What are Adverbs?

An adverb is a word used to modify the meaning of a verb, an

adjective, or another adverb.
EX. The wheels creaked loudly.
EX.The night was extremely cloudy.
EX.You sung most heartily.
In the first sentence the adverb loudly modifies the verb creaked. In the
second, the adverb extremely modifies the adjective cloudy. In the third, the
adverb mostmodifies the adverb heartily.
Adverbs that Indicate

An adverb may indicate

the time, the place, the degree, or
the manner in which the verb performs its
action; or it may indicate the degree of the
quality expressed by the adjective or by
another adverb.
EX. Janice is coming home tomorrow. (An Adverb indicating time.)
EX. Brian, please come here. (An adverb indicating place.)
EX. Steve walked slowly home. (An adverb indicating manner.)
EX. He has nearly finished his speech. (An adverb indicating degree.)
EX. The walls are dark green. (An adverb indicating degree of
adjective.)
EX. The walls are very dark green. (An adverb indicating degree of
adverb.)
Adverbs of
time

Adverbs of
cause

Adverbs
of

Adverbs of
place

Adverbs of
manner

Adverbs of
degree

Misc. adverbs

number
always,
before,
never, now,
then, lately,
yet, etc.

why,
wherefore,
whence,
etc.

first,
secondly,
etc.

here, there,
hence,
everywhere,
yonder, etc.

well, ill,
better,
worse,
rapidly,
sideways,
etc.

so, little,
enough,
partly,
wholly,
almost, etc.

indeed,
nevertheless,
however, etc.

Interrogative Adverbs

When you use the words Why, how, when, where, etc. to ask a question, we
refer to the adverb as an interrogative adverb.
EX.Why did you go to her house?
EX.How did you enjoy the movie?
EX.Where are you going to find your wedding dress?
EX.When do you start college?
Modal Adverbs

The words perhaps, however, possibly, surely, probably are adverbs. When
one of these words modifies the whole sentence (rather than the verb or an
adjective), we refer to them as modal adverbs.
EX. Perhaps, I should go to camp this summer.
EX. The boy scouts could not make the trip, however, we will still have our
picnick.
EX. Possibly, you can tell me where I can find my wife.
EX. Surely, you will not go shopping early in the morning without calling
me.
EX. The boys will, probably, wait to hear if they will play baseball this
summer.
Correct Use of Negatives

Modern English forbids the use of the double negative:

Incorrect: He could not find it nowhere.

Correct: He could not find it anywhere.

The adverbs only, hardly, scarcely, are themselves negative in idea; do not use
them with another negative or you will have a double negative:
Incorrect: I am not allowed to go to the mall only on Fridays.
Correct: I am allowed to go to the mall only on Fridays.
Incorrect: It was so dark I couldn't hardly see the boat.
Correct: It was so dark I could hardly see the boat.
Incorrect: There was a huge crowd when the President spoke, there wasn't
scarcely room to stand.
Correct: There was a huge crowd when the President spoke, there was scarcely
room to stand.

Adverbs used as Adjectives

Adverbs closely resemble adjectives. Some wordswithout change of form
are either an adjective or adverb. To distinguish between the two, you need to
decide which part-of-speech the given word is and how to use it correctly in
the sentence.
EX. In the sentence Tom is a fast runner, the word fast is an adjective
modifying the noun runner. In the sentence Tom runs fast, the word fast is an
adverb modifying the verb runs.
Many adverbs are derived from adjectives. From soft comes the
adverb softly, frombeautiful comes beautifully.
Also remember you can use some nouns as adverbs. In the sentence He
arrived yesterday, the noun yesterday is used adverbially, modifying the
verb.
EX. You look very well this evening.
Well is used to show condition; therefore it is an adjective.

EX. You did that job well.

