10.1  Definition

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Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, prepositional phrases and sometimes a whole sentence. It is any word that modifies any part of speech or other verbs other than a noun (nouns are primarily modified by adjectives). Because of the extensive use of adverbs serving a number of different functions, some modern grammarians would go so far as to call adverbs a "catch-all" category that includes all words that do not belong to one of the other parts of speech.

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You can recognize adverbs easily because many of them are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, though that is not always the case. The most common questions that adverbs answer are how, how often, when, where, why. Eg.

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• Usain Bolt runs fast. (modifies the verb runs)

• Pamela is really beautiful. (modifies the adjective beautiful)

• Peter drives incredibly slowly. (modifies the adverb slowly)

• The box is immediately inside the door. (modifies the prepositional phrase inside the door)

• Obviously, I can't know everything. (modifies the sentence I can't know everything)

• Susan speaks loudly. (How does Susan speak?)

• Marbella gets a ride from her brother every day. (How often does Marbella get a ride?)

• Kelly lives nearby. (Where does Kelly live?)

• David never smokes. (When does David smoke?)

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10.2  Forms of Adverbs

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10.2.1  Many adverbs end in -ly. We form such adverbs by adding -ly to the
adjective. Eg.

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• quickly, really, hardly, barely, strongly, honestly, mostly, interestingly

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs.# The following words that end in -ly are all adjectives:

•  friendly, homely, ugly, lonely, lovely, early*

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*early is both an adjective and an adverb.

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# examples of some ly words that are not adverbs:

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ally, anomaly, apply, assembly, belly, bely, bodily, bubbly, bully, burly, chilly, comely, comply, costly, courtly, cuddly, curly, daily, dally, dastardly, deadly, deathly, disorderly, doily, dolly, dragonfly, early, family, fly, friendly, frilly, ghastly, goodly, gravelly, grisly, gully, heavenly, hilly, holly, holy, homely, homily, hourly, imply, jelly, jolly, kindly, leisurely, likely, lily, lively, lonely, lovely, lowly, mannerly, mealy, measly, melancholy, monopoly, monthly, multiply, nightly, oily, only, orderly, pearly, pebbly, ply, rally, rarely, rely, reply, scaly, shapely, sickly, silly, sly, smelly, sprightly, squiggly, stately, steely, supply, surly, tally, timely, ugly, unlikely, weekly, wily, wobbly, wooly, worldly, wrinkly, yearly

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10.2.2  Some adverbs have no particular form, eg.

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• well, fast, very, never, always, often, still, now

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10.3  Position of Adverbs

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Adverbs have 3 main positions in the sentence:

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10.3.1  Front (before the subject):
- Now we will begin our class.

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10.3.2  Middle (between the subject and the main verb):

- We often make mistakes.

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10.3.3  End (after the verb or object):

- Usain Bolt runs fast.
- We study adverbs carefully.

• Where to put adverbs

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• 許多同學認為副詞只能放在句尾，其實除了句尾之外，副詞還可以放在其他很多的地方；也就是說副詞的位置不同，所強調修飾的字就不同。

• 分別

• 想一想，下面的句子意思有差別嗎？

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1.

The teacher and students really have good rapport.
(really 用來修飾動詞 have)
The teacher and students have really good rapport.
(really 用來修飾形容詞 good)

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2.

Paula really had a great time at her birthday party.
(really 用來修飾動詞 have)
Paula had a really great time at her birthday party.
(really 用來修飾形容詞 great)

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3.

Two hundred people died in the earthquake nearly. ＊（不正確）
Nearly two hundred people died in the earthquake.
(nearly 用來修飾 two hundred people)
He nearly died in the earthquake.
(nearly 用來修飾 died)

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4.

She takes a bus to school usually. ＊（怪怪的）
She usually takes a bus to school.
(頻率副詞放在修飾動詞之前)

• 說明

• 副詞的到底應該要放在哪裡呢？

• （1）副詞

• 正確位置的應該是盡量接近修飾字的位置：如果修飾動詞，則靠近動詞，如修飾形容詞，則靠近形容詞。特別強調的字可放句首，不過並不多見。

• （2）頻率副詞

• 如always、usually、often 多用來修飾動詞，應該放在動詞前，be動詞後面 ，例如 He often comes to school late 以及 He is often late for school。

 

10.4  Kinds of Adverbs

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      10.4.1  Adverbs of Frequency (How often?)

   The common adverbs of frequency are:

always, frequently, often, usually, sometimes, occasionally, seldom, rarely, never, normally, regularly, every day, once in a while, once a week, twice a day, again

Adverbs of frequency come before the main verb (except the main verb “be”):

• Our family usually go shopping on Saturday.

• Peter has seldom gone to parties.

