Definition

Adverbsarewordsthatmodify

averb(Hedroveslowly.Howdidhedrive?)
anadjective(Hedroveaveryfastcar.Howfastwashiscar?)
anotheradverb(Shemovedquiteslowlydowntheaisle.Howslowlydid
shemove?)

Aswewillsee,adverbsoftentellwhen,where,why,orunderwhatconditions
somethinghappensorhappened.Adverbsfrequentlyendinly;however,manywords
andphrasesnotendinginlyserveanadverbialfunctionandanlyendingisnota
guaranteethatawordisanadverb.Thewordslovely,lonely,motherly,friendly,
neighborly,forinstance,areadjectives:

Thatlovelywomanlivesinafriendlyneighborhood.

If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb
of a sentence), it is called an AdverbClause:
Whenthisclassisover,we'regoingtothemovies.
Whenagroupofwordsnotcontainingasubjectandverbactsasanadverb,itis
calledanadverbialphrase.Prepositionalphrasesfrequentlyhaveadverbialfunctions
(tellingplaceandtime,modifyingtheverb):

Hewenttothemovies.
Sheworksonholidays.
TheylivedinCanadaduringthewar.

AndInfinitivephrasescanactasadverbs(usuallytelling
why):

Shehurriedtothemainlandtoseeherbrother.
Thesenatorrantocatchthebus.

Butthereareotherkindsofadverbialphrases:

Hecallshismotherasoftenaspossible.

Click on "Lolly's Place" to

read and hear Bob
Adverbscanmodifyadjectives,butanadjectivecannot
Dorough's "Get Your
Adverbs
Here" (from
modifyanadverb.Thuswewouldsaythat"thestudents
Scholastic Rock, 1974).
showedareallywonderfulattitude"andthat"thestudents
Schoolhouse Rock and
its characters and other
elements are trademarks
and service marks of
American Broadcasting
Companies, Inc. Used
with permission.

showedawonderfullycasualattitude"andthat"myprofessorisreallytall,butnot"He
ranrealfast."
Likeadjectives,adverbscanhavecomparativeandsuperlativeformstoshowdegree.

Walkfasterifyouwanttokeepupwithme.
Thestudentwhoreadsfastestwillfinishfirst.

Weoftenusemoreandmost,lessandleasttoshowdegreewithadverbs:

Withsneakerson,shecouldmovemorequicklyamongthepatients.
TheflowerswerethemostbeautifullyarrangedcreationsI'veeverseen.
Sheworkedlessconfidentlyafterheraccident.
ThatwastheleastskillfullydoneperformanceI'veseeninyears.

Theasasconstructioncanbeusedtocreateadverbsthatexpresssamenessor
equality:"Hecan'trunasfastashissister."
Ahandfulofadverbshavetwoforms,onethatendsinlyandonethatdoesn't.In
certaincases,thetwoformshavedifferentmeanings:

Hearrivedlate.
Lately,hecouldn'tseemtobeontimeforanything.

Inmostcases,however,theformwithoutthelyendingshouldbereservedforcasual
situations:

ShecertainlydrivesslowinthatoldBuickofhers.
Hedidwrongbyher.
Hespokesharp,quick,andtothepoint.

Adverbsoftenfunctionasintensifiers,conveyingagreaterorlesseremphasisto
something.Intensifiersaresaidtohavethreedifferentfunctions:theycanemphasize,
amplify,ordowntone.Herearesomeexamples:

Emphasizers:
o Ireallydon'tbelievehim.
o Heliterallywreckedhismother'scar.
o Shesimplyignoredme.
o They'regoingtobelate,forsure.
Amplifiers:
o Theteachercompletelyrejectedherproposal.
o Iabsolutelyrefusetoattendanymorefacultymeetings.
o Theyheartilyendorsedthenewrestaurant.
o Isowantedtogowiththem.

Weknowthiscitywell.
Downtoners:
o Ikindoflikethiscollege.
o Joesortoffeltbetrayedbyhissister.
o Hismothermildlydisapprovedhisactions.
o Wecanimproveonthistosomeextent.
o Thebossalmostquitafterthat.
o Theschoolwasallbutruinedbythestorm.
o

For this section on intensifiers, we are indebted to A Grammar of Contemporary English by Randolph Quirk,
Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. Longman Group: London. 1978. pages 438 to 457.
Examples our own.

Using Adverbs in a Numbered List

Withinthenormalflowoftext,it'snearlyalwaysabadideatonumberitemsbeyond
threeorfour,atthemost.Anythingbeyondthat,you'rebetteroffwithaverticallistthat
usesnumbers(1,2,3,etc.).Also,insuchalist,don'tuseadverbs(withanlyending);
useinsteadtheuninflectedordinalnumber(first,second,third,fourth,fifth,etc.).First
(notfirstly),it'sunclearwhattheadverbismodifying.Second(notsecondly),it's
unnecessary.Third(notthirdly),afteryougetbeyond"secondly,"itstartstosoundsilly.
Adverbsthatnumberinthismanneraretreatedasdisjuncts(seebelow.)

