TM

Adverbs

Tillie’s Tuba
BY M ARIA F LEMING
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
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Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Written by Maria Fleming

Illustrated by Doug Jones
Designed by Jason Robinson

ISBN: 0-439-45819-6

Copyright © 2004 by Scholastic Inc.

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. Printed in the U.S.A.

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 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
This book has a
lot of adverbs in
it. Do you know
what an adverb is?

Tillie has a tuba.

She plays her tuba proudly.
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 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

2
She plays enthusiastically.
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
An adverb is a part of speech
that modifies (tells you more
about) a verb, adjective, or
another adverb. Some adverbs
tell you how something is done.

She plays her tuba LOUDLY.

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Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

Some adverbs tell

you when something
is done.

Tillie loves her tuba.

She plays it day and night.
4
 It fills her with delight.
She plays early. She plays late.

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Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

6
She plays anywhere and everywhere —
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Some adverbs tell
you where something
is done.

at home, at school, in town.

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 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

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marching up and down.
She plays inside. She plays outside,
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Adverbs can also
answer the question
“to what extent?”

Tillie thinks her tuba sounds

totally stupendous.
But her family and friends agree,
the noise is quite horrendous. 9
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

10
they quickly run away.
When people see her coming,
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
What parts of speech
do the adverbs on
these pages modify?
Which adverbs answer
the questions how,
when, where, and to
what extent?

It’s really much too painful

to listen to her play.
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 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

12
“Kindly take a break.
Finally, Tillie’s family said,
 Our ears completely ache.”
Our heads all hurt tremendously.

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Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources
Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

This sentence is
bursting with
adverbs! Can you
write a sentence
that has as many
(or more!)
adverbs in it?

Tearfully, poor Tillie

put away her tuba then
vowed to absolutely, positively
14 never play again.
 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

Tillie kept her promise,

but her family just can’t win.
Today she sold her tuba.
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 Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

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Now she plays the violin!
 Let’s Review Adverbs

An adverb is a word that modifies—or tells you more

about—a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
When an adverb modifies a verb, it can tell you how something is done
(She plays loudly), when something is done (She plays early), or where
something is done (She plays outside). An adverb can also answer the

Grammar Tales: Tillie's Tuba (Adverbs) © Scholastic Teaching Resources

question “To what extent?” (Her head hurt tremendously.)

When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it often tells

you how or how much (The noise was quite horrendous. She plays
very loudly).

Although many adverbs end in -ly (proudly, enthusiastically, totally ), it’s

important to remember that many do not. Words like today, inside, and
never are all adverbs, too.

The best way to tell if a word is an adverb is to figure out which word it
modifies in a sentence. Ask yourself: Does this word tell me more about
a verb, an adjective, or another adverb? If the answer is yes, it’s an
adverb!