Well is used to show manner; therefore it is an adverb.
EX. Jimmy ran so fast I could not catch him.
Fast is here used to show manner; therefore it is an adverb.
EX. What a fast care Martin has!
Fast is used to describe car; therefore it is an adjective.
EX. You may go if you will not jog too far.
Far is used to denote distance and place; therefore it is an adverb.
EX. You may be tired by the time you reach that far tree.
Here far is used to describe country; therefore it is an adjective.
EX. Please give me a some more sugar in my coffee.
Here some is used to show degree; therefore it is an adverb.
EX. What a happy girl you are!
Here happy is used to describe girl; therefore it is an adjective.
EX. Come early so I can show you around the kitchen.
Here early is used to show time; therefore it is an adverb.
EX. My brother sent you some of our early tomatoes.
Here early describes tomatoes; therefore it is an adjective.
Sometimes it is difficult to decide, even by the use, if you should use a word as

an adverb or a predicate adjective. This is true when the word follows a verb
such as taste, smell, look, seem, sound, feel.

Comparison of Adverbs
Adverbs also resemble adjectives because their
forms can show different degrees of
comparison.
You form the comparative degree of an
adverb, similar to the degrees of adjectives, by
adding er, or by prefixing more or less to the positive form. You form
the superlative degree by adding est to the
positive form.
Positive

Comparative

Superlative

fast

faster

fastest

long

longer

longest

far

farther

farthest

hard

harder

hardest

short

shorter

shortest

NOTE Adverbs in -ly do not add the endings -er and -est, as do the
corresponding adjectives. The adverb uses moreand most instead.
Positive

Comparative

Superlative

swiftly

more swiftly

most swiftly

sweetly

more sweetly

most sweetly

warmly

more warmly

most warmly

strangely

more strangely

most strangely

willingly

more willingly

most willingly

NOTE Some adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:

Positive

Comparative

Superlative

ill

worse

worst

well

better

best

much

more

most

little

less

least

Difficulties in Using Adverbs

Adverbs present some difficulties which you can easily avoid.
1) There are no such adverbs as anywheres, nowheres,
somewheres, andsomeplace. The correct forms for the first three
are anywhere, nowhere, somewhere.
To use someplace in the sentence, such as I must have left it someplace, use
the word somewhere.
It is, of course, correct to use some place (two words) in a sentence: We must
find some place for our books.
2) The word there contains no independent meaning in a
sentence. There often stands first in a sentence as the subject.

Since there appears to be singular rather than plural, you may incorrectly
follow it by a singular verb instead of a plural.
EX. There was four girls is incorrect; for the subject is boys, a noun plural
in number, and the plural subject calls for a plural verb. The sentence should
read, There were four girls.
3) As mentioned before, we might wrongly use adverbs as adjectives and
adjectives as adverbs. The uneducated person may say, I sure did have a great
time, whereas he should say, I surely did have a great time. Or he may
say, How nicely it looks, meaning How nice it looks.
4) Errors arise through the improper placing of adverbs. The natural position
is after the verb.
EX. We walked slowly.
Sometimes an adverb divides a verb phrase.
EX. We could not hear.
Sometimes an adverb comes first in the sentence.
EX. Cautiously we approached the car
wreck.

What are Conjunctive Adverbs?

Some adverbs join the principal clauses of a
compound sentence. You should use a comma
and a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon to connect the clauses:
EX. The players were in a hurry to go, and so they did not wait for the bus.
EX. The players were in a hurry to go; so they did not wait for the bus.

Some conjunctive adverbs are: so, thus, also, hence, consequently,

moreover, still, nevertheless, therefore,
however.
Subordinating Conjunctive Adverbs

When adverbs join subordinate clauses to the

words in the sentence which they modify, we
refer to them assubordinating
conjunctions. These include: as, when,
where, while, since, though, although, as-if,
if, than, before, until, till, unless, for,
wherever, whenever, whereas, etc.
EX. I will go to the baseball field when school is out.
EX. You should see our theater while you are here.
EX. They will arrive tonight if the bus is on time.
Special Distinctions

1) Some and Somewhat

Some is a pronominal adjective: I have some money.
Somewhat is an adverb: I am somewhat low in funds.
2) Good and Well
Good is an adjective: He does good work.
Well is either an adverb or an adjective: He works well (adverb). He is
not well (adjective) enough to work.
3) Only and Alone.
Alone is an adjective: Ourselves, alone at the party (adjective).
Only is either an adverb or an adjective: The car stops at this
crossing only (adjective). No, it only (adverb) slows; it doesn't stop.