Short and quick answer by GrammarGramps: An adverb is a word that adds meaning and context to a verb, an adjective, a sentence, or even another adverb. They tell the reader how, when, where and how often something happens, as well as to what extent it happens.
Definition and Special Introduction to Adverbs by GrammarGramps
Hey there. It’s GrammarGramps once again with another guide. This time, let’s talk about another important part of speech in English grammar: adverbs.
Here is a quick definition on adverbs and then I will introduce them a bit more.
Adverbs are words that modify verbs and adjectives, as well as entire sentences and other adverbs for the sake of showing the manner, time, place, and frequency of an action or occurrence.
Now, let’s understand it properly.
Here is an example scenario laid out by GrammarGramps.
Let’s say you got into trouble with mom. Your nighttime raids in the fridge are being exposed by your elder brother. Here is how the conversation goes:
Mom: Where did you see your brother?
Elder brother: I saw him in the living room.
Now, so far, for your benefit, the testimony isn’t very incriminating. You were in the living room. That’s fine. That’s where everyone is.
But, let’s say your elder brother decides to throw in some adverbs.
Elder brother: I often saw him late at night in the living room.
Now, just by adding those few words, not only have the criminally nocturnal nature of your presence been exposed, but your past activities have been mercilessly dug up as well.
Carrying on, your mother goes on to ask further details of your doings.
Mom: What was he doing in the living room?
Elder brother: He slowly and sneakily wentinto the kitchen, and silently opened the fridge door and hastily ate the leftover sandwiches.
Now, without adverbs, the sentence above would have read like this: He went into the kitchen and opened the fridge and ate the leftover sandwiches.
That’s not very bad. You ate some sandwiches.
But with the adverbs, the manner in which you did so is described.
After that, if mom decides to cruelly punish you or leniently let you off the hook, you’re still staring at adverbs all over the place.
Get it? You want to move on now to the next part of this guide? Let’s go.
What Do Adverbs Modify? Understanding their Grammatical Role
As we mentioned in the definition above, there are a bunch of grammatical elements that an adverb can modify, including verbs, adjectives, entire sentences, or other adverbs. Let’s see some examples of those to properly understand.
| Modifies | Example Sentence |
| Verbs | Jack spoke quietly. |
| Adjectives | The night was very cold. |
| Other adverbs | Jack moved quite slowly. |
| Entire sentences | Fortunately, Jack survived. |
Types of Adverbs
Since they can act on a number of different elements in a sentence, adverbs are divided into different types.
There are 11 main types of adverbs, according to GrammarGramps.
They are as follows:
- Adverbs of manner
- Adverbs of frequency
- Adverbs of time
- Adverbs of place
- Adverbs of degree
- Adverbs of purpose
- Conjunctive adverbs
- Focusing adverbs
- Interrogative adverbs
- Relative adverbs
- Evaluative adverbs
Here is a brief description of each along with an example to help you understand.
1. Adverbs of manner
Description: Adverbs of manner are those adverbs that show the manner or way in which an action is performed.
For example, if someone is described as moving slowly, then slowly is an adverb of manner as it describes how the person is moving.
2. Adverbs of frequency
Description: Adverbs of frequency are those adverbs that show how frequently an action or occurrence takes place.
For example, if someone is described to rarely faint, the word rarely is an adverb of time because it shows that the action (faint) doesn’t happen too often.
3. Adverbs of time
Description: Adverbs of time are those adverbs that indicate when an action takes place.
For example, if Jack was kicked by a bull early in the day, the word early denotes the time of the action, hence it is an adverb of time.
4. Adverbs of place
Description: Adverbs of place are those adverbs that show where an action happens.
For example, if Jack collapses outside in the Siberian snow after chasing a runaway goat, then outside is an adverb of place as it describes where his latest poor decision occurred.
5. Adverbs of degree
Description: Adverbs of degree are those adverbs that show the intensity or extent of an action, adjective, or another adverb.
For example, if the weather is described as extremely cold, then extremely is an adverb of degree as it shows how cold Siberia really is. (It happened to be much colder than Jack optimistically expected.)
6. Adverbs of purpose
Description: Adverbs of purpose are those adverbs that show why an action is performed. They can also show why a particular event occurs.
For example, Jack wore three coats and two hats, therefore he survived the Siberian blizzard. Here, therefore is an adverb of purpose as it shows the reason or result behind his survival. This was some rare strategic thinking on Jack’s part.
7. Conjunctive adverbs
Description: Conjunctive adverbs are those adverbs that connect independent clauses and show the relationship between them.
For example, Jack tried to milk the cow; however, the cow disagreed. Here, however is a conjunctive adverb as it links the two clauses and highlights the predictable failure in Jack’s farming career.
8. Focusing adverbs
Description: Focusing adverbs are those adverbs that draw attention to a particular part of a sentence.
