THE ADVERB

The adverb is a Word or group of words which modifies another part of the sentence. Unlike the
adjective, which can only modify a noun, the adverb can modify:

- A verb: He drove slowly.

- An adjective: He drove a very fast car.
- Another adverb: She moved quite slowly down the aisle.

Generally speaking, adverbs answer questions such as “How?”, “When?”, “Why?”, etc.

1.- ADVERBS OF MANNER.

 They are used tos ay how things are done: ‘Sit down and relax’, he said calmly.
 They are normally formed by adding–ly to the adjective: beautiful - beautifully; calm -
calmly
(Adjectives ending in –le, drop the e and add y: simple -- simply. If the adjective ends in “y”,
it changes to “i” before adding –ly: lazy - lazily. Finally, there are some irregular adverbs:
early -- early; fast -- fast; good -- well, hard --- hard, late -- late).
 These adverbs are normally placed after the verb or after the complement: One of the
passengers screamed loudly; They looked at me suspiciously. Occasionally, they can be
placed at the beginning of the sentence or before the verb. In this case, they modify the
whole sentence, not only the verb: Luckily, a big piece of ice blocked me from the polar
bear. The captain calmly announced that there was a technical problem.

2.- ADVERBS OF DEGREE

 We use them to emphasize or to weaken either adjectives or other adverbs: Hanna is

extremely intelligent. I was a little disappointed; It’s rather late. ‘Very’ and ‘Really’ are the
most usual ones.

- + ++
a little fairly absolutely
sligthly quite extremely
  rather incredibly
    really
    very

3.- ADVERBS ‘TOO’ AND ‘ENOUGH’.

 ‘Too’ means “demasiado” and is placed before the adjectives and adverbs we want to
modify: It was too late when we called Robin.
 ‘Enough’ means “suficiente/suficientemente”. It is placed before a noun but after the
adjective or adverb we want to modify: We haven’t got enough chairs for the party. You’re
not trying hard enough, Sheila.
2.- COMPLETE THE SENTENCES USING AN ADVERB. LOOK AT THE EXAMPLE.

Example : Their mother is getting angry.

She is speaking to them angrily.
1. John’s character is very strong.
He faces difficulties _________________________.

2. Susan is a very careful person.

She does her homework _________________________.

3. Helen is a happy girl.

She smiles _________________________.

4. Chow Yun Fat is a good actor.

He acts very _________________________.

5. Jack is a very punctual student.

He goes to school _________________________.
3.- PUT THE FOLLOWING WORDS IN ORDER.
Example: Kelly Chan / energetically / danced
Kelly Chan danced energetically.

1. They / softly / talked ______________________

2. badly / The / boys / behaved _____________________

3. works / Jackie / hard / extremely ______________________

4. too / sings / He / quite / poorly ____________________

5. walks / rather / Steven / slowly. ___________________

4.- ADD AN APPROPRIATE ADVERB.

- The boy ran ________________

- The girl talked ______________
- The wind blew ______________
- He lifted the ball _____________
- The fire burned ______________

5.- FILL IN THE GAPS WITH A SUITABLE ADVERB DERIVED FROM THE ADJECTIVE IN
BRACKETS:

- I __________ (careful) glued the last piece onto the model.

- They swam ______ (lazy) in the pool.
- Neil ________ (slow) placed a card on the table.
- They ________ (cheerful) sing songs.
- Nathan stamped his feet _______ (angry).
- My father snored ________ (loud) on the coach.
- Sam woke up ________ (early) this morning.
- My mother ____ (nice) reminded me to do my homework.
- The boy waited _________ (patient) for his computer to load.
- Peter wrote the shopping list _______ (quick).
- I locked the car door ________ (slow).
- The kitten walked ________ (oblivious) there.
6.- Read the following passage. There is at least one mistake / a missing word on each
numbered line. Correct it above it.

1 Two years ago, Sally decided to learn how to swim. She started to get up earily in the
2 morning.
One day, when she had finished breakfast, she ran to the bus stop quick. Suddenly,
3
she found that she had forgotten to take her swimsuit, so she went back home
immediate and missed the bus.
4
After she arrived at the swimming pool, the coach knew that she was lately for
5
practice and shouted at her loud. She explained it to the coach and he did not accept it.
6
Sally felt very unhappy and could not pay attention to what the coach taught. She swam
7
 badly.
8
When she was at school, she could not do her schoolwork very careful. She made
9
many mistakes. Miss Chan felt that she was  sad that day and asked her why. She
10
cried out and told her teacher about it. Miss Chan was  sorry for her and gave her a
card.
She felt much well after that and thanked for her card.