Adverbs

1. What are they?

Adverbs are words you can use to modify—to describe or add meaning to—other words. Adverbs modify
verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and even whole clauses.

Adverbs can tell us how something is done, when it is done, and where it is done. Examples of some
common adverbs are really, quickly, especially, early, well, immediately, yesterday.

Look at these examples:

• Alice smiled sweetly.

The adverb ‘sweetly’ shows how (or in what manner) Alice smiled. It modifies the verb ‘smiled’.

• The children were really happy when they were at the beach.
The adverb ‘really’ says something about the children being happy. It modifies the adjective
‘happy’.

• The data clearly show the correlation between weight of athletes and their speed.
The adverb ‘clearly’ modifies the verb ‘show’ (to indicate the significance of the data).

2. The form of many adverbs is adjective + “ly”:

rare + “ly” = rarely
successful + “ly” = successfully
perfect + “ly” = perfectly

Sometimes there are spelling changes:

tragic + “ly” = tragically

happy + “ly” = happily
comfortable + “ly” = comfortably

Some adverbs have the same form as the adjectives:

hard, fast, late, straight, right, wrong, low, early, high

While many adverbs do end with “–ly”, don’t take this for granted: some adverbs, like “almost” and “very”
do not end this way, and some words that do end in “–ly”, like “lively”, “lovely” and “elderly” are actually
adjectives.

Look at these examples:

• Malaysia is well-known for its friendly people. (Adjective ending with “–ly”)
• We were overwhelmed by the host’s very warm hospitality during our stay in Malaysia. (Adverb
not ending with “–ly”)

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3. Adjective or adverb?

Adjectives (quick / careful etc.) tell us about a noun (somebody or something). We use adjectives before
nouns:

• Suzy is a careful driver. (not a carefully driver)

• We did not go out because of the heavy rain.

Adverbs (quickly / carefully etc.) tell us about a verb (how somebody does something or how something
happens):

• Suzy drove carefully along the narrow road. (not drove careful)
• We did not go out because it was raining heavily. (not raining heavy)

Compare:

She speaks perfect English.

• Subject + verb + (adjective + noun)

She speaks English perfectly.

• Subject + verb + noun + adverb

We also use adjectives after some verbs, especially be, and also look/feel/sound etc.

Compare:

• Please be quiet. • Please speak quietly.

• I was dissapointed that my exam • I was unhappy that I did so badly in
results were so bad. the exam. (not did so bad)
• Why do you always look so • Why do you never take me
serious? seriously?
• I feel happy. • The children were playing happily.

Adjective Adverb

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4. We also use adverbs before adjectives and other adverbs. For example:

reasonably cheap (adverb + adjective)

terribly sorry (adverb + adjective)

incredibly quickly (adverb + adverb)

• It is a reasonably cheap restaurant and the food is extremely good.

• I am terribly sorry. I did not mean to push you. (not terrible sorry)
• Mariam learns language incredibly quickly.
• The exam was surprisingly easy.

You can also use an adverb before a past participle (celebrated/organized/written etc.)

• All festivals in Malaysia are happily celebrated together by all races.

• The conference was successfully organized.
• The lecturer finds his report well written.

5. Kinds of adverbs:

today, yesterday, now, before, daily,

Time When?
already, since, never

How often, always, once, never, again,

Frequency often? seldom, frequently
ADVERBS

here, there, up, down, everywhere, out,

Place Where?
in

How? carefully, quickly, sweetly,

Manner bravely, beautifully, well, fast
In what manner?

Change the strength of

Degree adjectives and adverbs
very, really, absolutely

Adverbs of time

Adverbs of time answer the question ‘When?’. It is important to note that time adverbs are used in a
number of adverb placements. Adverbs of time usually occurs at the end of a sentence or clause. Time
adverbs are also used at the beginning of phrases to indicate when something should happen. Time
adverbs are the most flexible of all adverbs in their adverb placement. Examples are today, yesterday,
now, before, daily, already, since, ago, and never.

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Examples:

• I met him yesterday.

• His father died two years ago.
• I have seen him before.
• They have already come.
• We will have to start now.
• Tomorrow Peter is going to visit his mother in Chicago.
• Sundays I like playing golf with my friends.
• Sometimes Jennifer enjoys a relaxing day at the beach.

Adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of frequency answer the question ‘How often?’. Adverbs of frequency are always placed before
the main verb, rather than the auxiliary verb. Examples are often, always, once, never, again, seldom and
frequently.

Examples:

• We seldom go out on Sundays.

• I have seen him only once.
• He called again this morning.
• We must always try to do our best.

