UNIVERSITY OF KUFA

COLLEGE OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SYNTAX & MORPHOLOGY

ADVERDS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

BY

SHAHAD KAREEM HADI

A TERM PAPER

SUBMITTED TO THE COUNCIL OF THE

FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF KUFA IN

PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF M.A. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE

SUPERVISED BY

ASST. PROF. DR .AMEER ALI

HUSSEIN

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:Table of content

.Abstract-1

.Definitions-2

.3Eexplanation of Adverbs

.types of Advverbs-4

.The functions of Adverbs -5

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ABSTRACT

This paper would be divided into too section . the first one is
that definitions of adverbs and how adverbs would be operated.
The second one would be about the adverbs and their functions in
details Adverbs can perform a wide range of functions: they can modify
verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They can come either
before or after the word they modify. In the following examples,
adverbs are in bold, while the words they modify are in italics
(the quite handsome man).

:Definitions

Any member of a class of words that function as modifiers of

verbs or clauses, and in some languages, as Latin and English, as
modifiers of adjectives, other adverbs, or adverbial phrases, as very in
very nice, much in much more impressive, and tomorrow in She'll write
to you tomorrow. They relate to what they modify by indicating place (I
promise to be there), time (Do your homework now!), manner (She
sings beautifully), circumstance (He accidentally dropped the glass
when the bell rang), degree (I'm very happy to see you), or cause I
.draw, although badly ) ( web site1)

Adverbs tell us how, when, where, and to what degree

something happens. In this way, they modify verbs, adjectives, and
. other adverbs. But how do you find one in a sentence. (Ibid)

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a word that adds more information about place, time, manner,
cause or degree to a verb, an adjective, a phrase or another adverb
In ‘speak kindly’, ‘incredibly deep’, ‘just in time’ and ‘too quickly’,
‘kindly’, ‘incredibly’, ‘just’ and ‘too’ are all adverbs. (Oxford dictionary )

Crystal 1980 stated that Here there are two senses

for adverb:

1. An adverb, narrowly defined, is a word belonging to a

class of words which modify verbs for such categories as:
o time
o manner
o place
o direction
2. An adverb, broadly defined, is a word belonging to a class
of words which modify any constituent class of words other
than nouns, such as:
o verbs
o adjectives
o adverbs
o phrases
o clauses
o sentences

Under this definition, the possible type of modification depends

on the class of the constituent being modified.
Discussion: 
The general class adverb is a mixture of very different kinds of
words, which cover a wide range of semantic concepts and
whose syntactic distribution is disparate. The definition of the
lexical category adverb is language-specific, based on syntactic
distribution
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 Many words traditionally called adverbs in English, such as
degree words (very, awfully) and negatives (not), are set up as
distinct word-classes in linguistic studies (Web site 2).

EXPLANATION OF ADVERBS

Adverbs describe verbs and modify adjectives and other

adverbs. Adverbs, unlike adjectives, do not modify nouns. Adverbs can
also modify phrases, clauses, and sentences. Adverbs answer one of
the following questions: When? Where? Why? How? Under what
.conditions? and To what extent?( Dyane Sherman, italic )

:Example
The teacher had to speak loudly to be heard over the children.
(Loudly modifies the verb speak.) The children were really bad during
the movie. (Really modifies the adjective bad.) John approached the
wounded dog very slowly. (Very modifies the adverb slowly.) Clearly,
Sarah did not understand the directions. (Clearly modifies the
sentence.) The box is still below the stairs. (Still modifies the phrase
“below the stairs.”) (ibid)

TYPES OF ADVERBS

Adverbs of Time *
An adverb of time answers the question When? Adverbs of )Ibid(
time include: after, always, before, during, early, later, never, now,

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often, rarely, recently, sometimes, soon, then, today, tomorrow, usually,
.yesterday, etc
:Example
John will attend the soccer game after he finishes his
homework. (After answers the question: When will John attend the
soccer game?)

An adverb of manner *
answers the question How? Adverbs of manner include: )Ibid(
badly, beautifully, better, bravely, cheerfully, fast, hard, quickly, slowly,
.inadequately, healthy, well, etc
:Example
Sarah slowly walked over the rocky beach. (Slowly answers the
question:( How did Sarah walk)
* An adverb of place
answers the question Where? Adverbs of place include: )Ibid(
.above, away, below, down, here, inside, near, outside, there, up, etc
:Example
Susan placed the boxes above the file cabinet. (Above answers
the question: Where did Susan place the boxes?)

