Adverbs

There are a few different uses for adverbs. The main use of an adverb is to modify or intensify a verb. They tell us more about the way a verb is being performed. For example when we say: Our dog runs fast. The word “fast” is an adverb that tells us how the dog runs. Adverbs can answer questions about the manner or how, the location, the time or to what degree an action occurred. Here are a some examples that illustrate the adverb in bold and the verb that it intensifies in italics:

• The baby cried loudly. (How did the baby cry?)
• She ate lunch after her meeting. (When did she eat lunch?)
• She shopped locally whenever she was able. (Where did she shop?)

Adverbs can be used to modify adjectives, and also other adverbs. In the following examples the adverb is written in bold, and the adjective or adverb being intensified is in italics: Modifying an adjective examples:

• She is incredibly intelligent. (What is the degree of her intelligence?)
• Mary was frustratingly slow. (How slow was Mary?)

Examples that modify another adverb:

• His hobbies are incredibly dangerous. (To what degree of danger are his hobbies?)
• She left the party ridiculously early. (How early did she leave?)

Adverbs can be used in other ways as well. For example:

• Adverbs can modify a whole sentence: Obviously, there are many grammar rules.
• Adverbs can also modify a prepositional phrase: It’s time to go now.

Often we form adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective. For example:

• simple (adjective) – simply (adverb)
• obnoxious (adjective) – obnoxiously (adverb)
• amazing (adjective) – amazingly (adverb)

This table illustrates some of the basic spelling rules for adverbs:

Adjective ending	do this	adjective	adverb
most adjectives	add – ly	slow horrifying	slowly horrifyingly
-able or -ible	change -e to -y	audible essential	audibly essentially
-y	change -y to -ily	easy	easily
-ic	change -ic to -ically	ironic	ironically

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The words ugly, holy, daily and unlikely are all adjectives that are not used as adverbs. Some adverbs do not follow any sort of form. For example, the following are all adverbs: often, well, again, sometimes, never, still, always When we use an adverb to modify a verb there are three basic placements:

1. FRONT – before subject		Soon	I will finish this project.
2. MIDDLE – between subject + verb	She	never	drives to work.
3. END – after verb/object	I cook	often.

Generally when an adverb is used to modify another adverb or an adjective, it is placed before the word it modifies. For example:

	adverb	adjective
I have a	really	messy	car
	adverb	adverb
I	almost	never	eat sweets.

The kind of adverb being used can affect the position we use for it. The following table gives you some guidelines for placement based on the kind of adverb. Warning: These only some of the guidelines we use. There are exceptions to these adverb placement rules as well:

kind of adverb		mainly modifies	sentence	adverb		usual position
manner (how)		verbs	I released the valve	carefully.		END
place		verbs	I was sleeping	there.		END
time	definite	verbs	We will arrive	soon.		END
	frequency		I	rarely	drive.	MIDDLE
degree		verbs, adjectives and adverbs	She was an	absolute	riot.	MIDDLE
			She was	incredibly	hilarious.	before adjective
			I am	moderately	slow.	before adjective

ESL Video For For Adverbs

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