Adverb, Its Definition and Types
Definition:
The word which is used to modify the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another
adverb is called an adverb.
sing beautifully (adds to the
meaning of a verb)
a very beautiful singer (adds
to the meaning of an adjective)
sing very beautifully (adds to
the meaning of another adverb)
Types of Adverbs:
1. Adverbs of Time- indicates ‘when’
Example: before, late, ago, yesterday, in the morning,
soon, tomorrow, etc.
He arrived late.
They will now begin to work.
He called me here a few minutes ago.
I had a letter from him lately.
I hurt my fingers yesterday.
I have already spoken to him.
2. Adverbs of Frequency- indicates ‘how often’
Example: once, often, daily, seldom, sometimes,
regularly, occasionally, usually, twice, two times a day, already, yet, ever,
so for, etc.
She has told you thrice.
We have not seen him once.
She often makes mistakes;
His brother seldom comes here.
3. Adverbs of Place- indicates ‘where’
Example: In Kathmandu, here, there, up, down, nearby,
away, everywhere, anywhere, etc.
Come here.
The dog followed Mary everywhere.
Come in.
We looked up.
The thief ran away.
4. Adverbs of Manner- indicates ‘how or in what manner’
Example: bravely, beautifully, soundly, clearly, etc.
The Gurkhas fought bravely.
He works hard.
I was completely disappointed.
My sister reads clearly.
This story is well written.
The baby slept soundly.
Slowly and sadly we laid him down.
You should not do so.
Formation
of Adverbs of Manner:
Adverbs
are normally formed by adding –ly to adjectives.
Quick- quickly
Glad-
gladly
Happy- happily
Warm-
warmly
Merry-
merrily
However,
some words have the same form both as an adjectives and as an adverb.
Early,
late, hard, long, short, fast, daily, straight, etc.
My father
is an early riser. (adjective)
We rose
early. (adverb)
Draw a
straight line. (adjective)
Go
straight. (adverb)
All words
ending in –ly are not adverbs. The words given below are adjectives.
elderly,
friendly, lively, cowardly, lonely, lovely, silly, etc.
Last
evening, we played a friendly football match.
Elderly
people should be properly looked after.
5. Adverbs of Degree- indicates ‘how much, or in what degree
or to what Extent’
Example: too, so, quite, rather, pretty, very, enough,
etc.
He was very careful.
These mangoes are pretty delicious.
You are quite wrong.
They are rather busy.
Her brother is good enough for my purpose.
We are so glad.
6.
Interrogative Adverbs- asks questions
Example:
where, when, why, how, etc.
Where does your brother live?
When did she come?
Why is he late?
How did you do this?
Adverbs Likely to be Confused
Sometimes we have two similar –
looking adverbs with very different meanings:
I got late because of a
traffic jam. (after the expected time)
Lately she
had written some interesting stories. (recently)
He went direct to his
father and apologized. (straight)
I’ll meet you directly.
(soon)
Could you speak a bit louder? I
can hardly hear you. (I can hear you a very little.)
hardly- very little, almost
not
The teacher advised him to
work hard. (with great effort)
The movie was so interesting.
(very)
He was such an experienced
person. (used to emphasize the great degree of something)
(So and such make the meaning
of an adjective or adverb stronger.)
She is old enough go to
school. (Enough means sufficient is used in positive sense.)
She works too hard. (Too
suggests excess of some kind, more than what is proper.)
Her voice is fairly
sweet.
The teacher was rather
annoyed at her stupid answers.
(Both ‘fairly’ and ‘rather’ means
moderately. ‘Fairly’ is used in favorable situations and ‘rather’ in
unfavorable ones.)
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