*An adverb of degree

(Ibid) answers the question How much? It describes the strength
and intensity at which something happens. Adverbs of degree include:
almost, completely, enough, entirely, extremely, hardly, just, little,
much, nearly, quite, rather, very, too, etc.

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 Example: John worked very hard to complete his part of the
project. (Very answers the question: How hard did John work?)

* An adverb of frequency
(Ibid)answers the question How often? Adverbs of frequency include:
always, never, usually, frequently, occasionally, rarely, seldom, sometimes,
etc.
Example: Bob often forgets to check his email before class
begins. (Before answers the question: How often does Bob forget to
check his email?)
*Interrogative Adverbs
(Ibid) An interrogative adverb introduces a question. Interrogative
adverbs are usually placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Interrogative adverbs include: how, when, why, and where.
Example:
We plan to leave early in the morning; therefore, we will go to bed
early.

*Forming Adverbs
( Ibid)Adding –ly to the end much adverbs are formed by adding –ly
to an adjective.
Example: clear/clearly hard/hardly

*Irregular Adverbs

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 Some adverbs do not use the –ly ending. These adverbs do not
have a particular form. Following is a list of some of the most common
irregular adverbs: already, also, always, here, never, not, now, often,
quite, seldom, soon, still, then, there, too, very well
*Adverb Placement
(Ibid)Adverbs are flexible in their placement; therefore, they can be
placed just about anywhere within the sentence.

At the beginning of a sentence or a clause

Example: Clearly, John has a problem arriving to work on time.
At the end of a sentence or a clause
Example:
Sarah and John attend the opera frequently.
After the verb
Example:
Bob and John have always participated in the soccer tournament.
Between the subject and the verb
Example: Sarah rarely forgets to call home when she is out late.

Functions of Adverbs:

Adverbs can perform a wide range of functions: they can modify

verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They can come either
before or after the word they modify. In the following examples,

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adverbs are in bold, while the words they modify are in italics
(the quite handsome man):
(https://courses.lumenlearning.com/)

 The desk is made of an especially corrosion-resistant

industrial steel.
 The power company uses huge generators which
are generally turned by steam turbines.
 Jaime won the race, because he ran quickly.
 This fence was installed sloppily. It needs to be redone.

An adverb may provide information about the manner, place, time,

frequency, certainty, or other circumstances of the activity indicated by
the verb. Some examples, where again the adverb is in bold and the
words modified are in italics:

 Suzanne sang loudly (loudly modifies the verb sang, indicating

the manner of singing)
 We left it here (here modifies the verb phrase left it, indicating
place)
 I worked yesterday (yesterday modifies the verb worked,
indicating time)
 He undoubtedly did it (undoubtedly modifies the verb
phrase did it, indicating certainty)
 You often make mistakes (often modifies the verb
phrase make mistakes, indicating frequency)

(Ibid)They can also modify noun phrases, prepositional phrases, or

whole clauses or sentences, as in the following examples. Once again
the adverbs are in bold, while the words they modify are in italics.

 I bought only the fruit (only modifies the noun phrase the fruit)

 Roberto drove us almost to the station (almost modifies the
prepositional phrase to the station)
 Certainly we need to act (certainly modifies the sentence as a
whole)

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 Intensifiers and Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs may also be used as modifiers of adjectives, and of other

adverbs, often to indicate degree. Here are a few examples:

 You are quite right (the adverb quite modifies the

adjective right)
 Milagros is exceptionally pretty (the
adverb exceptionally modifies the adjective pretty)
 She sang very loudly (the adverb very modifies another adverb
—loudly)
 Wow! You ran really quickly! (the adverb really modifies
another adverb—quickly)

Other intensifiers include mildly, pretty, slightly, etc.

(Ibid)Adverbs may also undergo comparison, taking comparative and

superlative forms. This is usually done by adding more and most before
the adverb (more slowly, most slowly). However, there are a few
adverbs that take non-standard forms, such as well, for
which better and best are used (i.e., “He did well, she did better, and I
did best“)

Relative Adverbs

Relative adverbs are a subclass of adverbs that deal with space,

time, and reason. In this video, David gives a quick intro to the three
most common relative adverbs: when, where, and why.

References:

-Dayne Sherman,Jayetta Slawson,Natasha Whitton, and Jeff

Wiemelt.The title , Brown Handbook, 2010

Web source :
-https://www.dictionary.com
- https://glossary.sil.org/term/adverb-linguistics-
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- https://courses.lumenlearning.com/

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