In sentence construction there are some cases when a word describes the action (verb) in a sentence. Such a word is known as an adverb.
'Jack hurriedly run upstairs.' The word 'hurriedly' is describing how Jack did the action (Run). It is an adverb.
Adverbs describe a verb, an adjective or an adverb in a sentence. So not only do they give more information about verbs but adjectives, adverbs and even sometimes a whole sentence. Examples include 'quickly, very, easily, after, suddenly, early' and 'below'.
Adverbs answer important questions such as how? where? when? how much? and how often? Meanwhile, many adverbs are formed by adding the suffix -ly to an adjective; this is one way by which they can be easily identified. Adverbs are so commonly used in (to make sentences sound well) that they seem to steal from other parts of speech. This implies that they can take some adjectives, prepositions and even nouns to make your own.
Shall we identify the adverbs in the following sentences.
She is extremely pretty. 'extremely' answers the question, how pretty she is.
There were almost 100 books on my list. ('almost' answers the question, how far).
Come near me. (near answering the question, where).
4. He regularly makes visits to the centre. (answering the question
how often)
5. The student arrived late for the assembly.( 'late' answering the question,
when)
The sentences reveal most of the different roles adverbs play in sentence construction.
The table below shows the main types of adverbs and examples of them.
The first five types of adverbs are commonly used in sentence construction to make statements more meaningful and interesting.
Adverbs of evaluation and conjunction are mostly used in long written texts; where different ideas need to be connected to form cohesion.
E.g. 1. âApparently, there are some malpractices going on. 'Apparently' is used as an adjective of evaluation to show how (as far as) the speaker sees the situation. It modifies the whole sentences.
2. âJosie is drying some clothes outside. Meanwhile, the skies are turning cloudy.â
'Meanwhile' is an adverb connecting the two statements and meaning that the two actions (drying of clothes and the turning of the skies) are happening at the same time.
As stated earlier on, many adjectives end in the prefix '-ly'. However, it is not all -ly words are adverbs.
They include: 'costly, monthly, lonely' and 'lively', which are adjectives; 'comply, multiply, reply' and 'rely' being verbs; and 'anomaly assembly, family' and 'homily'are nouns.
There are a greater number of them and we can only identify which ones are not adverbs by trying to identify the role each plays in a sentence.
Letâs try and identify the type of adverbs in the following sentences.
We hope the bus will soon arrive. Soon (adverb) modifying arrive (verb)
Sonia sings really beautifully. Really (adverb) modifying beautifully (adverb).
Iâm quite sure that Mandy needs to eat healthily. Quite modifying sure and healthily modifying eat.
Hopefully, the machine will work regularly this time. Hopefully (adverb) modifying the whole sentence and regularly modifying work (verb).
The man was terribly knocked down by a car although the red light was on. Terribly (adverb) modifies knocked (verb) and although modifies the two parts of the sentence.
Adverbs, like adjectives, can be used in comparing two or more nouns. There are three degrees of comparison in adverbs; as in adjectives: They are the Positive, the Comparative and the Superlative degrees.
The one-syllable adverbs use -er in the comparative form and -est in the superlative form and est in the superlative form.
Fill in the blank spaces with the correct degree of the adverbs in bracket.
The pharmacy is the _______to us. (near)
Carla runs_________ than Amina. (fast)
The train arrives ________than the coach.(earlier)
Sentence 1 is nearest because most is not used together with words ending in -est. Sentence 2 is faster and it will be wrong to use more faster. Sentence 3 is earlier.
Adverbs ending in -ly (formed from adjectives) or have three or more syllables form the comparative with more and the superlative with most.
E.g. âOur dog barks the most loudly of all the dogs in the neighbourhood.â
Note that it is not correct to use -er and more together or est and most together. Some adverbs form the comparative and superlative in an irregular way. They are also similar to their adjectives.
E.g. 1. Kate performed badly in the quiz but her brother did worse than her.
'Worse' is comparing how Kate performed to how her brother
performed.
2. George plays football better than Hassan.
Better is comparing how the two boys play football.
We must therefore take note that with adverbs the comparison between the nouns are based on their common verbs ( actions).