Adverbs of place

Adverbs of place answer the question ‘Where?’. They tell us where something is done. They usually come
after the verb and usually occurs at the end of a sentence or clause. Examples are here, there, up, down,
everywhere, out and in.

Examples:

• He looked up.
• She came here a week ago.
• I searched for him everywhere.
• They were already there when I went in.

Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner answer the question ‘How?’ or ‘In what manner?’. Note that this class of adverb
includes nearly all those adverbs ending in “-ly”. Examples are carefully, quickly, sweetly, bravely,
beautifully, well and fast. Adverb placement of adverbs of manner usually occurs at the end of a sentence
or clause.

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Examples:

• The soldiers fought for their country bravely.

• This essay is written well.
• She walked slowly.
• The baby slept soundly.

Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity or degree of an action, an adjective or another adverb.
Common adverbs of degree:

almost, nearly, quite, just, too, enough, hardly, scarcely, completely, very, extremely.

Adverbs of degree such as very, really and absolutely change the strength of adjectives and adverbs:

very cheap / very successfully.

We use absolutely with adjectives that are already very strong. We say: It was absolutely fantastic. (not It
was absolutely good.)

We use very with other adjectives:

• It was very good.

• The children playing at the park are very happy.

We use really with both types of adjective and before very:

• The professor finds his research methodology really good.

• The professor finds his research methodology really very good.
• The professor finds his research methodology really fantastic.

Adverbs of degree are usually placed:

• before the adjective or adverb they are modifying:

e.g. The water was extremely cold.

• before the main verb:

e.g. He was just leaving. She has almost finished.

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Examples:

She doesn’t quite know what she’ll do after university.

They are completely exhausted from the trip.

I am too tired to go out tonight.

He hardly noticed what she was saying.

Enough, very, too

Enough as an adverb meaning ‘to the necessary degree’ goes after adjectives and adverbs.

Examples:

• Is your coffee hot enough? (adjective)

• He didn’t work hard enough. (adverb)

It also goes before nouns, and means ‘as much as is necessary’. In this case it is not an adverb, but a
‘determiner’.

Examples:

• We have enough bread.

• They don’t have enough food.

Too as an adverb meaning ‘more than is necessary or useful’ goes before adjectives and adverbs.

Examples:

• This coffee is too hot. (adjective)

• He works too hard. (adverb)

Enough and too with adjectives can be followed by ‘for someone/something’.

Examples:

• The dress was big enough for me.

• She’s not experienced enough for this job.
• The coffee was too hot for me.
• The dress was too small for her.

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We can also use ‘to + infinitive’ after enough and too with adjectives/adverb.

Examples:

• The coffee was too hot to drink.

• He didn’t work hard enough to pass the exam.
• She’s not old enough to get married.
• You’re too young to have grandchildren!
• Very goes before an adverb or adjective to make it stronger.

Examples:

• The painting was very beautiful. (adjective)

• He worked very quickly. (adverb)

If we want to make a negative form of an adjective or adverb, we can use a word of opposite meaning, or
not very.

Examples:

• The house was ugly

OR
• The house was not very beautiful

• He worked slowly
OR
• He didn’t work very quickly.

BE CAREFUL! There is a big difference between too and very.

Very expresses a fact:

• He speaks very quickly.

Too suggests there is a problem:

• He speaks too quickly (for me to understand).

Other adverbs like very

These common adverbs are used like very and not very, and are listed in order of strength, from positive
to negative:

extremely, especially, particularly, pretty, rather, quite, fairly, rather, not especially, not particularly.

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Note: rather can be positive or negative, depending on the adjective or adverb that follows:

Positive: The teacher was rather nice.

Negative: The film was rather disappointing.

Note on inversion with negative adverbs

Normally the subject goes before the verb:

SUBJECT VERB

I left

She goes

However, some negative adverbs can cause an inversion – the order is reversed and the verb goes before
the subject:

Examples:

• I have never seen such courage.

• Never have I seen such courage.
• She rarely left the house.
• Rarely did she leave the house.

Negative inversion is used in writing, not in speaking.

Adverbs of degree are often stressed in spoken English:

Did you see the match? It was really close, wasn’t it?

Note:

Adverbs nearly always come after be and auxiliary verbs:

• Amanda is always serious with anything she reads.

• We have already seen her reactions.

If there are two or more adverbs at the end of a clause, the order can vary, but it is usually best to put a
time adverb at the end:

• The played happily in the park all day.

(manner) (time)

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6. Adverb clauses of degree or comparison
Adverb clauses of degree or comparison answer the question how much, how little or how many. The
chief conjunctions used to introduce adverb clauses of degree are as, as…as, so…as and than.
• She is older than her husband.
• She is as intelligent as she is beautiful.
• You are later than I expected.
• She is as pretty as a doll.
• She is not so intelligent as her sister.

