ADVERB

An adverb is a word which touches almost every part of speech and it

qualifies:
• Verb
• Adjective
• Adverb
• Preposition
• conjunction
• Verb :
• Ram works hard.
• They speak loudly.
• Adjective:
• Shyam is a very good boy.
• She is very beautiful.
• Adverb:
• He runs very fast.
• Veena writes very beautifully.
• Preposition:
• The bird flew exactly over his head.

• Conjunction:
• People like her simply because she has a clear conscience.
Spot the errors:
1) He is miser.
2) He is a miser man.
3) He is a miserly man.
Ans:
1) He is a miser.(add ‘a’ before miser which is a noun)
2) He is a miser man.(x)
3) He is a miserly man.(use adjective ‘miserly’ to qualify man which is
a noun)
Important points to remember.
• In most of the cases ‘adverb’ is formed by adding ‘ly’ to the end of
word.
Adjective Adverb

slow slowly

honest honestly

glad gladly
• But few nouns in which we often get confused between their
adjective and adverb forms are:
Noun Adjective form Adverb form

miser miserly In a miserly manner

coward cowardly In a cowardly manner

scholar scholarly In a scholarly manner.

Spot the errors:
1) He behaved miserly.
2) He behaved in a miserly manner.
Ans:
1) He behaved miserly.(x) (behaved is a verb so adverb of miser should
be used)
2) He behaved in a miserly manner.(no error)
• A few words have the same adverb and adjective form:
• Direct
• Long
• loud
• Hard
• Late
• Fast
• Straight
• safe
Eg:
Adverb Adjective

Run fast He is a fast runner

He waited long for me He went on a long journey

Do not talk loud We should not speak in a loud manner

He works hard This is a hard task

• Choose the correct one:
• Too dull
• Too glad
• Too healthy
• Too fat
• Too bad
Ans:
• Too dull
• Too fat
• Too bad
Some important adverbs and their uses:
• Too : used with negative adjectives.
• Eg: too bad, too naughty, too fat etc
• Too………to -> It can be used with both positive and negative
adjectives.
• Eg:
• He is too intelligent to solve any problem.
• He is too weak to walk.
• Much too + unpleasant adjective
• Too much + unpleasant noun
• Eg:
• He is much too wicked
• Too much carelessness resulted his failure
Choose the correct one:
1) This experience is none too good.
2) This experience is not very good.
3) I am only too happy to hear the news of your success.
4) I am very happy to hear the news of your success.
Ans:
• All the sentences are correct
• None too= not very
• Only too = very Used with both pleasant and unpleasant adjectives
• Very
• Eg: none too= not very
• This book is none too bad.
• This book is not very bad.
• Eg: only too= very

• Your work is only too bad.

• Your work is very bad.
Point to remember
• Very is used with positive degree.
• Eg: very good, very lucky
• Much is used with comparative degree.
• Eg: much better, much luckier

• Very much better???? (correct or wrong)

• We don’t use quite and all/absolute/complete in a single sentence.
• Eg:
• She is quite all right.(x)
• She is quite right.
• She is all right.
Spot the errors
1) His failure is too much painful for me.
2) His wife’s rude behaviour gives him much too pain.
3) Modi ji spoke last evening in Delhi.
Ans:
1) His failure is much too painful for me.(painful is a adjective)
2) His wife’s rude behavior gives him too much pain.(pain is noun)
3) Modi ji spoke in Delhi last evening.
• Adverb is followed in the following order:
• M -> P-> T =(manner,place,time)
• Eg:
• She sang well in the auditorium last night.
• India played well yesterday.
Spot the errors
1) He denied that he had killed him.
2) Both of us are not going there.
3) Unless he will not come, I will not go.
Ans:
1) He denied that he had killed him.
2) Neither of us is going there.(revise subject verb agreement concept)
3) Unless he comes, I will not go.
Important points
Negative words like “not/never” is not used with the
following words
• Seldom
• Hardly
• Scarcely
• Barely
• Rarely
• Never
• Nowhere
• Deny
• Forbid
• Both
• Until
• Unless
• lest
• Eg:
• She hardly don’t know anything about me. (x)
• She hardly knows anything about me.
Spot the errors
1) I hardly don’t know anybody in the city.
2) I rarely went to meet nobody
Ans:
1) I hardly know anybody in the city.
2) I rarely went to meet anybody
Spot the errors
1) Under no circumstances will I do it.
2) At no time the PM was aware of the accident.
3) Under a tree a tired old man was lying.
4) He hardly goes there.
Ans:
1) Under no circumstances will I do it.(no error)
2) At no time was the PM aware of the accident.
3) Under a tree was lying a tired old man.
4) He hardly goes there.(no error)
• Usually a sentence starts with subject and then the verb comes but
some words when start the sentence which may be either adverb or
negative phrase or prepositional phrase we first use verb and then
subject.
• List:
• Hardly
• Scarcely
• Always
• Often
• Under no circumstance
• On no account
• On the bed
• No sooner
• No where else
• Eg:
• Under the tree a man was sitting.(x)
• Under the tree was a man sitting.
• A man was sitting under a tree.
Choose the correct one:
• The principal appointed him teacher
• The principal appointed him as teacher

• The principal regarded him as teacher

• The principal regarded him teacher
Ans:
• The principal appointed him teacher
• The principal regarded as him teacher
• Adverb “as” can be used with-regard, describe, define, know
• But it can not be used with-
name,elect,appoint,choose,think,consider,call
• Eg:
• I regard him my mentor (x)
• I regard him as my brother
• The principal appointed him teacher
• The principal appointed him as teacher (x)
• I came across with her last month in Delhi and invited her to come to
Patna / No error
• Ans. I came across her in Delhi last month and invited her to come
to Patna/ No error
• MPT : rule
• The principal appointed him as an office boy in his office / No error
• Ans. The principal appointed him an office boy in his office.
‘Appointed’ will be not used with ‘As’
Which one is correct?
• He denied that he had killed him
• He has denied that he had killed him
• Both are correct
• "He denied that he had killed him." in this case the act of killing
happened before the denial.
• "He has denied that he had killed him" - in this case the act of killing
happened before something else, not specified in the sentence.