ENGLISH 5

Adverb
An adverb is a word that describes or gives more information about a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or even the
entire sentence.
The word “adverb” comes from the Latin word ad- (in addition) and verbum (word).

Adverb usually answers the following questions:

• Where? Home. (I went home.)
• When? Yesterday. (We met yesterday.)
• How? Slowly. (The turtle moves slowly.)
• How often? Sometimes. (Sometimes it stops responding.)
• How long? Temporarily. (She is staying with us temporarily.)
• How likely? Surely. (Our team will surely win!)
• To what degree? Very. (She was very pleased.)

Adverb describes…
• A verb: She runs quickly
• An adjective: She is so beautiful
• Another adverb: She dance very rarely.
• Entire sentence: Obviously, you have to come.

Types of Adverbs:
One type of adverb is the adverb of time.
• Adverbs of time tell “when?” or “how often?” an action occurs.
Example:
I never saw the movie.
(When did I see it? Never. That means “never” is an adverb of time.)
Example:
We wrote a story yesterday in class.
(When did we write it? Yesterday. That means “yesterday” is an adverb of time.)

Another type of adverb are adverbs of place.

• Adverbs of place tell “where?” an action occurred.
Example:
Did you put your book there on the table?
Where did you put your book? There. That means that there is an adverb. “On the table” is a prepositional
phrase. It is not an adverb. Remember that an adverb is a single-word modifier.

The most common type of adverbs are adverbs of manner.

• Adverbs of manner tell “how?” or “in what manner?” an action has occurred.
• Many adverbs of manner end in the letters “ly.”
Example:
We walked slowly down the hall.
(How did we walk? Slowly. That means “slowly” is an adverb of manner.)

Adverbs of degree are the hardest type of adverb to locate in a sentence.

• Adverbs of degree tell “how much?” or “to what degree?” something occurs.
• Adverbs of degree are often the ones that describe adjectives or other adverbs.
Example:
 I am very tired.
(To what degree am I tired? Very. “Very” is an
adverb of manner.)
Example:
We were too sleepy to continue the activity.
(How much were we sleepy? Too. That means that “too” is an adverb of degree.)

The final type of adverb are adverbs of affirmation and negation.

• The three adverbs of affirmation are:
yes, indeed, undoubtedly
• The three adverbs of negation are:
no, not, never
• Anytime these words appear in sentences, they are adverbs.