ADVERBS

Form
 They are formed by adding -ly to the corresponding
adjectives: final, finally.
 A final e is retained before ly: extremely; exc: truly,
wholly.
 Not all the words ending in -ly are adverbs;
 some are only adjectives: lonely, lovely, friendly, likely,
 some are both adjectives and adverbs: daily (a daily paper, to be
published daily)
 Adverbs and adjectives with the same form: back,
enough, far, fast, long, low.
 The adjective ‘good’ becomes the adverb ‘well’.
 Comparison
 With adverbs of 2 or more syllables, we form the
comparative and superlative by putting more and
the most before the positive: fortunately-more
fortunately-the most fortunately.
 One-syllable adverbs and ‘early’ add er, the…
est
Different Forms and Meanings of
Adverbs Deriving from the Same Adj.
 She came close. She followed the instructions
closely.
 He dug deep. He was deeply impressed.
 Take it easy. I solved the exercise easily.
 They play fair. He was treated fairly. His paper is
fairly good.
 Members are admitted free. They criticized him
freely.
Different Forms and Meanings of
Adverbs Deriving from the Same Adj.
 They work hard. I could hardly understand her.
 The plane flies high in the air. She is highly appreciated.
 She has just arrived. He was justly forgiven.
 She arrived late. I haven’t seen him lately.
 She works most. The town is mostly of blocks of flats.
 They live near. They worked nearly 10 hours.
 It is pretty late. She dresses prettily.
Inversion
 After adverbs such as hardly/scarcely ever,
hardly/scarcely….when, no sooner …. than,
in/under no circumstances, never, not only, not
until, on no account, only by, only in this way,
only when, seldom
 Under no circumstances should you lend him any
money.
 Seldom do I see him.
Position
 Adverbs of manner come after the vb. or after the
object when there is one (She dances beautifully.
They speak English well.). But if the object is long
we usually put the adv. before the vb. (They
secretly decided to leave the town). N.B. If we
move secretly to the end, we change the meaning
(They secretly decided=the decision was secret.
They decided to leave the town secretly=the
departure was to be secret.)
 vb.+prep.+obj. – the adv. can be either before the
prep. or after the obj. (He looked at me
suspiciously/suspiciously at me.)
Position
 Adverbs of place come after the vb. or vb.+object
or vb.+prep.+object (I sent him away. I looked for it
everywhere). N.B. here and there can be followed
by be/come/go+subject in order to stress (There
you are. Here it comes.)
 Adverbs of time are usually placed at the very
beginning or at the very end of the clause
(Eventually he came/He came eventually.)
 yet: normally placed after the vb. or vb.+object. It
is chiefly used in negative or interrogative
sentences.
Position
 Adverbs of frequency come directly before the
main verb (I always watch TV in the evening.)
 If the main verb is ‘to be' and there is no auxiliary verb,
adverbs of frequency are placed after ‘to be'. (We are
usually there on holiday.)
 If there is an auxiliary verb, adverbs of frequency are
placed after it (I have never been abroad.)
Order
 Time expressions can follow expressions of
manner and place (They worked hard in the house
yesterday), but they can also be used in front
position (Every day he waited patiently at home.)
 Expressions of manner usually precede
expressions of place, but away, back, down,
forward, home, in, off, on, out, round and up
usually precede adverbs of manner (They went
home quietly. She looked back anxiously.)