Spelling Out Adverbs?
An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies"
a verb (The man ran quickly). In the following examples, the adverb is
in bold and the verb that it modifies is in italics.
John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)
Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?)
Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)
But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even
other adverbs (It works very well). Look at these examples:
Modify an adjective:
- He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)
- That was extremely kind of you.
Modify another adverb:
- She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)
- He drives extremely fast.
Note that adverbs have other functions, too. They can:
Modify a whole sentence: Obviously, I can't know everything.
Modify a prepositional phrase: It's immediately inside the door.
Adverb Form
We make many adverbs by adding -ly to an adjective, for example:
quick (adjective) > quickly (adverb)
careful (adjective) > carefully (adverb)
beautiful (adjective) > beautifully (adverb)
There are some basic rules about spelling for -ly adverbs. See the table
below:
adjective ending do this adjective adverb
most adjectives add -ly quick quickly
nice nicely
sole solely
careful carefully
-able or -ible change -e to -y regrettable regrettably
horrible horribly
-y change -y to -ily happy happily
-ic change -ic to - economic economically
ically
But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. The following -ly words, for
example, are all adjectives:
friendly, lovely, lonely, neighbourly
And some adverbs have no particular form. Look at these examples:
well, fast, very, never, always, often, still
Note: The form of an adverb can also change to make it comparative or
superlative
Kinds of Adverbs
Here you can see the basic kinds of adverbs.
Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens.
They answer the question "how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.
He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?)
They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?)
James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his
cars?)
Note: We normally use Adverbs of Manner with Dynamic (action) verbs,
not with stative or state verbs.
He ran fast. She came quickly. They worked happily.
She looked beautifullu. It seems strangely. They are happily.
Adverbs of Place
Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer
the question "where?". Adverbs of Place mainly modify verbs.
Please sit here. (Where should I sit?)
They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?)
Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?)
Adverbs of Time
Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens.
Adverbs of Time mainly modify verbs.
They can answer the question "when?":
He came yesterday. (When did he come?)
I want it now. (When do I want it?)
Or they can answer the question "how often?" (frequency):
They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the
newspaper?)
We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?)
Adverbs of Degree
Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens.
They answer the question "how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of
Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.
She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?)
Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful
is Mary?)
He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive
dangerously? How dangerously did he drive?)
Adverb Position
Adverbs with verbs
When an adverb modifies a verb, there are usually 3 possible positions within
the sentence or clause:
1. FRONT - before subject Now I will read a
book.
2. MID - between subject + I often read books.
verb
3. END - after verb/object I read books carefully.
Adverbs with adjectives/adverbs
When an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it usually goes in
front of the word that it modifies, for example:
adverb adjective
She gave him really dirty look.
a
adverb adverb
We quite often study English.
Kind of adverb can influence position
The position of an adverb often depends on the kind of adverb (manner,
place, time, degree). The following table gives you some guidelines for
placement based on the kind of adverb.
kind of adverb mainly modifies sentence usual
position
adverb
manner verbs She spok gently. END
e
place verbs He lived here. END
time definite verbs I'll do it today. END
kind of adverb mainly modifies sentence usual
position
adverb
frequenc We often go to Paris MID
y .
degree verbs, adj. and I nearly died. MID
adv.
It was terribly funny. before adj.
He works really fast. before adv.
Adverbs of Frequency
Adverbs of Frequency are adverbs of time that answer the question "How
frequently?" or "How often?". They tell us how often something happens. Here
are some examples:
a. daily, weekly, yearly
b. often, sometimes, rarely
You probably see a difference between a) and b) above. With words
like daily we know exactly how often. The words in a)
describe definite frequency. On the other hand, words like often give us an
idea about frequency but they don't tell us exactly. The words in b)
describe indefinite frequency.
We separate them into two groups because they normally go in different
positions in the sentence.
Adverbs of Definite Frequency
Examples:
hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly
every second, once a minute, twice a year
once, twice, once or twice, three times
Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, typically go in
END position. Look at these examples:
Most companies pay taxes yearly.
