Heads Up English | ESL Lessons

Adverbs

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Details: Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate Skill Builders; Category: Lower-Intermediate Skill Builders: Grammar; Written by Chris Cotter

What are adverbs?
Adverbs give additional information to verbs and clauses, much like adjectives give additional information to nouns. Adverbs tell you how, where, and when, and also how often something happens.

Let's focus on the following three types, though:

1: Adverbs of Manner: These describe how something happens.

    Because he just received his driver's license, he drives carefully.
    The singer has a fantastic voice. She sings many songs beautifully.
    In the library, you must speak quietly.

2: Comment Adverbs: These adverbs describe the speaker's opinion.

    Obviously, the politician was lying.
    He definitely had a relaxing vacation!
    I stupidly forgot my homework again.

3: Frequency Adverbs: When we talk about how often an action happens, we use these adverbs.

    He often goes to the supermarket on Sundays.
    I always wake up at 6:00 in the morning.
    She never works very hard. She seems very lazy!

What is the sentence structure?
The sentence structure can change with the type of adverb.

With adverbs of manner, the adverb usually comes at the end of a sentence of clause. Here are a few examples:

verb | object | adverb

    The singer has a fantastic voice. She sings many songs beautifully.
    The tea was very hot, so he drank it carefully.
    I speak English slowly because I don't want to make mistakes.

Comment adverbs most often appear at the start of the sentence or clause, so modify the whole sentence / clause. Be sure to separate the adverb and the subject with a comma ( , ).

Here are a few examples with comment adverbs:

adverb | subject | verb | object

    Foolishly, I agreed to meet my ex-girlfriend.
    Unfortunately, he wasn't able to attend the seminar.
    Truthfully, I can't stand working with some of my colleagues!

It should also be noted that comment adverbs can also appear before the verb which is modified.

adverb | verb | object

    I foolishly agreed to meet my ex-girlfriend.
    He unfortunately wasn't able to attend the seminar.
    I truthfully can't stand working with some of my colleagues!

And lastly, adverbs of frequency use the following structures:

adverb | verb

She always arrives on time.
My mom hardly ever admits that she is wrong.

auxiliary verb | adverb

She will always arrive on time.
My mom will hardly ever admit that she is wrong.

be verb | adverb

She is always on time.
My mom is hardly every wrong.

How are adverbs used?
Adverbs add detail to a sentence or clause to make it more interesting. Many adverbs end with -ly, such as: quickly, slowly, carefully, and happily. But don't rely on this rule because some adverbs are irregular and don't end with -ly, such as: fast, late, or hard.

There are also some words which aren't adverbs, but still end with -ly, like: elderly, kindly, and lonely.

Remember: Adverbs describe how, where, and when, and also how often something is done.

Here are a few adverbs for the types studied here:

adverbs of manner
badly, briefly, carefully, carelessly, fast, furiously, gracefully, intentionally, hard, loudly, noisily, politely, safely, softly, successfully, and well.

comment adverbs
foolishly, fortunately, hopefully, luckily, and unfortunately.

adverbs of frequency
always, frequently, never, occasionally, often, and sometimes.

Is there additional information on adverbs?
You may occasionally break the rule and place adverbs in other parts of the sentence. This is done to highlight information, perhaps in answer to a question. For example:

A: How often do you miss work?
B: Sometimes, I take a day off from work.