The correlative the…the may also be considered as a conjunction introducing adverb clauses of
degree.
• The older you grow the wiser you become.
• The more he earns the more he spends.

Notes:
In adverb clauses of degree or comparison, the verb is often understood and not expressed.
• I earn as much as you (do).
• I can sing as well as he (does).
• She is as tall as he (is).
• Nobody knows her better than I (do).

Note that when the verb is not expressed it is more common to use object pronouns after as and than.
Compare:
• I can sing as well as him.
OR
• I can sing as well as he does.
(More natural than ‘I can sing as well as he’.)

• Nobody knows her better than me.

OR
• Nobody knows her better than I do.
(More natural than ‘Nobody knows her better than I.)

7. Placement of Adverbs

Misplaced adverbs can cause confusion therefore adverbs need to be placed where the reader can clearly
understand the meaning you intend. Adverbs are a bit more flexible, however. Both single-word and
multiple-word adverb phrases can generally be placed either before or after the words they modify.

In the examples below, the adverbs and adverb phrases are underlined and the words they modify are in
italics. For example:

• The lion jumped skilfully through the flaming hoop.

• The lion skilfully jumped through the flaming hoop.

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 • Before next Wednesday, she needed to cash her pay check.
• She needed to cash her pay check before next Wednesday.

8. Comparatives and Superlatives

Many adverbs have three forms: the normal form; the comparative form, which you can use to compare
two things; and the superlative form, which you can use to compare three or more things. The following
chart gives you some guidelines for forming the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and
adverbs.

Examples
Rules
Normal Comparative Superlative
Short adverbs soon sooner soonest
• Add “-er” for comparative sate later latest
• Add “-est” for superlative hard harder hardest
fast faster fastest
loud louder loudest
Most longer adverbs ending in “-ly”: slowly more slowly most slowly
• Add “more” + adverb for easily more easily most easily
comparative
brightly more brightly most brightly
• Add “most” + adverb for superlative
clearly more clearly most clearly
frequently more frequently most frequently

best
well better
Irregular adverbs have special forms worst
badly worse
furthest (or
far further (or farther)
farthest)

When using comparative and superlative forms, keep the following in mind:

• Many adverbs indicating time, place, and degree (i.e. tomorrow, here, totally) do not have
comparative or superlative forms.

• Adjectives and adverbs that indicate an absolute or unchangeable quality should not be used with
comparative and superlative constructions. Such absolute modifiers include words like final, main,
impossible, perfect, unavoidable, unique.

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9. Punctuating Adverbs

Place a comma at the end of an adverb phrase when it comes at the beginning of the sentence. For

example:

After some thought, she decided to buy her cousin’s used car.

PRACTICE

A) Identify the adjectives and adverbs in the following sentences by underlining the adjectives twice

and the adverbs once.

For example: The one-eyed green aliens stepped cautiously out of their spaceship.

1. Their timid leader tentatively put one fat, calloused foot on the grass.

2. She then gingerly placed the other foot down.

3. She paused, thoughtfully scratched her forehead, and then started to waddle quite gracelessly

toward a dim light.

4. Soon the braver aliens followed her but the more cowardly aliens hung back inside the door of the

silver spaceship.

5. Suddenly, they heard a short, high-pitched yelp.

6. The youngest alien had stepped accidentally on the tail of a small furry creature, and both of them

cried out instinctively.

7. The little alien regained his composure right away and, curious about the strange creature, he

carefully reached down to pick up the frightened mouse.

8. The mouse, still terrified, dashed away.

9. It ran over the sensitive toes of several aliens who squealed loudly

10.The resulting commotion distracted the group, and they didn’t notice the two young children slowly

riding up on their creaky three-speed bicycles.

PRACTICE

B) Create more detailed sentences by adding your own adjectives and adverbs to modify the words in

italics. For example:

The star punched the photographer.

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The reclusive movie star violently punched the pushy photographer.

1. The island was populated by birds that soared over the trees.

2. It was also populated by tourists who stayed at the resort and sat by the pool.

3. The man in a suit was reading a magazine on his morning commute to work.

4. The woman next to him sighed as the train stopped in a tunnel.

5. The neighbours gossiped about the people who lived in the house on the corner.

6. UPS delivered packages to the back door and strangers in cars visited.

7. The students in the computer lab talked to each other and worked on their essays.

8. The tutor helped the boy with his homework.

9. The children ate the ice cream.

10. A bully grabbed one of the cones and stuffed it in his mouth.

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