For example, if only Jack forgot to close the barn door during a blizzard, then only is a focusing adverb as it emphasizes that the disaster can be attributed solely to him.
9. Interrogative adverbs
Description: Interrogative adverbs are those adverbs that are used to ask questions about time, place, reason, or manner.
For example, when the tractor explodes in a dramatic cloud of smoke, one might ask, “Why did Jack think that was a good idea?” Here, why is an interrogative adverb as it questions the reason behind his questionable engineering choices.
10. Relative adverbs
Description: Relative adverbs are those adverbs that introduce relative clauses and provide more information about time, place, or reason.
For example, the barn where Jack attempted indoor ice fishing is now structurally compromised. Here, where is a relative adverb as it introduces the clause describing the unfortunate location of his experiment.
11. Evaluative adverbs
Description: Evaluative adverbs are those adverbs that express a speaker’s judgment or attitude toward an action or situation.
For example, unfortunately, Jack mistook antifreeze for apple juice during breakfast. In the last sentence, unfortunately is an evaluative adverb as it conveys the speaker’s judgment about yet another avoidable mishap on the Siberian farm.
Position of Adverbs: Where Can Adverbs Appear in a Sentence?
Like Jack, you can find adverbs anywhere.
Adverbs can be found in the beginning, middle, or the end of a sentence. However, their placement shows emphasis and tone, as well as how clear the sentence is to read.
For instance, if I say “Jack waited patiently” and “Patiently, Jack waited,” there is a difference in the tones and emphasis of these two sentences. The first sentence is normal and casual. It just describes the fact that Jack was waiting. The second sentence becomes somewhat poetic and dramatic, and the emphasis shifts on the word “patiently.”
Coming back to the point at hand, here is a list of the various places in a sentence that a verb can appear in, along with examples.
- Beginning: Fortunately, Jack found shelter.
- Middle: Jack has never seen weather like this.
- End: Jack waited patiently.
Common Examples in Sentences
Here are some normal sentences that feature adverbs. These examples will help you further understand adverbs and their types as you’ll be able to see them in action.
- Jack walked slowly across the snow.
→ Adverb in the sentence above: slowly
→ Type: Adverb of manner - He arrived yesterday.
→ Adverb in the sentence above: yesterday
→ Type: Adverb of time - Jack waited outside.
→ Adverb in the sentence above: outside
→ Type: Adverb of place - He almost slipped again.
→ Adverb in the sentence above: almost
→ Type: Adverb of degree - Fortunately, help arrived.
→ Adverb in the sentence above: Fortunately
→ Type: Sentence adverb
How Can You Learn About Adverbs Effectively? Advice from GrammarGramps
Here is some advice from GrammarGramps on how you can learn about adverbs effectively.
Confusion Between Adverbs and Adjectives
I’m going to be honest. When I first started learning about adverbs, I would always confuse them with adjectives. If I was asked, I couldn’t figure out whether a certain word was an adverb or an adjective.
They are both similar.
However, I soon found out a simple memorization tactic.
Adverbs modify verbs, right? That’s the thing to remember.
Just look at the word.
“Ad-verb”. It contains the word “verb” in there.
That way, the confusion went away. If someone asked me “Hey, is slowly an adverb or adjective?” I could simply think that “slowly” is a word that describes movement, which is a verb. Hence, “slowly” is an adverb.
Ta-da!
Of course, there are nuances to this rule but for basics, it’s something to remember.
How Can You Learn More Adverbs to Use in Daily Life?
As I like to say about learning other grammar-related topics, the best way to do so is to read more. The more you read, you more you take in.
However, there is an exercise that you can do to particularly focus on adverbs.
When reading, take a pencil and underline every adverb that you find. The more you keep an eye on adverbs, the more you’ll grow accustomed to spot them.
This will allow you to learn more adverbs to use in your daily writing and spoken conversation.
To help you along with that, here is a little table that lists some common adverbs along with their meanings and usage examples. If you are an ESL student, this table will come in handy.
| Table of Common Adverbs + Meaning and Examples by GrammarGramps | ||
| Adverb | Meaning | Example |
| quickly | at a fast pace | She quickly finished her homework before dinner. |
| slowly | at a slow pace | He slowly opened the door so as not to wake anyone. |
| carefully | with attention and caution | She carefully packed the fragile items into the box. |
| hard | with a lot of effort | He worked hard to pass his exams. |
| well | in a good or satisfactory way | She speaks English well for a beginner. |
| often | frequently, many times | They often go for walks in the evening. |
| always | at all times, without exception | He always arrives on time to meetings. |
| never | at no time, not ever | She never forgets a name once she hears it. |
| almost | very nearly, but not quite | I almost missed my train this morning. |
| just | exactly, or a moment ago | He just left the office five minutes ago. |
| still | continuing up to this point | She is still waiting for a reply to her email. |
| already | before the expected time | They had already eaten by the time we arrived. |
| soon | in a short time from now | The meeting will start soon, so take your seats. |
| here | in or at this place | Please sign your name here on the dotted line. |
| away | at a distance from a place | He walked away without saying a word. |
Rules and Variations of Adverbs to Keep in Mind
Moving on, let’s take a look at some important rules related to adverbs that you should keep in mind. We’ll also talk about different types of variations that help keep the concept of adverbs understandable.