Adverbs We Can Do Without

ReviewthesectiononBeingConciseforsomeadviceonadverbsthatwecan
eliminatetothebenefitofourprose:intensifierssuchasvery,extremely,andreallythat
don'tintensifyanythingandexpletiveconstructions("Thereareseveralbooksthat
addressthisissue.")

Kinds of Adverbs
Adverbs of Manner
She moved slowly and spoke quietly.
Adverbs of Place
She has lived on the island all her life.
She still lives there now.

Adverbs of Frequency
She takes the boat to the mainland every day.
She often goes by herself.
Adverbs of Time
She tries to get back before dark.
It's starting to get dark now.
She finished her tea first.
She left early.
Adverbs of Purpose
She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.
She shops in several stores to get the best buys.

Positions of Adverbs
Oneofthehallmarksofadverbsistheirabilitytomovearoundinasentence.
Adverbsofmannerareparticularlyflexibleinthisregard.

Solemnlytheministeraddressedhercongregation.
Theministersolemnlyaddressedhercongregation.
Theministeraddressedhercongregationsolemnly.

Thefollowingadverbsoffrequencyappearinvariouspointsinthesesentences:

Beforethemainverb:Inevergetupbeforenineo'clock.
Betweentheauxiliaryverbandthemainverb:Ihaverarelywrittentomy
brotherwithoutagoodreason.
Beforetheverbusedto:Ialwaysusedtoseehimathissummerhome.

Indefiniteadverbsoftimecanappeareitherbeforetheverborbetweentheauxiliary
andthemainverb:

Hefinallyshowedupforbattingpractice.
Shehasrecentlyretired.

Order of Adverbs
Thereisabasicorderinwhichadverbswillappearwhenthereismorethanone.Itis
similartoTheRoyalOrderofAdjectives,butitisevenmoreflexible.

THE ROYAL ORDER OF ADVERBS

Verb

Manner

Beth
swims

enthusiastically

Place
in the
pool

Frequency
every morning

Time
before
dawn

to keep in shape.
to get a
newspaper.

Dad walks impatiently

into town every afternoon

before
supper

Tashonda
naps

in her
room

before
lunch.

every morning

Purpose

In actual practice, of course, it would be highly unusual to have a string of adverbial

modifiers beyond two or three (at the most). Because the placement of adverbs is so
flexible, one or two of the modifiers would probably move to the beginning of the sentence:
"Every afternoon before supper, Dad impatiently walks into town to get a newspaper."
When that happens, the introductory adverbial modifiers are usually set off with a comma.

More Notes on Adverb Order

Asageneralprinciple,shorteradverbialphrasesprecedelongeradverbialphrases,
regardlessofcontent.Inthefollowingsentence,anadverboftimeprecedesanadverbof
frequencybecauseitisshorter(andsimpler):

Dadtakesabriskwalkbeforebreakfasteverydayofhislife.

Asecondprinciple:amongsimilaradverbialphrasesofkind(manner,place,frequency,
etc.),themorespecificadverbialphrasecomesfirst:

MygrandmotherwasborninasodhouseontheplainsofnorthernNebraska.
ShepromisedtomeethimforlunchnextTuesday.

Bringinganadverbialmodifiertothebeginningofthesentencecanplacespecial
emphasisonthatmodifier.Thisisparticularlyusefulwithadverbsofmanner:

Slowly,eversocarefully,Jessefilledthecoffeecupuptothebrim,even
abovethebrim.
Occasionally,butonlyoccasionally,oneoftheselemonswillgetbythe
inspectors.

Inappropriate Adverb Order

ReviewthesectiononMisplacedModifiersforsomeadditionalideasonplacement.
Modifierscansometimesattachthemselvestoandthusmodifywordsthattheyoughtnot
tomodify.

TheyreportedthatGiuseppeBalle,aEuropeanrockstar,haddiedonthesix
o'clocknews.

Clearly, it would be better to move the underlined modifier to a position immediately

after "they reported" or even to the beginning of the sentence so the poor man doesn't
die on television. Misplacement can also occur with very simple modifiers, such as only
and barely:
Sheonlygrewtobefourfeettall.
It would be better if "She grew to be only four feet tall."

Adjuncts, Disjuncts, and Conjuncts

Regardlessofitsposition,anadverbisoftenneatlyintegratedintotheflowofa
sentence.Whenthisistrue,asitalmostalwaysis,theadverbiscalledanadjunct.(Notice
theunderlinedadjunctsoradjunctiveadverbsinthefirsttwosentencesofthisparagraph.)
Whentheadverbdoesnotfitintotheflowoftheclause,itiscalledadisjunctora
conjunctandisoftensetoffbyacommaorsetofcommas.Adisjunctfrequentlyactsasa
kindofevaluationoftherestofthesentence.Althoughitusuallymodifiestheverb,we
couldsaythatitmodifiestheentireclause,too.Noticehow"too"isadisjunctinthe
sentenceimmediatelybeforethisone;thatsamewordcanalsoserveasanadjunct
adverbialmodifier:It'stoohottoplayoutside.Herearetwomoredisjunctiveadverbs:

Frankly,Martha,Idon'tgiveahoot.

