Adverbs
Adverbs
An
adverb is
a word
that’s used to give
information about a
verb, adjective, or
other adverb.
They also come
between an auxiliary
verb (such
as be or
have)
and a main
verb:
When used with a
verb, adverbs
can give
information
about:
- how something happens or is done:
She stretched
lazily.
He walked
slowly.
The town is
easily
accessible by road.
- where something happens:
I live
here.
She’s
travelling
abroad.
The children tiptoed
upstairs.
- when something happens:
They
visited us
yesterday.
I have to
leave soon.
He still
lives in London.
Adverbs
can make the
meaning of a
verb, adjective, or
other adverb stronger or
weaker:
- with a verb:
I
almost fell
asleep.
He
really means
it.
- with an adjective:
These
schemes are very
clever.
This
is a
slightly better
result.
- with another adverb:
They
nearly
always get home
late.
The
answer to both questions
is
really rather
simple.
Adverbs
normally come between the
subject and its
verb:
She
carefully
avoided my eye.
The concert
was suddenly
cancelled.
Some adverbs
refer to a whole
statement and not
just a part of it. They
are called 'sentence
adverbs' and
they act as a
sort of comment, showing the attitude or
opinion of the speaker or writer to a
particular
situation.
Sentence adverbs
often stand at
the beginning of the sentence. Here are some
examples
Clearly, there
have been unacceptable
delays.
(= It is
clear that there have
been unacceptable
delays)
Sadly, the
forests are now under
threat.
(= It is
sad that the forests
are now under threat)
Curiously, he never
visited
America.
(= It's curious
that he never visted
America)
The sentence adverbs
are used to convey the writer or
speaker's opinion that it is
clear/sad/curious
that something happened or is
the case. If you compare the
way
clearly,
sadly,
and curiously
are used in the next three sentences, you
can easily see the
difference between the meaning of the
sentence adverbs and
the 'ordinary'
adverbs:
He spoke
clearly
and with conviction.
(= He spoke
in a clear
way and with
conviction)
She smiled
sadly.
[adverb]
(= She smiled
in a sad
way)
He looked
at her curiously.
(= He
looked at her in a
curious/inquisitive
way)
Hopefully
and thankfully as
sentence
adverbs
Sentence adverbs
are well
established in English, but
there are two –
hopefully and
thankfully – which
have caused a lot of
controversy. Here are two sentences in which
hopefully and
thankfully
are being used as
sentence adverbs:
Hopefully, the work will be
finished within the next two or three
weeks.
Thankfully, we
didn’t have to wait
long.
Many people
are convinced that it’s wrong to use
hopefully or
thankfully in
this way. What’s the
problem? It lies in the fact that you
can't rewrite this
type of sentence using the wording
'it is hopeful that' or
'it is thankful
that'. If you wanted to rewrite the two
previous sentences, you couldn’t say:
X It is
hopeful that the work will be
finished within the next two or three
weeks.
X It
is thankful that we didn’t
have to wait long.
You’d need to choose a
different wording, for
example:
It is
to be hoped that the work will be
finished within the next two or three
weeks.
As luck
would have it, we didn’t have to wait
long.
This
leads people to the conclusion
that hopefully and
thankfully should not be
used as sentence
adverbs. In fact, there
are no very strong
grammatical grounds for criticizing the
use of hopefully
and
thankfully
as sentence adverbs:
there aren't
any rules that ban
this sort of development of
meaning. And
there are other adverbs
which behave in the same
way but which haven’t
attracted the same level of
condemnation, e.g.
frankly or
briefly:
Frankly, I was
pleased to leave.
(i.e. to be
frank, I was pleased to
leave)
Briefly, the
plot is as
follows.
(i.e. to be brief, the
plot is as
follows)
Nevertheless, you should be
aware that some people strongly object
to the use of hopefully
and
thankfully
as sentence adverbs. In
view of this, it’s a good
idea to be cautious
about using them in formal writing such
as job applications just in
case your reader happens to be one of
those people.
Adverbs are used to modify a verb, an adjective, or
another adverb:
From our examples above, you can see that many adverbs end in
-ly. More precisely, they are formed by adding -ly to an adjective:
Because of their distinctive
endings, these adverbs are known as -LY ADVERBS. However, by no means all
adverbs end in -ly. Note also that some adjectives also end in
-ly, including costly, deadly, friendly, kindly, likely, lively,
manly, and timely.
Like adjectives, many adverbs are GRADABLE, that is, we can modify them using very or extremely:
The
modifying words very and extremely are themselves adverbs. They
are called DEGREE ADVERBS because they specify the degree to which an adjective
or another adverb applies. Degree adverbs include almost,
barely, entirely, highly, quite, slightly,
totally, and utterly. Degree adverbs are not gradable
(*extremely very).
Like adjectives, too, some adverbs can take COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE forms, with -er and -est:
In the formation of comparatives and
superlatives, some adverbs are irregular:
Adverbs and adjectives have important
characteristics in common -- in particular their gradability, and the fact that
they have comparative and superlative forms. However, an important
distinguishing feature is that adverbs do not modify nouns, either attributively
or predicatively:
The following words, together with
their comparative and superlative forms, can be both adverbs and adjectives:
The comparative better and
the superlative best, as well as some words denoting time intervals
(daily, weekly, monthly), can also be adverbs or
adjectives, depending on how they are used.
We have incorporated some of these words into the following exercise. See if you can distinguish between the adverbs and the adjectives.
