T21 Adverbs

Topic 21

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify Ordinary Verbs, Adjectives and  another Adverbs.

Types of Adverbs

A.  Adverbs of Manner

B.  Adverbs of Place / Direction

C.  Adverbs of Time / Duration

D.  Adverbs of Frequency

E.  Adverbs of Degree

F.  Focusing Adverbs

Adverbs of manner modify Ordinary Verbs.

[He] always speaks politely.

                             ~~~~

Adverbs of degree modify Adjectives and adverbs of manner.

He is very hardworking.

He always speaks very politely.

A.  Adverbs of Manner show us How an action is done, so Adverbs of manner modify

     ordinary verbs directly.

Adverbs of Manner usually end in à ly / ily

When the letter before the letter ‘y’ is a consonant, drop ‘y’ and add ‘ily’.

   

Adverbs of Manner

          Adjective                adverb                        adjective           adverb

1.       angry                     angrily                             2.  brave                bravely

3.       busy                      busily                     4.  careful               carefully

5.       clear                      clearly                    6.  clever                cleverly

7.       easy                       easily                     8.  fair                             fairly

9.       fine                        finely                     10.  gentle             gently

11.     greed                     greedily                  12.  happy              happily

13.     heavy                     heavily                   14.  hungry            hungrily

15.     kind                       kindly                    16.  lazy                 lazily

17.     light                      lightly                    18.  lucky               luckily

19.     merry                     merrily                   20.  narrow            narrowly

21.     nice                       nicely                     22.  noisy               noisily

23.     pale                       palely                     24.  proud              proudly

25.     quick                      quickly                   26.  quiet               quietly

27.     sad                        sadly                      28.  sharp              sharply

29.     smooth                  smoothly                30.  slow                slowly

31.     strong                    strongly                 32.  sweet              sweetly

33.     true                       truly                      34.  warm              warmly

35.     wide                      widely                    36.  wild                wildly

37.     wise                       wisely                    38.  interesting       interestingly    46 

Examples:

1.  Jean sings sweetly.                                   (How does Jean sing?)

2.  Tom works very hard.                               (How does Tom work?)

3.  Leena walked slowly to school yesterday.   

    (How did Leena walk to school yesterday?)

B.  Adverbs of Place and Direction ----- Where and in what direction

upstairs                  downstairs             outdoors                indoors              outside        inside                            here                       there                      around             at home

everywhere             somewhere             elsewhere               up                    down

north(ward)            south(ward)            east(ward)              west(ward)      left

right                      clockwise                anticlockwise          backward          forward

at home                 at the canteen        at the airport                  

1.  Helen met George at the bookstore.                     (Where did Helen meet George?)

2.  Lily slipped and fell at the staircase.            (Where did Lily slip and fall?)

3.  Nora waits for her mother at the school gate.

     (Where does Nora wait for her mother?)

4.  The little boy walked towards his mother.

C.  Adverbs of Time and Duration  -----  When and How long

now             just now                       today                  currently             once

since            for 2 days                     yesterday            tomorrow            recently

already         next month                  immediately         lately                  lately

overnight      temporarily                   permanently        briefly                 next month

1.  The children were playing here all day long yesterday. 

                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.  Mary will move house next month.  (When will Mary move house?)

                                     ~~~~~~~~~~

3.  She left immediately last Tuesday.

                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4.  They will stay there for 3 months.  (How long will they stay there?)

                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

Order of Adverbs

-----  Manner   Place            Time

D.  Adverbs of Frequency  -----  How often

1.  always     2.  nearly/ almost always     3.  usually     4.  very often / frequently

5.  often       6.  sometimes     7.  occasionally     8.  almost never / ever           

9.  seldom / almost never     10.  never 

The adverbs of frequency ------ always, usually, often, frequently, *sometimes, seldom and never are usually placed Before an Ordinary Verb and After Verb-to-be.

1.  James always goes to work early.

2.  He is always early to work.

3.  Alina usually takes a bus to school.

4.  She is usually punctual to school.

                                                                                                                   47

once             twice            three times             daily             rarely           again

regularly       every year     every now and then                   for a while

1.  Tina goes swimming twice a week.    (How often does Tina go swimming?)

2.  Vivian brushes her teeth twice a day.  (How often does Vivian brush her teeth?)

3.  Helena rarely visited her aunt in Singapore.  (How often did Helena visit her aunt? )

E.  Adverbs of Degree  -----  To what extent

almost                   completely              considerably           enough             extremely

fairly            hardly                    just                        nearly               quite

rather           spectacularly           so                          too                  very 

Adverbs of Degree make the meaning of a VERB, Adjective and Adverb of Manner

stronger / weaker.  

 

     Intensifiers ----- absolutely, extremely, really, very,…….  -----  stronger

     Down-toners  à fairly, quite, rather, not so ……..        -----  weaker 

Adverbs of Degree cannot modify Verbs directly.

They can only modify Adjectives and Adverbs of Manner directly.   

1.  He speaks German well.        (Adverb of Manner  -----  well)

     He speaks German very well.  (Adverb of Degree + Adverb of Manner--- very well)   

    (The adverbs ‘very well’ modifies the verb ‘speaks’.)

2.  Cecilia is cute.                       (Adjective ----- cute)

     Cecilia is very cute.                (Adverb of Degree + Adjective  -----  very cute.)

F.  Focusing Adverbs

Focusing Adverbs are used when we want to focus / highlight on the particular thing.  A Focusing Adverb is always placed near the word it modifies.

alone            chiefly          either           especially               exclusively              just

mainly          mostly                   notably         particularly             primarily                purely

specially       specifically    even             only

1.  The people here live mainly on vegetables, fruits and fish.

2.  He has his shoes custom-made the size specifically to fit his feet.

3.  Doris even worked on Sunday in order to earn enough for her school fee.

4.  Halina enjoys all kinds of fruit, especially mangoes.