Adverbs masterclass

In this lesson, we learn what an adverb in English is, how to use it, where to use it in a sentence, and all its types.

What is an adverb in English?

In English, an adverb is a word that modifies (gives information) a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. When it modifies a verb, it tells us how an action takes place, where it happens, when it happens, and how often it happens. Most adverbs in English modify a verb and give information about the above-mentioned things.

The adverb hard, in the sentence, tells us how Ashish works. It modifies the main verb ‘work’ and talks about the manner in which he works.

In this sentence, the adverb modifies the verb and tells us where the action (wait) takes place. 

When will we meet? The adverb here modifies the verb and tells us when the action takes place; it talks about the time of the action (meet).

Here, the adverb modifies the verb and tells us how often or frequently the action takes place. 

Adverbs that modify an adjective either intensify (make them stronger) or limit or weaken the meaning of the adjective they modify. The word very is an adverb here in the sentence. It intensifies the meaning of the adjective confident. 

The word somewhat is working as an adverb here in the sentence. It modifies the adjective talented and limits its meaning. The speaker is not positive about the subject’s quality here. 

Some intensifiers:

• Very
• Highly 
• Extremely
• Too
• Rather

Some limiters:

• Somewhat
• Hardly
• Fairly
• Pretty 

Adverbs also modify adverbs. and complete sentences. 

The sentence has two adverbs in it: very and confidently. The word confidently tells us in what manner the subject performs the action (how), and the word very intensifies the meaning of the adverb confidently.

Here too, the sentence has two adverbs. The first adverb (hard) modifies the main verb and talks about how the action takes place, and the other one (extremely) modifies the adverb hard by intensifying its meaning/degree.

In this sentence, the adverb modifies the entire sentence by showing the speaker’s feelings about the situation. To put it simply, the speaker finds it fortunate that they were there to help Jimmy.

Types of adverbs in English 

• Adverbs of time
• Adverbs of frequency
• Adverbs of place
• Adverbs of manner 
• Adverbs of degree 
• Sentence adverbs
• Conjunctive adverb
• Relative adverb

Adverb of time

An adverb of time is a word that modifies a verb in terms of time: it tells us when the action takes place.

Common adverbs of time

• Today
• Tomorrow
• Later
• Now
• Then
• Last night
• That day/month/year
• Next week/month/year
• Tonight

Examples:

• I will call you later.
• We are having a party tonight.
• Did someone come to my room last night?

Click on adverbs of time to learn more about them.

Adverb of frequency

These are words that indicate ‘how often’ or ‘how frequently’ the action takes place. To find the adverbs of frequency in a sentence, ask how often the action (verb) takes place.

Indefinite frequency

• Always
• Daily
• Usually
• Frequently/often
• Sometimes
• Occasionally
• Rarely
• Seldom
• Hardly ever
• Never
• Generally
• Normally

Definite frequency

• Hourly
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Yearly
• Quarterly
• Fortnightly
• Regularly

Examples:

• My friends sometimes play pranks on me.
• Monu and I go on random trips occasionally.
• My school friends rarely call me.
• I seldom go shopping.
• You should never spy on your partner.
• All of us get paid hourly.
• We meet weekly at the park.
• The company pays us monthly.

Click on adverbs of frequency to learn more about them.

Adverb of place

An adverb of place modifies a verb and tells us the place of the action. It tells us where an action takes place.

Some common adverbs of place

• Here
• There
• Up
• Upstairs
• Down
• Downstairs
• In
• Out
• Inside
• Outside
• On
• Above
• Over
• Under

Examples:

• Could you come here?
• We don’t go there; it is believed to be a haunted place.
• Pull your pants up.
• We are climbing down.
• Jon is partying upstairs with his friends.
• My trainer lives downstairs.

Click on adverbs of place to learn more about them.

Adverb of manner

These are words that indicate how we perform an action. Adverbs of manner describe the manner in which an action is done. Most adverbs of manner are words that end with ‘ly’.

Some common adverbs of manner

• Properly
• Poorly
• Generously
• Easily
• Badly
• Boldly
• Accidently
• Incorrectly
• Correctly
• Respectfully
• Rudely
• Sadly
• Safely

Examples:

• You danced beautifully last night. (in a beautiful way)
• Touch it gently. (in a gentle/kind manner)
• The students are eagerly waiting to start the new program. (in a manner that shows you are eager or excited)
• They are eating peacefully. (In a peaceful manner)
• She was talking to me awkwardly last night. (in a strange/awkward manner)

Hard, Fast, and Well are the adverbs of manner that don’t end with ‘ly’.

Examples:

• He kicked the ball hard.
• Jacob runs fast.
• You did well on the test.

Click on adverbs of manner to learn more about them.

Adverb of degree

An adverb of degree modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb by telling to what degree they are true. When it modifies a verb, it indicates the degree to which the action takes place or is true. It talks about the intensity of the action.

When an adverb of degree modifies an adjective and an adverb, they Indicate “to what degree” they are true.

Some common adverbs of degree

• Very
• Extremely
• Almost
• Nearly
• Completely
• Scarcely
• Enough
• Just
• Nearly
• Badly
• Deeply
• Hardly
• Entirely
• Fairly
• Fully
• Greatly
• Highly
• How
• Utterly
• So
• Totally
• Too

Examples:

• It is extremely cold here.

(The adverb ‘extremely‘ is modifying the adjective ‘cold‘ and indicating its degree (to what extent it’s cold). Here, the adverb is strengthening the meaning of the adjective.)

• It is quite hot here.