In each of the following pairs, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb or an adjective:
- [1] Mary sings
beautifully
[2] David is extremely clever
[3] This car goes incredibly fast
Formal Characteristics of
Adverbs
From our examples above, you can see that many adverbs end in
-ly. More precisely, they are formed by adding -ly to an adjective:
Adjective | slow | quick | soft | sudden | gradual |
Adverb | slowly | quickly | softly | suddenly | gradually |
Like adjectives, many adverbs are GRADABLE, that is, we can modify them using very or extremely:
softly | very softly |
suddenly | very suddenly |
slowly | extremely slowly |
Like adjectives, too, some adverbs can take COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE forms, with -er and -est:
- John works
hard -- Mary works harder -- I work hardest
|
|
|
recently | more recently | most recently |
effectively | more effectively | most effectively |
frequently | more frequently | most frequently |
|
|
|
well | better | best |
badly | worse | worst |
little | less | least |
much | more | most |
Adverbs and Adjectives
Adverbs and adjectives have important
characteristics in common -- in particular their gradability, and the fact that
they have comparative and superlative forms. However, an important
distinguishing feature is that adverbs do not modify nouns, either attributively
or predicatively:
|
|
David is a happy child | *David is a happily child |
David is happy | *David is happily |
The following sentences illustrate the two uses of early:early, far, fast, hard, late
|
|
I'll catch the early train | I awoke early this morning |
We have incorporated some of these words into the following exercise. See if you can distinguish between the adverbs and the adjectives.
In each of the following pairs, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb or an adjective:
1a. My train arrived late, as usual 1b. I'm watching the late film | Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
2a.
My brother loves fast cars 2b. He drives too fast |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
3a.
This exercise is harder than I thought
3b. I hope you'll try harder in future |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
4a.
The Times is published daily
4b. The Times is a daily newspaper |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
5a.
You've just ruined my best shirt
5b. Computers work best if you kick them |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
Although endings, gradability and comparison allow us
to identify many adverbs, there still remains a very large number of them which
cannot be identified in this way. In fact, taken as a whole, the adverb class is
the most diverse of all the word classes, and its members exhibit a very wide
range of forms and functions. Many semantic classifications of adverbs have been
made, but here we will concentrate on just three of the most distinctive
classes, known collectively as circumstantial adverbs.
Many adverbs convey
information about the manner, time, or place of an event or action. MANNER
adverbs tell us how an action is or should be performed:
In each of the following sentences, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb of manner, time, or place.
Additives "add" two or more items together, emphasizing that they are all to be considered equal:
In contrast with additives, EXCLUSIVE adverbs focus attention on what follows them, to the exclusion of all other possibilities:
PARTICULARIZERS also focus attention on what follows them, but they do not exclude other possibilities:
Other particularizers include largely, mainly, primarily, and predominantly.
An adverb has been highlighted in each of the following sentences. Indicate whether it is additive, exclusive, or a particularizer.
We conclude by looking at a
set of adverbs which qualify a whole sentence, and not just a part of it.
Consider the following:
Circumstantial Adverbs
Many adverbs convey
information about the manner, time, or place of an event or action. MANNER
adverbs tell us how an action is or should be performed:
- She sang
loudly in the bath
The sky quickly grew dark
They whispered softly
I had to run fast to catch the bus
- I'll be
checking out tomorrow
Give it back, now!
John rarely rings any more
I watch television sometimes
- Put the box
there, on the table
I've left my gloves somewhere
In each of the following sentences, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb of manner, time, or place.
1. The thief crept silently across the rooftops | Manner Time Place |
2. I'm not feeling well today | Manner Time Place |
3. The teacher smiled enigmatically | Manner Time Place |
4. We'll meet here after the match | Manner Time Place |
5. My aunt never comes to visit | Manner Time Place |
Additives, Exclusives, and Particularizers
Additives "add" two or more items together, emphasizing that they are all to be considered equal:
- [1] Lynn's
prewar success had been as a light historical novelist; he employed similar
fanciful ideas in his war novels [...] Joseph Hocking's war novels are also
dominated by romance and adventure [W2A-009-40ff]
[2] German firms have an existing advantage as a greater number of their managers have technical or engineering degrees. Japanese managers, too, have technical qualifications of a high order. [W2A-011-51ff]
In contrast with additives, EXCLUSIVE adverbs focus attention on what follows them, to the exclusion of all other possibilities:
- [3] It's
just a question of how we organise it [S1B-075-68]
[4] The federal convention [...] comes together solely for the purpose of electing the president [S2B-021-99]
PARTICULARIZERS also focus attention on what follows them, but they do not exclude other possibilities:
- [5] The
pastoralists are particularly found in Africa [S2A-047-3]
[6] Now this book is mostly about what they call modulation [S1A-045-167]
Other particularizers include largely, mainly, primarily, and predominantly.
An adverb has been highlighted in each of the following sentences. Indicate whether it is additive, exclusive, or a particularizer.
1. I was especially pleased to read about your award | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
2. We're only trying to help, you know | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
3. The rise in sea level is largely due to global warming | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
4. Roberts was both a coward and a thief | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
5. Realism is precisely what I'm looking for | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
Wh- Adverbs
A special subclass of adverbs includes a set of words beginning with wh-. The most common are when, where, and why, though the set also includes whence, whereby, wherein, and whereupon. To this set we add the word how, and we refer to the whole set as WH- ADVERBS. Some members of the set can introduce an interrogative sentence:- When are
you going to New York?
Where did you leave the car?
Why did he resign?
How did you become interested in theatre?
- This is the
town where Shakespeare was born
I've no idea how it works
Sentence Adverbs
We conclude by looking at a
set of adverbs which qualify a whole sentence, and not just a part of it.
Consider the following: - Honestly, it doesn't matter
- Clearly,
he has no excuse for such behaviour
Frankly, I don't care about your problems
Unfortunately, no refunds can be given
- England played well
in the first half. However, in the second half their weaknesses were
revealed.
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