Adverbs

An adverb can modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a phrase, or a clause. An adverb indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers questions such as "how," "when," "where," "how much".

While some adverbs can be identified by their characteristic "ly" suffix, most of them must be identified by untangling the grammatical relationships within the sentence or clause as a whole. Unlike an adjective, an adverb can be found in various places within the sentence.

In the following examples, each of the highlighted words is an adverb:

The seamstress quickly made the mourning clothes.

In this sentence, the adverb "quickly" modifies the verb "made" and indicates in what manner (or how fast) the clothing was constructed.

The midwives waited patiently through a long labour.

Similarly in this sentence, the adverb "patiently" modifies the verb "waited" and describes the manner in which the midwives waited.

The boldly spoken words would return to haunt the rebel.

In this sentence the adverb "boldly" modifies the adjective "spoken."

We urged him to dial the number more expeditiously.

Here the adverb "more" modifies the adverb "expeditiously."

Unfortunately, the bank closed at three today.

In this example, the adverb "unfortunately" modifies the entire sentence.

Conjunctive Adverbs

You can use a conjunctive adverb to join two clauses together. Some of the most common conjunctive adverbs are "also," "consequently," "finally," "furthermore," "hence," "however," "incidentally," "indeed," "instead," "likewise," "meanwhile," "nevertheless," "next," "nonetheless," "otherwise," "still," "then," "therefore," and "thus." A conjunctive adverb is not strong enough to join two independent clauses without the aid of a semicolon.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are conjunctive adverbs:

The government has cut university budgets; consequently, class sizes have been increased.

He did not have all the ingredients the recipe called for;therefore, he decided to make something else.

The report recommended several changes to the ways the corporation accounted for donations; furthermore, it suggested that a new auditor be appointed immediately.

The crowd waited patiently for three hours; finally, the doors to the stadium were opened.

Batman and Robin fruitlessly searched the building; indeed, the Joker had escaped through a secret door in the basement.

Written by Heather MacFadyen

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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.

Click on "Lolly's Place" to read and hear Bob Dorough's "Get Your Adverbs Here" (from Scholastic Rock, 1974).

Schoolhouse Rock® and its characters andother elements are trademarks and service marks of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Used with permission. |

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.