Adverbs

Function of an adverb:

Adverbs are used to give more information about the action in a sentence. They mainly
modify verbs. They tell us how, where, when...etc something happens or is done.

Carol drives carefully. (How does she drive?)

I looked for her everywhere. (Where did you look for her?)
She came to London yesterday. (When did she come to London?)

Adverbs are generally divided into seven groups:

1) Manner: slowly, bravely, carefully, simply, quietly...

2) Place: there, here, up, down, near...
3) Time: yesterday, tomorrow, now, yet, still...
4) Frequency: never, always, often, once, twice...
5) Sentence: actually, really, obviously, evidently...
6) Degree: very, quite, rather, fairly, hardly...
7) Focus: just, only, simply, even, also...

Forming Adverbs
They are generally made from adjectives.

Many adverbs of manner and degree are formed by putting -ly at the end of an
adjectives.

slow - slowly happy - happily

cold - coldly rapid - rapidly

bad - badly kind - kindly

I don’t know why, but they spoke to me coldly.

The weather was awfully cold.
You should treat people gently.
Please, drive the car slowly.

When an adjective ends in consonant + y, it becomes -ily.

busy - busily
happy - happily
easy - easily
heavy - heavily

She is working busily.
Chuck passed the test easily.

When an adjective ends in -le, we omit -e and add -(l)y

noble - nobly
possible - possibly
simple - simply
gentle - gently

Ex: My mom brushes my hair gently every day.

When an adjectives ends in -e, we keep -e and add -ly.

extreme - extremely
free - freely
brave - bravely
safe - safely

His political ideas are extremely dull.

Our army fought bravely.

When an adjective ends in -ic, we add -ally.

Systematic - systematically
Phonetic - phonetically
We searched the attic systematically.
Mrs. Burns wanted us to write the words phonetically.