Definition
Adverbs are words that modify
· a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)
· an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)
· another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)
As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:
· That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.
If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:
· When this class is over, we re going to the movies.
When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):
· He went to the movies.
· She works on holidays.
· They lived in Canada during the war.
And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):
· She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.
· The senator ran to catch the bus.
But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:
· He calls his mother as often as possible.
Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."
Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.
· Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.
· The student who reads fastest will finish first.
We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:
· With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.
· The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I ve ever seen.
· She worked less confidently after her accident.
· That was the least skillfully done performance I ve seen in years.
The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He can t run as fast as his sister."
A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn t. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings:
· He arrived late.
· Lately, he couldn t seem to be on time for anything.
In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:
· She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.
· He did wrong by her.
· He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.
Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:
· Emphasizers:
o I really don t believe him.
o He literally wrecked his mother s car.
o She simply ignored me.
o They re going to be late, for sure.
· Amplifiers:
o The teacher completely rejected her proposal.
o I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.
o They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.
o I so wanted to go with them.