Fortunately,noonewashurt.

Conjuncts,ontheotherhand,serveaconnectorfunctionwithintheflowofthetext,
signalingatransitionbetweenideas.

Iftheystartsmokingthoseawfulcigars,thenI'mnotstaying.
We'vetoldthelandlordaboutthisceilingagainandagain,andyethe'sdone
nothingtofixit.

Attheextremeedgeofthiscategory,wehavethepurelyconjunctivedeviceknownasthe
conjunctiveadverb(oftencalledtheadverbialconjunction):

Josehasspentyearspreparingforthisevent;nevertheless,he'sthemost
nervouspersonhere.
Ilovethisschool;however,Idon'tthinkIcanaffordthetuition.

Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum.
Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. 126. Used with permission. Examples our own.

Some Special Cases

Theadverbsenoughandnotenoughusuallytakeapostmodifierposition:

Isthatmusicloudenough?
Theseshoesarenotbigenough.
Inaroomfulofelderlypeople,youmustremembertospeakloudlyenough.

(Notice,though,thatwhenenoughfunctionsasanadjective,itcancomebeforethenoun:

Didshegiveusenoughtime?

Theadverbenoughisoftenfollowedbyaninfinitive:

Shedidn'trunfastenoughtowin.

Theadverbtoocomesbeforeadjectivesandotheradverbs:

Sherantoofast.
Sheworkstooquickly.

Iftoocomesaftertheadverbitisprobablyadisjunct(meaningalso)andisusuallysetoff
withacomma:

Yasminworkshard.Sheworksquickly,too.

Theadverbtooisoftenfollowedbyaninfinitive:

Sherunstoo
slowly

toenterthisrace.

Anothercommonconstructionwiththeadverbtooistoofollowedbyaprepositional
phrasefor+theobjectoftheprepositionfollowedbyaninfinitive:

Thismilkistoo
hotforababytodrink.

Relative Adverbs
Adjectivalclausesaresometimesintroducedbywhatarecalledtherelativeadverbs:
where,when,andwhy.Althoughtheentireclauseisadjectivalandwillmodifyanoun,
therelativeworditselffulfillsanadverbialfunction(modifyingaverbwithinitsown
clause).
Therelativeadverbwherewillbeginaclausethatmodifiesanounofplace:
My entire family now worships in the church where my great grandfather
used to be minister.

Therelativepronoun"where"modifiestheverb"usedtobe"(whichmakesitadverbial),
buttheentireclause("wheremygreatgrandfatherusedtobeminister")modifiesthe
word"church."
Awhenclausewillmodifynounsoftime:
My favorite month is always February, when we celebrate Valentine's
Day and Presidents' Day.

Andawhyclausewillmodifythenounreason:
Do you know the reason why Isabel isn't in class today?

Wesometimesleaveouttherelativeadverbinsuchclauses,andmanywritersprefer
"that"to"why"inaclausereferringto"reason":

DoyouknowthereasonwhyIsabelisn'tinclasstoday?
Ialwayslookforwardtothedaywhenwebeginoursummervacation.
Iknowthereasonthatmenlikemotorcycles.

Authority for this section: Understanding English Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Edition. MacMillan
Publishing Company: New York. 1994.

Viewpoint, Focus, and Negative Adverbs

Aviewpointadverbgenerallycomesafteranounandisrelatedtoanadjectivethat
precedesthatnoun:

Asuccessfulathleticteamisoftenagoodteamscholastically.
Investingallourmoneyinsnowmobileswasprobablynotasoundidea
financially.

Youwillsometimeshearaphraselike"scholasticallyspeaking"or"financiallyspeaking"
inthesecircumstances,buttheword"speaking"isseldomnecessary.
Afocusadverbindicatesthatwhatisbeingcommunicatedislimitedtothepartthat
isfocused;afocusadverbwilltendeithertolimitthesenseofthesentence("HegotanA
justforattendingtheclass.")ortoactasanadditive("HegotanAinadditiontobeing
published."
Althoughnegativeconstructionslikethewords"not"and"never"areusuallyfound
embeddedwithinaverbstring"Hehasneverbeenmuchhelptohismother."they
aretechnicallynotpartoftheverb;theyare,indeed,adverbs.However,asocalled
negativeadverbcreatesanegativemeaninginasentencewithouttheuseoftheusual
no/not/neither/nor/neverconstructions:

Heseldomvisits.
Shehardlyeatsanythingsincetheaccident.
Afterherlongandtediouslectures,rarelywasanyoneawake.

QuizonAdverbs

OrderofAdverbs

Guide to Grammar
and Writing

Principles of
Composition