An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man ranquickly). In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it modifies is in italics.
- John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)
- Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?)
- Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)
But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works verywell). Look at these examples:
- Modify an adjective:
- He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)
- That was extremely kind of you.
- Modify another adverb:
- She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)
- He drives extremely fast.
Adverb Form
We make many adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective, for example:
- quick (adjective) > quickly (adverb)
- careful (adjective) > carefully (adverb)
- beautiful (adjective) > beautifully (adverb)
There are some basic rules about spelling for -ly adverbs. See the table below:
| Adjective ending | do this | adjective | adverb |
| most adjectives | add -ly | quick nice sole careful | quickly nicely solely carefully |
| -able or -ible | change -e to -y | regrettable horrible | regrettably horribly |
| -y | change -y to -ily | happy | happily |
| -ic | change -ic to -ically | economic | economically |
But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The words friendly, lovely, lonely and neighbourly, for example, are all adjectives.
And some adverbs have no particular form. Look at these examples:
- well, fast, very, never, always, often, still
Kinds of Adverbs
Here you can see the basic kinds of adverbs.
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.
- He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?)
- They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?)
- James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his cars?)
Adverbs of Place
Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs.
- Please sit here. (Where should I sit?)
- They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?)
- Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?)
Adverbs of Time
Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens. Adverbs of Time mainly modifyverbs.
They can answer the question "when?":
- He came yesterday. (When did he come?)
- I want it now. (When do I want it?)
Or they can answer the question "how often?":
- They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the newspaper?)
- We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?)
Adverbs of Degree
Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.
- She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?)
- Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is Mary?)
- He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously? How dangerously did he drive?)
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