ADVERBS | English
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ADVERBS | English |
I. DEFINITION
A. Adverbs generally indicate information about location, time, degree, and manner. They provide extra information about the action in a sentence, about adjectives and about other adverbs. (Evelyn P. Altenberg & Robert M. Vago (2010). English Grammar: Understanding the Basics)B. Adverbs may modify, describe or add qualities to verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, prepositions or a whole sentence. They tell “when,” “where,” “how,” “why,” and “to what extent” things happen. “Why” asks for what reason; “when” asks for what time; “where” asks at what place; and “how” asks in what way.
● He played well. (“well” modifies the verb “played.”)
● Reyes is a very popular player. (“very” modifies the adjective “popular”)
● He argued very well. (“very” modifies another adverb “well”)
● He argued straight to the point. (“straight” modifies the prepositional phrase “to the point.”) ( Thus the meaning of almost any adverb, may be explained by some phrase beginning with a preposition and ending with a noun. –The Grammar of English Grammar)
● Unfortunately, the notice was delivered after the meeting. (
II. KINDS OF ADVERBS
A. As to Function1. SIMPLE ADVERBS
a) Adverbs of Manner and State, which answers the question “how” or “in what manner” (e.g., peacefully, badly, completely, loudly, openly, sadly, safely, sublimely, slowly and quietly).
● They slept peacefully ~ How did they sleep?
● She dances sublimely ~ How well does she dance?
Common exceptions include: hard, fast, straight, late
● The children came late to school.
❖ Adverbs of manner are those which answer to the question, How? or, by affirming, denying, or doubting, show how a subject is regarded. Adverbs of manner may be subdivided as follows:
i. Of manner from quality; as, Well, ill, wisely, foolishly, justly, wickedly, and many others formed by adding ly to adjectives of quality. Ly is a contraction of like; and is the most common termination of English adverbs. When added to nouns, it forms adjectives; but some few of these are also used adverbially; as, daily, weekly, monthly, which denote time.
ii. Of affirmation or assent; as, Yes, yea, ay, verily, truly, indeed, surely, certainly, doubtless, undoubtedly, assuredly, certes, forsooth, amen.
iii. Of negation; as, No, nay, not, nowise, noway, noways, nohow.
iv. Of doubt or uncertainty; as, Perhaps, haply, possibly, perchance, peradventure, may-be.
v. Of mode or way; as, Thus, so, how, somehow, nohow, anyhow, however, howsoever, like, else, otherwise, across, together, apart, asunder, namely, particularly, necessarily, hesitatingly, trippingly, extempore, headlong, lengthwise.
b) Adverbs of place, which answer the question “where” (e.g., across, backward, below, forward, outside and within).
● Let’s go there.
❖ Adverbs of place are those which answer to the question, Where? Whither? Whence? or, Whereabout? including these which ask. Adverbs of place may be subdivided as follows:
i. Of place in which; as, Where, here, there, yonder, above, below, about, around, somewhere, anywhere, elsewhere, otherwhere, everywhere, nowhere, wherever, wheresoever, within, without, whereabout, whereabouts, hereabout, hereabouts, thereabout, thereabouts.
ii. Of place to which; as, Whither, hither, thither, in, up, down, back, forth, aside, ashore, abroad, aloft, home, homewards, inwards, upwards, downwards, backwards, forwards. Inward, homeward, upward, downward, backward, and forward, are also adverbs, as well as adjectives; but some critics, for distinction's sake, choose to use these only as adjectives.
iii. Of place from which; as, Whence, hence, thence, away, out, off, far, remotely.
iv. Of the order of place; as, First, secondly, thirdly, fourthly, &c. Thus, secondly means in the second place; thirdly, in the third place; &c. For order, or rank, implies place, though it may consist of relative degrees.
c) Adverbs of Time, which answer the question “when” (e.g., now, after, afterwards, ago, formerly, immediately, instantly, lately, presently and yesterday).
● We must go now.
● Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, When? How long? How soon? or, How often? including these which ask. Adverbs of time may be subdivided as follows:
i. Of time present; as, Now, yet, to-day, nowadays, presently, instantly, immediately, straightway, directly, forthwith.
ii. Of time past; as, Already, just now, lately, recently, yesterday, formerly, anciently, once, heretofore, hitherto, since, till now, long ago, erewhile, erst.
iii. Of time to come; as, To-morrow, hereafter, henceforth, henceforward, by-and-by, soon, erelong, shortly.
iv. Of time relative; as, When, then, first, just, before, after, while, whilst, meanwhile, as, till, until, seasonably, betimes, early, late, whenever, afterward, afterwards, otherwhile.
v. Of time absolute; as, Always, ever, never, aye, eternally, forever, perpetually, continually, incessantly, endlessly, evermore, everlastingly.
vi. Of time repeated; as, Often, oft, again, occasionally, frequently, sometimes, seldom, rarely, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, annually, once, twice, thrice, or three times. Above this, we use only the phrases four times, five times, six times, &c. Whether these ought to be reckoned adverbs, or not, is questionable: times, for repetitions, or instances, may be supposed a noun; but such phrases often appear to be used adverbially.
d) Adverbs of Frequency, which answer the question “how often” (e.g, always, every day, rarely and regularly).
● The judge is always punctual.
e) Adverbs of Duration, which answer the question “how long” (e.g., since when, up to now, or until what time).
● He has resistance up to now.
f) Adverbs of Degree or Extent, which answer the question “how much” or “how many” (e.g., fully, half, hardly, partly, almost, and somewhat.)
● Ramon is very intelligent.
❖ Adverbs of degree are those which answer to the question, How much? How little? or, to the idea of more or less. Adverbs of degree may be subdivided as follows:
i. Of excess or abundance; as, Much, more, most, too, very, greatly, far, besides; chiefly, principally, mainly, mostly, generally; entirely, full, fully, completely, perfectly, wholly, totally, altogether, all, quite, clear, stark; exceedingly, excessively, extravagantly, intolerably; immeasurably, inconceivably, infinitely.
ii. Of equality or sufficiency; as, Enough, sufficiently, competently, adequately, proportionally, equally, so, as, even, just, exactly, precisely.
iii. Of deficiency or abatement; as, Little, less, least, scarcely, hardly, scantly, scantily merely, barely, only, but, partly, partially, nearly, almost, well-nigh, not quite.
iv. Of quantity in the abstract; as, How, (meaning, in what degree,) however, howsoever, everso, something, anything, nothing, a groat, a sixpence, a sou-markee, and other nouns of quantity used adverbially.
g) Adverbs of Affirmation, which confirms (e.g., certainly, definitely, surely).
● We are definitely leaving tomorrow.
h) Adverbs of Negation, which denies (e.g., never, hardly).
● I have never seen him.
i) Adverbs of Quantity.
● He is a little doubtful about the results.
2. INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS – These adverbs are used to ask the questions “why,” “when,” “where,” and “how.” These adverbs are the question words that apply to the verb, adjective, or another adverb in a sentence.
a) why? means 'for what reason?':
● Why was he late? ~ He missed the bus.
b) when? means 'at what time?':
● When do you get up? ~ 7 a.m.
c) where? means 'in what place?':
● Where do you live? ~ In London.
d) how? means 'in what way?':
● How did you come? ~ I came by plane.
● how can also be used:
i. With adjectives (see 25 C):
● How strong are you? How important is this letter?
ii. With much and many:
● How much (money) do you want? How many (pictures) did you buy?
iii. With adverbs;
● How fast does he drive? How often do you go abroad?
● How badly was he hurt? How soon can you come?
3. RELATIVE ADVERBS – Like the relative pronoun, these adverbs, are joining words. They connect the subordinate clause to the main part of the sentence. They are called relative adverbs because they relate or refer to an antecedent or something that has gone before. The antecedent may be express or implied.
● This is the restaurant where I have my dinner.
a) Note that when can replace in/on which (used of time):
● the year when (= in which) he was born
● the day when (= on which) they arrived
b) where can replace in/at which (used of place):
● the hotel where (= in/at which) they were staying .
c) why can replace for which:
● The reason why he refused is …
d) when, where and why used in this way are called relative adverbs.
e) The relative adverbs, when, where, and why, are sometimes so employed as to partake of the nature of pronouns, being used as a sort of special relatives, which refer back to antecedent nouns of time, place, manner, or cause, according to their own respective meanings; yet being adverbs, because they relate as such, to the verbs which follow them (The Grammar of English Grammar).
4. CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS (Linking Adverbs or Sentence Adverbs) – These adverbs can be used also to coordinate independent clauses.
Also
As a result
Besides
Consequently
Finally
Furthermore
Henceforth
However
Meanwhile
Notwithstanding Indeed
Instead
In fine
Likewise
Next
Moreover
Nevertheless
Namely
Now
Otherwise
So
Still
Then
Therefore
Thus
Undoubtedly
Yet
B. As to Manner of Formation
1. ORIGINAL – some adverbs are not derived from other parts of speech and are therefore called original (e.g., after, around, down, here, quite, seldom, there, too, well, when, yet).the negatives “no,” “not,” and “never” are adverbs. Likewise, many time-words are always adverbs (e.g., now, ever, almost, soon).
2. DERIVATIVE – other adverbs are formed from adjectives and participles.
a) Adverbs are formed from adjectives:
● With the addition of the suffix “ly” (e.g., bad – badly, free – freely); however, not all modifiers ending in “ly” are adverbs (e.g., lovely, lively, homely)
● By changing the final “y” to “I” and adding “ly” (e.g., angry – angrily, busy – busily, gay – gaily, happy – happily)
● By dropping the final “e” in words ending in “able” and “ible” and adding “y” (e.g., capable – capably, plausible – plausibly).
● By dropping the final “e” and adding “ly” (due – duly’ true – truly, whole – wholly).
b) Adverbs are formed from participles by adding “ly” to the latter (e.g., amazing – amazingly, daring – daringly, exceeding – exceedingly, halting – haltingly, admitted – admittedly, broken – brokenly).
C. Dual forms
1. There are adverbs with two forms, one ending in “ly” and the other without “ly” (close or closely, direct or directly, quick or quickly, slow or slowly, wrong or wrongly, fair or fairly, high or highly).
● The river was running high and swiftly. Or, I thought highly of the idea.
III. WORDS WITH DUAL USES
A. Some words can be used as both adjective and adverb (e.g., well, daily, far, high, early, kindly, long, much, near, straight).● He is well. (adjective)
● He performs well. (adverb)
IV. COMPARISON
A. Degree of Comparison1. Positive – In affirmative sentences, use “as…as” and in negative sentences, use “so…as.”
● He drove as carefully as he could.
● He didn’t drive so carefully as he could.
2. Comparative – Use “than.”
● He reached the station earlier than they did.
3. Superlative – Use the superlative degree plus the noun or pronoun.
● Paul George played the best of all.
B. Formation of Comparative and Superlative Degrees
1. Adverbs of one syllable form their comparative by adding “er” and their superlative by adding “est.”
low – lower – lowest
near – nearer – nearest
fast – faster – fastest
soon – sooner – soonest
● The cake disappeared fast. Your buns went faster. But the pizza went fastest!
2. Adverbs of more than one syllable form their comparative by adding “more” and their superlative by adding “most” before them.
clearly – more clearly – most clearly
foolishly – more foolishly – most foolishly
● Teachers can explain adverbs more clearly than students.
3. Some adverbs have irregular forms
well – better – best
badly – worse – worst
little – less – least
late – later – last
much – more – most
● This is the worst firewood we have had. [adjective qualifying the noun ‘firewood’]
● It burns worst in wet weather. [adverb modifying the verb ‘burns’]
4. For negative meanings, “less” is used before the comparatives and least before superlative.
clearly – less clearly – least clearly
foolishly – less foolishly – least foolishly
● Jim Buss runs the organization least foolishly.
V. POINTERS IN USING ADVERBS
A. “How” should not be used in place of “that” or “what.”● WRONG: I told him how I’d waited for him.
● CORRECT: I told him that I’d waited for him.
● WRONG: Do you see how I mean?
● CORRECT: Do you see what I mean?
B. Adverbs cannot modify nouns.
C. Avoid dangling adverbs that do not bear a clear relationship to the word or phrase they modify.
D. For emphasis, certain adverbs can be placed at the beginning of a sentence then followed by the inverted form of the verb.
● This sequence must not be changed on any account.
● On no account must this sequence be changed.