The manager checks the toilets every hour.
The directors meet weekly to review progress.
Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite
frequency may go at the FRONT, for example:
Every day, more than five thousand people die on our roads.
Adverbs of Indefinite Frequency
Look at these examples of adverbs of indefinite frequency:
100% always, constantly
usually, normally
frequently, regularly
often
50% sometimes
occasionally
rarely, infrequently
seldom
hardly ever
0% never
Adverbs of indefinite frequency mainly go in MID position in the sentence.
They go before the main verb (except the main verb "to be"):
We usually go shopping on Saturday.
I have often done that.
She is always late.
Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the
beginning or end of a sentence:
Sometimes they come and stay with us.
I play tennis occasionally.
Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"):
We see them rarely.
John eats meat very seldom.
Comparative Adverbs
One of the jobs of an adverb is to modify a verb action, for example:
Joe ran fast.
If we want to compare one verb action with another, we can use
a comparative adverb, for example:
Joe ran fast, but Mary came first because she ran faster.
Note: We use comparative adverbs when talking about two actions (not three
or more actions). Comparison is always between TWO things.
How do we Make Comparative Adverbs?
There are three basic ways to make or "form" a comparative adverb:
1. One-syllable adverbs: add -er
If an adverb has only one syllable, we usually just add -er to make it
comparative: fast → faster. Here are some examples:
adver comparative adverb
b
fast faster
hard harder
high higher
late later
long longer
low lower
wide Wider
Note: Most one-syllable adverbs have the same form as their equivalent
adjectives. Don’t let this confuse you. For example:
positive comparative
adjectiv a fast car a faster car
e
adverb he drives fast he drives faster
2. Two-syllable adverbs: use more
When an adverb has two or more syllables (like all -ly adverbs), we can
make it comparative by adding more in front: quickly → more quickly. Look
at these examples:
adverb comparative adverb
carefully more carefully
efficientl more efficiently
y
happily more happily
horribly more horribly
often more often
quickly more quickly
recently more recently
slowly more slowly
sadly more sadly
strangely more strangely
We can also use less in place of more to suggest a reduction in the action.
Look at these examples:
sentence for example
She visits often. once a week
Now she visits more often. once a day
↑
Now she visits less often. ↓ once a month
3. Irregular Adverbs
A few adverbs have irregular form, for example:
adver comparative adverb
b
badly worse
early earlier
far further/farther
little less
much more
well better
Comparative Adverbs with Informal Forms
Note that a few adverbs have a formal ("correct") form with -ly and an informal
form without -ly. The same is then true of their comparative forms. Although
you may hear some native speakers using the informal form in speech, it is
best avoided in formal situations and examinations. The most common
examples are:
adverb comparative adverb
cheap/cheaply cheaper/more cheaply
loud/loudly louder/more loudly
quick/quickly quicker/more quickly
slow/slowly slower/more slowly
Note that a few adverbs have NO comparative form, for example:
again, first
daily, yesterday
here, there
now, then
never, sometimes
How do we Use Comparative Adverbs?
Now that you know how to make comparative adverbs, let's see how
to use them. Look at these examples. Notice that we may use more to
suggest an increase in the action and less to suggest a decrease in the
action. Notice also that the comparative adverb is often followed by than:
Trains go fast but planes go faster.
Planes go faster than trains.
Trains don't go faster than planes.
Trains go more slowly than planes.
Planes go less slowly than trains.
Joe won because he played better than Jane played.
Joe won because he played better than Jane.
Joe won because he played better.
Did cities grow more quickly after the Industrial Revolution?
He hit the ball more powerfully than his competitor.
As we get older we remember things less easily.
Could you talk a bit more quietly please?
Could you talk a bit less loudly please?
I can't hear you. Please speak louder/more loudly.
Although we use comparative adverbs when talking about two actions, in fact
one or both of the actions may be a group of actions.
The planet Mercury revolves around the sun faster than all the other
planets.
Here, we are talking about eight planets, but we are still comparing one action
(Mercury's) to one other action (that of all the other planets).
