Adverbs
1. Use of adverbs
Adverbs give us extra information about actions:
| Category | examples |
| manner (how) | quickly, slowly, fast, rapidly, easily, suddenly, badly |
| frequency (how often) | always, frequently, often, sometimes, never, normally, occasionally, rarely, ever, seldom, generally, usually |
| degree (how much) | very, a bit, rather, fairly, extremely, quite, slightly, absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, hardly, partly, really, totally, largely |
| certainty | certainly, definitely, probably, possibly |
| place (where) | in london, here, there, far away |
| time (when) | tomorrow, at 5 o’clock, on Monday, in July, daily, late, already, finally, immediately, no longer, soon, then |
| linking adverbs | as well, whereas, although, next |
| Comment/viewpoint | honestly, frankly, sadly |
2. Forming adverbs
On the one hand, adverbs can be single, independent words or combination of words. On the other hand, we can form adverbs from other words.
-from adjectives: -from nouns:
slow – slowly day – daily
quick – quickly week – weekly
easy – easily hour – hourly
loud – loudly friend – friendly
3. Spelling
Spelling of adjectives can change the following ways:
| adjective | adverb | ||
| ending in a vowel or –l | calm | changes to -ly | calmly |
| ending in -le | probable | changes to -ly | probably |
| ending in –y | easy | changes to -ily | easily |
| ending in -ic | periodic | changes to -ally | periodically |
| ending in -ly | friendly | add extra word | friendly way |
4. Confusing adjectives
Adjectives and adverbs which are often confused:
| adjectives:
fast = a fast train still = still water good = a good book early = an early train daily = the daily news |
adverbs:
fast = run fast still = stand still well = cook well early = arrive early daily = shop daily |
Some adverbs have two forms and we can use both without a change in the meaning:
quick/quickly, cheap/cheaply, slow/slowly/ loud/loudly, etc.
Some adverbs have two forms and there is a difference in meaning:
close/closely, direct/directly, high/highly, hard/hardly, free/freely, deep/ deeply, late/lately, short/shortly, near/nearly, fair/fairly, wide/widely
hard/hardly
He worked hard. (a lot) He hardly worked. (almost nothing)
late/lately
The taxi arrived late. (not in time) I met Jim lately. (recently)
5. Position of adverbs
Adverbs can go into different positions in the sentence. Study the following table carefully.
| position | adverbs | example |
| front | time adverbs | Yesterday I visited my friend.
In the park, I saw a lovely dog. |
| middle | frequency adverbs | He often cooks dinner.
I almost forgot about the meeting. I will probably go by train. She will soon arrive. |
| end | manner adverbs
place adverbs time adverbs |
She walks slowly.
They lived in Madrid. He got up at 6 o’clock. |
| all positions | manner adverbs | Slowly, I approached the lion.
I slowly approached the lion. I approached the lion slowly. |
6. Comparatives
Usually adverbs form their comparative and superlative forms the same way as adjectives.
- Short adverbs (1 or 2 syllables):
They add an –er to the comparative form and an –est to the superlative form.
fast – faster, fastest
near – nearer, nearest
- Long adverbs (2 or more syllables):
They add more to the comparative form and most to the superlative form.
quickly – more quickly, most quickly
carefully – more carefully, most carefully
Ready to test your knowledge?
Put the grammar rules above into practice with the challenge below.