1. Many Adverbs End in “-ly”
The most common way to form an adverb is to take an adjective and add “-ly” to the end. It is a reliable starting point for fresh learners, but it is not a universal rule. There are adverbs that don’t use “-ly” at the end.
Here are some examples of adverbs that are formed by adding “-ly” at the end of an adjective.
- slow → slowly
- careful → carefully
But not all adverbs follow this pattern (e.g., fast, well, often). It’s important to remember this.
2. Adjective vs. Adverb Usage
Remember what I said about adjective and adverb confusion earlier? Other than remembering the names correctly, it’s also common for people to wrongly use an adjective in place of an adverb.
When you are describing how something is done, you need an adverb, not an adjective.
For example:
Incorrect: Jack ran quick. Correct: Jack ran quickly.
3. Flat Adverbs
Flat adverbs are the adverbs that don’t need “-ly” at the end to be complete. They can work as adverbs as they are. Understanding flat adverbs is necessary so that you don’t get tripped up by the “-ly” rule.
Here are some examples:
- Jack worked hard.
- The wind blew fast.
4. Comparative and Superlative Forms
Just like adjectives, adverbs have comparative and superlative forms for when you need to express degree or make comparisons.
How you form them depends on the adverb itself.
- coldly → more coldly → most coldly
- fast → faster → fastest
A Note on Comparative and Superlative Adverb Forms
There is a pattern to forming comparative and superlative adverbs, and it breaks down into three categories.
1. One-syllable adverbs usually take “-er” and “-est”, the same way one-syllable adjectives do. For instance
Here are some examples:
- fast → faster → fastest
- hard → harder → hardest
- soon → sooner → soonest
2. Adverbs ending in “-ly” generally use more and most instead. In practical usage, this is the safest default, especially if you are still building confidence with English grammar.
Here are some examples:
- carefully → more carefully → most carefully
- slowly → more slowly → most slowly
That said, a small number of common “-ly” adverbs also accept the shorter forms. For example, the word “early” is an adverb and an adjective. As an adverb, the comparative and superlative forms are “earlier” and “earliest” respectively.
3. Irregular adverbs follow no pattern and need to be memorized individually. The list is short but these words come up often.
Here are some examples of irregular adverbs with their comparative and superlative forms.
| Base | Comparative | Superlative |
| well | better | best |
| badly | worse | worst |
| little | less | least |
| far | further | furthest |
How to Identify Adverbs? Easy Method by GrammarGramps
Here is an easy method to identify adverbs in a sentence.
When you read a sentence, ask yourself: is there an action being done in this sentence? In every sentence that you read, there will almost always be an action.
Then ask yourself, how is that action being performed? Is the manner of the action or the frequency of it or the place of its performance or the time at which it is performed indicated in any way?
There will be a word in there somewhere that will answer this question of yours.
For instance,
Jack was mercilessly thrown out of the barn by the bulls.
In this sentence, we know that Jack was thrown out of the barn. But when I start to ask myself the questions mentioned above, I learn that the word “mercilessly” describes the manner in which Jack was ejected.
That is where I will find the adverb.
It is important to know that adverbs aren’t like nouns and verbs. It is perfectly possible for a sentence to exist without an adverb. If you ask yourself the question of “How? When? Where?” but don’t find a word that answers it, just know that there isn’t any adverb in that particular sentence.
Short Quiz on Adverbs by GrammarGramps: MCQs
Here is a short quiz that you can take to reinforce what you have learned here in this guide on adverbs. The answers to the questions are provided at the end.
- What is the adverb in this sentence: Jack walked slowly across the ice.
A. Jack
B. slowly
C. ice - True or false: All adverbs need to end in “-ly”.
A. True
B. False - How many types of adverbs are there, according to GrammarGramps?
A. Nine (9)
B. Ten (10)
C. Eleven (11) - Which type of adverb can be seen in this sentence: Jack waited outside the cabin.
A. Adverb of time
B. Adverb of manner
C. Adverb of place - What is the adverb in this sentence: Fortunately, Jack found shelter.
A. Jack
B. shelter
C. Fortunately
Answer Key
- B
- B – Many adverbs end in “-ly” but not all of them.
- C
- C
- C
Resources Used for This Guide
Among others, here are the resources that I used for this guide.
