An adverb, may be seen as a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies and adjective,
verb, or other adverb, expressiing a relation of place, time, ciscunstance, manner,
cause,degree etc, (e.g: Gently, quite, then, there, yesterday, last week, extremely,
annually, monthly)
Adverb of manner
An adverb of manner modifies or changes a sentence to tell us how something
happens or how an action is carried out. When used within a sentence, they are
usually placed either after the main verb or after the object.
Just like other adverbs, they can provide more detail to sentences, giving the reader a
clear picture. It is possible to walk and speak at different speeds (Quickly or slowly).
Adverb of manner Example sentence
Well He swims well / He writes well
Quickly The dog quickly ran after the ball/ She ran quickly
Slowly She stood up slowly
Happily They happily ate the food
Softly She spoke softly / She whispered softly
Angrily He asked angrily
Beautifully It was beautifully drawn
Lovingly The cake was lovingly made
Loudly What? He said loudly/ James coughed loudly
Task 1
Identify which sentences are correct.
a) He ate quickly his lunch
b) He quickly ate his lunch
c) He ate his lunch quickly
d) They missed unfortunately the train
e) They unfortunately missed the train
f) They missed the train unfortunately
g) The cat caught skilfully the mouse
h) The cat skilfully caught the mouse
i) The cat caught the mouse skilfully.
Adverb of time
We refer to a word that denotes or describes when, for how long, or how often a
certain action happens. However, we may end up noticing that many adverbs of time
are the same as adverbs of frequency.
Example: I will be going to my cousin´s place tomorrow.
Yesterday, Tina met Ana at the supermarket
When used within a sentence, they work best when placed at the end, but you can
change the position of the adverb to provide emphasis.
Examples of adverbs of time
Soon Daily Weekly
Monthly Yearly Annually
Quarterly Tomorrow Yesterday
Today Day before yesterday Day after tomorrow
Recently Now Often
Then Always Currently
Momentarily Rarely Everyday
Immediately Later Last year
Last month Last week Earlier
Task 2
Fill in the blanks by choosing the most appropriate adverbs of time from the list
given below ( Always, monthly, immediately, earlier, tomorrow, last week, today, next
week, tonight, yesterday).
a) Will you be able to finalize the dialogues for the play by________________?
b) _______________ we are celebrating the grand success of the company.
c) _______________ we alerted the authorities that the street lights were not
working in the área.
d) Did you go to school___________________?
e) I will be visiting my granddaughter __________________
f) The teacher asked the students to fill in the consente forms _______________
g) My friend make sure to meet up_____________________
h) John stayed at home________________
i) Addy _________________has blueberry cheesecake frm Glen´s bakerhouse
j) ____________________the doctors were found rushing to the operation
theatre.
Adverb of frequency
We refer to a word that is employed in a sentence to give more information about the
verb, adjective or another adverb. They can be normally placed after the noun or
pronoun that acts as the subject and before the verb if there is jus tone verb in a
sentence. Thus, they describe how frequently we do an activity.
Frequency Adverb of frequency Example sentence
100% Always I always go to bed before 11 p.m
90% Usually We usually have cereal for breakfast
80% Normally/generally They normally go to the gym
70% Often/Frequently He often surfs the internet
50% Sometimes He sometimes Forgets his wife´s birthday
30% Occassionally I occasionally eat junk food
10% Seldom I seldon read the newspaper
5% Hardly ever/Rarely They hardly ever drink alcohol
0% Never She never swims in the sea
An adverb of frequency goes before a main verb (except with to be)
Subject + adverb + main verb
I always remember to do my homework
He normally gets good marks in exams
An adverb of frequency goes after the verb to be
Subject + verb to be + adverb
They are never pleased to see me
She isn´t usually bad tempered
When we use an auxiliary verb (have, will, must, might, could, would, can etc), the
adverb is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb. This is also true for to be.
Subject + auxiliary + adverb + main verb
She can sometimes beat me in a race
I would hardly ever be unkind to someone
They might never see each other again
They could occasionally be heard laughling
We can also use the following adverbs at the start of a sentence: Usually, normally,
often, frequently, sometimes, occasionally.
Adverb of place
We refer to adverbs that are normally placed after a sentence´s object or main verb.
Adverbs of place can be directional. For exemple: Up, down, around, away, north,
southeast, here, there. These types of adverbs can refer to distances.
Examples:
John looked around but he couldn´t see the monkey
I searched everywhere I could think of
I am going back to school
Come in!
They built a house nearby.
She took the child outsider.
