Adverbs - A Quick Review

Here’s a quick review of adverbs, presented in a notes format with emojis and practice questions to make it easier to understand:

📝 Adverbs - A Quick Review

Adverbs are powerful words or groups of words that modify (or give additional information about) verbs, adjectives, and even other adverbs. They help describe when, where, how, or to what extent an action is performed, or they indicate the quality or degree of an action.

For example:

• “Shelley is always ready for help.” (modifies an adjective)
• “He loved her very much.” (modifies a verb)
• “Time is running out fast.” (modifies a verb)
• “I gave that willingly.” (modifies a verb)

💡 Adverb Clauses and Phrases Beyond single words, groups of words can also act as adverbs:

• Adverb Clauses: These are complete clauses that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs in a sentence.
  • Example: “He carried the load until he was tired.” (modifies “carried”)
• Adverb Phrases: These are phrases (groups of words without a subject and verb) that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
  • Example: “Maya arrived, carrying her suitcases with two hands.” (modifies “arrived”)
  • Example: “You are irritated without any reason.” (modifies “irritated”)

분류 Generic Classification of Adverbs

1. 🏃‍♀️ Adverbs of Manner (How?)

   • Function: Tell us how an action is performed.
   • Common Ending: Many adverbs of manner end in the suffix -ly (e.g., equally, carefully, slowly, beautifully, thankfully).
   • Examples:
     • “We should distribute the workload equally.” (How to distribute? Equally)
     • “Hold it carefully.” (How to hold? Carefully)
     • “He is improving slowly.” (How is he improving? Slowly)
     • “Maya runs very fast.” (How does Maya run? Fast)

2. 💪 Adverbs of Degree (How much? / To what extent?)

   • Function: Indicate the amount or force with which an action is performed, or the intensity of an adjective or another adverb.
   • Examples:
     • “Jessie completely forgot about her appointment.” (How much did she forget? Completely)
     • “The policemen examine the document thoroughly.” (To what degree did they examine? Thoroughly)
     • “She was so excited about the new place.” (How excited? So excited)
     • “I hardly go to the theatre.” (To what extent do I go? Hardly, implying not often)
   • Common Words: completely, nearly, entirely, less, mildly, most, thoroughly, somewhat, excessively, much. Note that some words like “completely” and “thoroughly” can also end in -ly, but answer “how much” here.

3. 📍 Adverbs of Place or Direction (Where? / In what direction?)

   • Function: Indicate the location or direction of the action.
   • Examples:
     • “I went through the jungle.” (Where did I go? Through the jungle)
     • “He works in a bank.” (Where does he work? In a bank)
     • “Maya is going to college.” (Where is Maya going? To college)
   • Common Words: across, over, under, in, out, through, backward, there, around, here, sideways, upstairs, in the park, in the field.

4. ⏰ Adverbs of Time or Frequency (When? / How often?)

   • Function: Tell us when an action happened or how often it occurs.
   • Examples:
     • “I arrived at the airport a little late yesterday.” (When did I arrive? Yesterday)
     • “He always gets a good result.” (How often? Always)
     • “The PM will leave for America on Monday.” (When will he leave? On Monday)
     • “I go to the theatre occasionally.” (How often? Occasionally)
   • Common Words: always, never, often, eventually, now, frequently, occasionally, once, forever, seldom, yesterday, Monday, 10 AM, 12.

5. 🗣️ Sentence Adverbs

   • Function: Modify the entire sentence or utterance, often indicating the speaker’s attitude or point of view. They typically appear at the beginning of the sentence.
   • Examples:
     • “Hopefully, I will finish the assignment.” (Modifies the whole sentence)
     • “Apparently, the days are getting hotter.”
     • “Certainly, you did not consider asking for my permission.”
   • Common Words: hopefully, apparently, certainly, obviously, actually.

6. 🔗 Conjunctive Adverbs

   • Function: Work as linkers, connecting independent clauses and phrases, and showing the relationship between two ideas.
   • Example: (The source describes their function but doesn’t provide a specific example sentence for this category of adverb within the provided excerpts for “Adverbs - A Quick Review”, but does mention they “link the clauses” and “connect independent clauses and phrases”.)

✍️ Practice Questions

Identify the adverb and its type in the following sentences:

1. She sings beautifully.
2. He rarely visits his hometown.
3. The cat climbed upstairs.
4. I am too tired to walk.
5. Frankly, I don’t care.

✅ Answers

1. beautifully - Adverb of Manner (How does she sing? Beautifully)
2. rarely - Adverb of Frequency (How often does he visit? Rarely)
3. upstairs - Adverb of Place/Direction (Where did the cat climb? Upstairs)
4. too - Adverb of Degree (To what extent am I tired? Too tired)
5. Frankly - Sentence Adverb (Modifies the whole statement, expressing the speaker’s attitude)