(Here, ‘quite‘ is the adverb of degree’ that’s modifying the adjective ‘hot’, and telling us how hot it is: pretty. It’s not overly intensifying (positively) the meaning of the degree; it’s giving a neutral tone. It’s not too much or too less hot.)

• He completely changed my career.

(‘Completely‘ is the adverb of degree here that’s modifying the verb ‘changed‘ and telling us ‘to what degree’ the action was true’. An action can be true to different levels. For example, he might have had a big part (let’s say 70%) or a small part (for say 30%) in changing my career. But the reality is that he had a 100% part in changing my career. The action is true to the maximum degree. So, the adverb is positively intensifying the meaning of the verb.’

Modifying verbs:

• She runs quite fast.
• He hit me with an extremely hard punch.
• The patient almost died in the ambulance.
• We nearly missed the flight.
• How can you completely disregard our work?
• When the marriage fell apart, it badly affected her.
• Sonia deeply cares about you.

Modifying adjectives:

• The water was very cold.
• The food is so good.
• Your car looks extremely expensive.
• The match was highly competitive.

When adverbs of degree modify an adjective, they come right before the adjective.

Modifying adverbs:

• Alex speaks very fast.
• They all performed extremely well.
• You handled the matter pretty nicely.

When adverbs of degree modify an adverb, they come right before the adjective. Click on adverbs of degree to learn more about them.

Sentence adverbs

A sentence adverb is a word that indicates the attitude or opinion of the speaker towards a situation. It modifies a complete sentence. Sentence adverbs pass a comment on the entire situation and modify it.

These adverbs are also known as adverbs of opinion/commenting.

Common sentence adverbs

• fortunately
• unfortunately
• clearly
• logically
• honestly
• technically
• sadly
• frankly

Examples:

• Sadly, Jane is not a part of our team.

(To the speaker, it is sad that Jane is not a part of the team. Sadly is a sentence adverb here.)

• Interestingly, no one at the university had an answer to his question.

(The fact that no one at the university had an answer to his question is interesting to the speaker. So, the sentence adverb ‘interestingly‘ is showing the speaker’s attitude towards the situation: he/she finds the situation interesting.)

• Honestly, Jon lost the match. (=To be honest, he lost the match.)

• Apparently, no one wants to talk to us. (It is apparent to the speaker (his/her opinion) that no one wants to talk to us.)

Click on sentence adverbs to know more about them.

Conjunctive adverbs

A conjunctive adverb is a word that connects two sentences (independent clauses). It comes right before the second sentence and shows its relation with the previous sentence.

The reason we call it a conjunctive adverb is that it performs the function of both a conjunction and an adverb. It connects two independent clauses (like a conjunction) and modifies a sentence (like an adverb).

Some common conjunctive adverbs

• Additionally
• However
• Nonetheless
• Furthermore
• Similarly
• Also
• Beside
• As a result
• In fact
• On the other hand

Examples:

• We all agree that he is probably the most talented player we have; however, he hasn’t proven himself yet.

In the sentence, the word however adds two sentences and shows a contrast between them. It is doing the job of both a conjunction and an adverb, and that’s why it is called a conjunctive adverb.

• We loved your performance at the hall; in fact, we would like to have you on our team.

The conjunctive adverb, here, introduces another piece of information related to the first sentence and joins them.

• Jon constantly interrupted the interviewer; as a result, he got rejected.

Here, the conjunctive adverb ‘as a result’ adds two sentences where the second one works as a result of the first one, and the conjunctive adverb indicates this relation.

Relative adverbs

Relative adverbs are words (when, where, and why) that introduce an adjective clause and refer to a noun coming before them.

Examples:

• Do you know a place where we can discuss this plan in detail?

Where is a relative adverb in the sentence. It comes at the beginning of the adjective clause (where we can discuss this place in detail). It indicates the place of the action in the adjective clause and also identifies the noun ‘place’.

• Tell me the reason why you are here.

Here too, the relative adverb is a part of the adjective clause (why you are here) where ‘why’ is a relative adverb.

• I can’t remember the time when we did something this fun.

In this sentence, the relative adverb indicates the time of the action and introduces the adjective clause (when we did something this fun).

With a prepositional phrase	With a relative adverb
I know a good place to which we can go.	I know a good place where we can go.
This is the cafe at which we celebrated our first anniversary.	This is the cafe where we celebrated our first anniversary.
I still remember the day on which I met you.	I still remember the day when I met you.
I don’t know the reason for which you are here.	I don’t know the reason why you are here.
I remember the year in which we shifted to Pune from Delhi.	I remember the year when we shifted to Pune from Delhi.

These are phrases and clauses that modify a verb and tell us why the action takes place.

Adverbs, adverb phrases, and adverb clauses

We have understood what regular adverbs are: words that are originally formed to modify a verb, adverb, or adjective.

Now, what are adverb phrases and clauses? How are they different from regular adverbs? Let’s find out the answers to these questions.

TYPES	DEFINITION	EXAMPLES
Adverb	It is a word that gives information about a verb, adverb, or adjective.	1. I will call you tomorrow. 2. She talks to me politely. 3. We went there. 4. The meeting will be over soon.
Adverb phrase	It is a group of words (phrases) that gives information about a verb, adverb, or adjective.	1. I will call you very soon. 2. She talks to me in a nice manner. 3. We went there to see Jacob. 4. The meeting will be over very soon.
Adverb clause	It is a dependent clause that gives information about a verb, adverb, or adjective.	1. I will call you when I get back home. 2. She talks to me like she is my mother. 3. We went there because he was unwell. 4. The meeting will be over as soon as the presentation is done.

Check out the following posts to understand adverbs better:

1. Adverb phrases in English
2. Adverb clause in English

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