What Are Adverbs
An adverb is a word that modifies (describes) a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or even a whole sentence.
Example:
- He works quietly. (Modifies verb)
- I am extremely busy this Monday. (Modifies adjective)
- She started her day too early. (Modifies adverb)
- Unfortunately, I forgot my wallet home. (Modifies whole sentence)
Adverbs often end in –ly, but some (such as fast) are the same as their adjective.
Adverbs and Verbs
Adverbs explain how (drive slow), when (reached late) and where (drop here) a verb performs an action. (slow, late and here are adverbs in above instances).
Example:
- Food tasted badly. (Adverb)
- Food tasted bad. (Adjective)
An adverb describes how you perform the action of feeling—an adjective describes what you feel.
An adverb describes how you perform the action of feeling—an adjective describes what you feel.
Adverbs and Adjectives
Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs. Often, the purpose of the adverb is to add a degree of intensity to the adjective.
Example:
- The cat is quite funny. (The adverb quite is modifying the adjective funny)
- This movie is more thrilling than the previous one. (The adverb more is modifying the adjective thrilling)
Adverbs and Other Adverbs
An adverb can describe another adverb. In fact, one adverb can describe more than one, other adverbs.
Example:
- Astrologer’s prediction is almost always wrong.
- Almost and always are two adverbs modifying wrong (adjective).
Adverbs and Sentences
Some adverbs can modify entire sentences—hence, are called sentence adverbs. Most common sentence adverbs are generally, fortunately, interestingly, and accordingly. Sentence adverbs describe a general feeling about all of the information in the sentence.
Example:
- Fortunately, her life was saved in accident.
- Interestingly, no one agreed to the mayo on his latest proposal.
Degrees of Comparison
Like adjectives, adverbs can show degrees of comparison.
An absolute adverb describes something in its own right:
Example:
- They cried bitterly.
- A hastily written note.
To make the comparative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word more:
Example:
- He smiled more warmly than the others did.
- The more hastily written note contained the clue.
To make the superlative form of an adverb that ends in -ly, add the word most:
Example:
- He smiled most warmly of them all.
- The most hastily written note on the desk was overlooked.
Placement of Adverbs
Place adverbs close to the words they have to modify. Placing the adverb with any other word can change the meaning of the sentence; especially limiting modifiers such as merely, only, almost, hardly, nearly, just, simply, at first. Consider the difference between these two sentences:
Example:
- Alice only enjoys movies.
- Alice enjoys only movies.
First sentence means it is only Alice who enjoys movies. Whereas, other sentence shows Alice enjoys movies only.
Tip to use adverbs effectively
To make writing precise and powerful use stronger verbs and adjectives instead of using adverbs.