• Mary is always late for class. (after “be”)

Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:

• Usually they come and stay with us.

• Yao plays basketball often.

Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with “very”):

• We see them rarely.

• Parker drinks liquor very seldom.

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      10.4.2  Adverbs of Time (When?)

   The common adverbs of time are:

yesterday, today, tomorrow, then, later, tonight, right now, now, last night, last, this morning, next week, next, already, recently, lately, soon, immediately, still, yet, ago, after, during, finally, just, when, while

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      10.4.3  Adverbs of Place (Where?)

The common adverbs of place are:

here, there, over there, everywhere, anywhere, nowhere, somewhere, abroad, away, out, in, home*, downtown*, back*, downstairs*, upstairs*, outside*, underground*

*These are also used as nouns and sometimes adjectives.

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      10.4.4  Adverbs of Manner (How?)

The common adverbs of manner are:

very, quite, pretty, really, fast, well, hard, quickly, slowly, carefully, hardly, barely, mostly, almost, absolutely, together, alone, correctly, eagerly, easily, loudly, patiently, quietly

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      10.4.5  Adverbs of Purpose (Why?)

The common adverbs of purpose are:

so, so that, to, in order to, because, since, accidentally, intentionally, purposely

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10.5  Common Confusions among adverbs, adjectives and some expressions  (see also 9.5)

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      10.5.1  Bad or Badly?

When you want to describe how you feel, you should use the adjective bad, because an adjective always follows verbs like “feel, taste, smell, sound, look, appear, and seem” — when it modifies the noun before the verb. So you would say, "I feel bad," or “It tastes bad.”

You would use the adverb badly to modify dynamic verbs, so you would say, ”Sam plays football badly.”

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      10.5.2  Good or Well?

Good is an adjective, so you do not do good or live good, but you do well and live well—well used here as an adverb. Remember, though, that an adjective follows sense-verbs and be-verbs, so you also feel good, look good, smell good, are good, have been good, etc.

Confusion can occur because well can function either as an adverb or an adjective. When well is used as an adjective, it means "not sick" or "in good health." For this specific sense of well, you could say you feel well or are well — for example, after recovering from an illness. When not used in this health-related sense, however, well functions as an adverb; for example, "I did well on my exam."

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      10.5.3  Double-negatives

Scarcely and hardly are already negative adverbs. To add another negative term is redundant, because in English only one negative is ever used at a time.

• I can scarcely hear you. (not scarcely not...)

• Hardly anyone came to the party. (not hardly no one...)

 

      10.5.4  Sure or Surely?

Sure is an adjective, and surely is an adverb. Sure is also used in the idiomatic expression sure to be. Eg.

• I am sure that you were there.
  (sure is an adjective that modifies the pronoun I.)

• He is surely ready to take on the project.
  (surely is an adverb that modifies the adjective ready.)

• She is sure to be a great leader.
  (sure to be is an idiomatic phrase that functions as an adjective that modifies the pronoun she.)

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(Mok: Sure is sometimes used as an adverb, but most commentators consider the adverb sure to be something less than completely standard; surely is usually recommended. Sure, when used as an adverb, is used in much more informal contexts than surely.) Examples of sure used as an adverb:

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• I can never know how much I bored her, but, be certain, she sure amused me. — Norman Mailer

• It's a moot point whether politicians are less venal than in Twain's day. But they're sure as the devil more intrusive. — Alan Abelson

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      10.5.5  Real or Really?

Real is an adjective, and really is an adverb. Eg.

• She did really well on that test.
  (really is an adverb that modifies the adverb well.)

• In China, the real problem is corruption.
  (real is an adjective that modifies the noun problem.)

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      10.5.6  Near or Nearly?

Near can function as a verb, adverb, adjective, or preposition. Nearly is used as an adverb to mean "in a close manner" or "almost but not quite." Eg.

• Facebook’s 2009 revenue neared $800 million.
  (neared is a verb in the past tense.)

• The project is nearly finished.
  (nearly is an adverb that modifies the verb finished.)

• The cat crept near.
  (near is an adverb of place that modifies the verb crept.)

• First cousins are more nearly related than second cousins.
  (nearly is an adverb that modifies the verb related.)

• The detective solves the mystery in a scene near the end of the movie.
  (near is a preposition. The prepositional phrase near the end of the movie modifies the noun scene.)

Partly adapted from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/537/02/.

 

      10.5.7  Maybe or May be?  (see also 4.4.1)

 

Maybe (one word) is an adverb meaning "perhaps" or "possibly."

 

May be (two words) is a verb phrase showing possibility, meaning "might be," "could be," or "would be." The word "may" in "may be" is an auxiliary verb; the word "be" is a linking verb. Eg.

 

• Maybe we can visit the King.

• We may be able to visit the King.