Lesson 4- Adverbs

( 4) ADVERBS

An adverb adds more to the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

.I called you last night. (called=verb; last night=adverb)

Your dress is very beautiful. (beautiful=adjective; very=adverb)

The rain stopped quite suddenly. (suddenly=adverb; quite=adverb)

Types of Adverbs

Adverb of Time – This shows when an action or something is done or happens. It answers the question “When?” It is either placed at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.

Example: I phoned you yesterday. / I saw her walking along the river last week.

Adverb of Place – This shows where an action or something is done or happens. It answers the question “Where?” It is placed after the verb.

Example: I live here. / He fell down.

Adverb of Manner – This shows how an action or something is done. It answers the question “How?” It is usually placed just after the verb.

Example: She sleeps soundly. / He drives quickly.

Adverb of Degree or Quantity – This answers the questions, “To what degree?” or “How much?” It is usually placed before the adjective and the adverb.

Example: It is too dark for us to see anything. / Last night it rained veryheavily..

Adverb of Frequency – This answers the question “How often?”

Example: He will never have finished in time. / We always go to school by bus.

Affirmative Adverb (yes) and Adverb of negation (No)

Example: yes, surely, certainly, indeed, by all means, no, not at all, by no means.

Interrogative Adverb (Question) For example: When? Where? How? Why? How much/often?

Relative Adverb: when, where, how, why These words are the same in form as Interrogative Adverbs; but they are not questions.

Example: The time when he arrived. / The scene where the accident occurred. / He knows how to do it. / The reason why he left.

Comparison of Adverbs

Similar to the comparison of adjectives, adverbs have three degrees of comparison – the Positive, the Comparative and the Superlative. Most adverbs which end in ‘-ly’ form the Comparative with ‘more’ and the Superlative with ‘most’.

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
comfortably	more comfortably	most comfortably
happily	more happily	most happily
kindly	more kindly	most kindly
loudly	more loudly	most loudly
noisily	more noisily	most noisily

Forming Adverbs Adverbs can be formed from nouns, adjectives andverbs. Most adverbs end in ‘-ly’.

Nouns	Adjectives	Verbs	Adverbs
beauty			beautifully
success			successfully
	angry		angrily
	foolish		foolishly
		continue	continually
		know	knowingly