has an action been done or will be done. Other examples of these Adverbs are - Fully, Partially, Altogether etc.

Adverbs of Confirmation and Negation

They will certainly like this vase.

The Adverb here is certainly which is reinforcing the Verb like in answer to the question: Will they like this vase?

He never leaves his house.

The Adverb never is negating the Verb leave. It is answering the question in denial: Does he ever leave his house?

These Adverbs either confirm or deny the action of the Verb. They are also used to reinforce the action that is described by the Verb. Other examples of Adverbs of Confirmation are - Definitely, Absolutely, Surely etc. Examples for Adverbs of Denial or Negation are - No, Don’t, Can’t etc.

Adverbs of Comment

These Adverbs are used to make a comment on the entire sentence. They give a look at the speaker’s viewpoint or opinion about the sentence. These Adverbs don’t just change or describe the Verb; they influence the whole sentence.

They found his secret easily.

+

Unfortunately

Unfortunately, they found his secret easily.

Here, we see that adding the Adverb unfortunately has changed the entire tone of the sentence. Earlier, it was a passive tone, now it has a negative or disappointed tone.

Other examples of Adverbs of Comment are -

• Luckily, the dog did not bite the children.
• Happily, the power returned before the big match.
• Did he honestly expect me to lie for him? (Adverb adds comment on the anger of the speaker.)
• And they would win the world cup, obviously. (Can be said in a sarcastic as well as positive manner)

Adverbs of Conjunction

These Adverbs are used to connect ideas or clauses, they are used to show consequence or effect or the relation between the two clauses. To use these Adverbs to conjugate two clauses you need to use a semicolon (;) to connect them.

Clause 1: He was going for an important interview.

Clause 2: He made sure he reached on time.

He was going for an important interview; accordingly, he made sure he reached on time.

Here, we see how the Adverb ‘accordingly’ is joining the two clauses and showing the relation between them with the use of a semicolon (;). Accordingly means- therefore or that is why.

A few other Adverbs of Conjunction are -

• However - Yet, on the other hand, in spite of
• Consequently - As a result, resulting in
• Moreover - Beside, in addition
• Conversely - Opposite of, contrary to

List of Adverbs, Adverb Examples

Accidentally	Eventually	Jealously	Poorly	Suddenly
Always	Exactly	Joyfully	Positively	Surprisingly
Angrily	Excitedly	Kindly	Properly	Sweetly
Arrogantly	Extremely	Lazily	Quickly	Terribly
Badly	Fairly	Less	Quietly	Thankfully
Beautifully	Faithfully	Loudly	Rarely	Thoughtfully
Bitterly	Fast	Lovingly	Really	Tomorrow
Blindly	Foolishly	Loyally	Regularly	Unexpectedly
Boldly	Fortunately	Madly	Reluctantly	Unfortunately
Bravely	Frankly	More	Repeatedly	Urgently
Briefly	Generally	Mysteriously	Rudely	Usually
Busily	Generously	Naturally	Sadly	Valiantly
Carefully	Gently	Nearly	Safely	Very
Certainly	Gracefully	Nervously	Seldom	Violently
Clearly	Happily	Never	Selfishly	Well
Courageously	Highly	Obediently	Seriously	Wisely
Cruelly	Honestly	Officially	Silently	Yearly
Curiously	Hopelessly	Often	Slowly	Yesterday
Daily	Immediately	Openly	Softly
Delightfully	Innocently	Painfully	Sometimes
Easily	Instantly	Patiently	Soon
Enthusiastically	Interestingly	Politely	Strictly

What are adverbs?

What are adverbs of frequency?

Position of adverbs

Forming adverbs (with example)

Types of adverb and position (with example)

Adverb position and meaning (with example)

Comparisons of adverb (with example)