You can learn more on comparisons of adjectives to be able to know that of adverbs easily.
Position of adverbs
A closer look at all the examples of sentences with adverbs reveals the fact that adverbs can be placed at three different places in a sentence: at the beginning of a clause; at the middle ( between the subject and the main verb); or at the end of a sentence. Where there is more than one verb, mid-position means after a modal verb ( must, could should). Also, adverbs usually come after the verb to be , except in an emphatic clause. In that case be is emphasised, so the adverb comes before the verb to be.
For example: I really am sorry.
Leanne never was a fun of football.
The positions of adverbs vary depending on their types. There are guidelines to follow in order to correctly place most adverbs.
Some sentences below will have adverbs wrongly placed while the one below them are corrected.
Adverbs of Manner
She ate quickly her dinner and run out. (incorrect)
She quickly ate her dinner and run out. (correct)
She ate quickly. (correct).
Adverbs like 'quickly' can come straight after the verb, when there is no object. So it is with sentence 3.
Sentence 1 is wrong: ate has a direct object, so it is a transitive verb and it cannot be separated from its direct object. In such sentences the arrangement is adverb of manner + verb + direct object. That gives us sentence 2.
4. The children curiously looked at the rainbow. (incorrect)
5. The children looked curiously at the rainbow. (correct)
Sentence 4 has a verb with no direct object; it is an intransitive verb.So in this case, it is intransitive verb + adverb of manner + indirect object. Hence, that makes sentence 5.
Adverb of degree
Really I like pink flowers. (incorrect)
I really like pink flowers (correct)
Adverbs like 'really, very, quite' and 'usually' go in mid position because they modifies the verb so the arrangement will be adverb of degree + verb. That makes sentence 2.
3. Jacob greatly seems delighted with his work.( incorrect)
4. Jacob seems greatly delighted with his work. (correct)
The adverb greatly modifies delighted so it must come before it. Sentence 4 is thus the right arrangement. Verb + adverb of degree + adjective.
Adverb of frequency
Never I could swim fast. (incorrect)
I could never swim fast. (correct)
Frequency adverbs such as 'always, seldom', and 'never' usually come between the subject and the verb. Sentence 1 has a modal verb (could), so adverb should be between modal verb and main verb in the arrangement
modal verb + adverb + verb.
3. Sometimes, she wore a woollen hat.(correct)
4. We yearly have Easter vigil in church. (incorrect)
5. We have Easter vigil in church yearly. (correct)
6. The burglar attempted twice to open the door. (incorrect)
7. The burglar attempted to open the door twice.(correct)
Frequency adverbs like âsometimesâ begin a sentence to lay emphasis just like sentence 3.
Adverbs like 'weekly, annually, monthly, yearly, today' and 'tomorrow' are placed at the beginning or end of a sentence. However, they sound better at the end. An example is sentence 5.
Frequency adverbs like once, and twice also come at the end of sentences. Sentence 6 is wrong because such frequency adverbs cannot be placed in the middle.
The other types of adverbs such as evaluative and linking are normally placed a beginning mainly to lay emphasis.
E.g Alternatively, we can get it done tomorrow.
Adverbs of certainty (like definitely, obviously and probably) usually go in mid-position.
E.g He definitely has to visit the new place.
When there is more than one of the various types of adverbs together in a sentence,they follow this order: verb + adverb of manner + place + time.
For example: James played brilliantly in the match on saturday. It will not sound well if it is âJames brilliantly played on saturday in the match.â
In summary, we have been delved into the various types of adverbs and have learnt that the common types are the adverbs of time, manner, place, frequency and degree.
Meanwhile, it can realised that it is not all -ly ending words that are adverbs ; some adverbs do not end in -ly. We can only identify them in sentences by the role they play in modifying.
We have also discussed the ways of comparing nouns using adverbs and they are similar to that of adjectives.
Finally, we have studied that adverbs can be placed at three different places in a sentence depending on the type and whether a word needs to be emphasised.
Below are links to some worksheets on adverbs:
https://www.k5learning.com/sites/all/files/worksheets/grammar-worksheet-grade-3-adverbs-3.pdf