ADVERBS by Busungu Joseph

 ADVERBS

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb or the entire sentence. Adverbs are mobile, they can appear at the beginning, at the middle or at the end of the sentence.

For example,

ü Anneth walks quickly

ü Actually, I am not sure

ü He speaks loudly

Types of adverbs

a)    Adverbs of manner: They describe how an action is performed/done or how something happens. Adverbs of manner are usually formed by adding -ly to the adjectives. For example,

ü Aisha reads quietly

ü Turfena laughed loudly

ü He walks majestically

ü Grace works properly

ü They slowly walked to the theatre

b)   Adverbs of degree: They show to what extent an action is done. They answer the question how much? For example,

ü I am almost finished

ü He is completely poor

ü I had eaten enough

ü She is extremely lazy

ü The color changed slightly

ü They played very well

c)    Adverbs of place: They provide information about the location of an action. They show where an action is done. For example,

ü You may come here

ü They went away

ü Please go inside

ü He is outside

ü The cat stepped out

However, adverbials/adverbial phrases can be used. For example, in the class, to the hospital, at the airport, etc. An adverb is a single word while an adverbial consists of more than one word to add more information.

NB: the words like outside and inside can also be used as prepositions when used with objects like outside the house, inside the box.

d)   Adverbs of time: They describe when an action is performed. For example,

ü She came yesterday

ü I will visit you tomorrow

ü She has an appointment today

ü Wema will be preaching tonight

e)    Adverbs of frequency: They describe how often an action or something happens. They are categorized into two categories namely; adverbs of indefinite frequency (e.g. always, usually, never, normally, etc.) and adverbs of definite frequency (e.g. daily, weekly, yearly, hourly, etc.). For example,

ü Wema always works hard

ü Lymu usually teaches well

ü We normally visit our friends

ü He never involved in any criminal case

ü We make yearly evaluation

ü She walks to school daily

f)      Adverbs of certainty: They show the definiteness of an action. They show how obvious an action is. For example,

ü He is absolutely poor

ü Frankly speaking, English subject is very interesting

ü I surely saw him at the supermarket

ü He is really energetic

ü We shall certainly perform well

ü They obviously perform better

ü They are actually smart

ü It is definitely difficult

g)    Relative adverbs: They are used to introduce dependent or relative clauses (i.e. clauses that contain a subject and verb but they do not express the complete thought or idea). Hence, relative adverbs separate two clauses. For example,

ü This is the place where the accident occurred

ü I know why you acted ridiculously

ü That was the moment when I first started writing books

ü I remember well where he comes from.

ü This is the village where I grew up

h)   Interrogative adverbs: They are used to introduce questions. For example,

ü Where did you come from?

ü Why are you insulting him?

ü When are you going to graduate?

ü How is your father?

FORMATION OF ADVERBS

Most of the times, an adverb is formed by adding ‘ly’ to an adjective. Examples of such formation of adverbs are as follows:

Adjective           Adverb

quick                   quickly

slow                     slowly

beautiful             beautifully

firm                     firmly

delicate               delicately

abrupt                 abruptly

careful                 carefully

harsh                   harshly

cheerful              cheerfully

sad                       sadly

Sometimes, the adjective ends in ‘y’. In these cases, replace the ‘y’ with ‘i’ and add ‘ly’. Examples are as follows,

Adjective           Adverb

easy                     easily

lucky                   luckily

happy                  happily

angry                   angrily

hungry                hungrily

heavy                  heavily

breezy                 breezily

cheery                 cheerily

busy                    busily

In some cases, the adjective ends in ‘le’, ‘able’ or ‘ible ‘. In these cases, replace the ‘e’ with ‘y’. Examples of these adverbs’ formation are,

Adjective           Adverb

gentle                  gently

terrible                terribly

probable             probably

capable               capably

fashionable        fashionably

suitable               suitably

responsible         responsibly

eligible                eligibly

horrible               horribly

incredible           incredibly

If the adjective ends in ‘ic, then add ‘ally’. The exception is ‘public’. The adverb for ‘public’ is ‘publicly’. Some examples are

Adjective           Adverb

tragic                   tragically

basic                    basically

dramatic             dramatically

energetic             energetically

economic            economically

strategic              strategically

arithmetic           arithmetically

geometric           geometrically

artistic                 artistically

academic            academically

For adjectives that end in ‘cal’, just add ‘ly’ to turn it into an adverb. Examples

Adjective           Adverb

chemical             chemically

biological            biologically

logical                 logically

grammatical       grammatically

physical              physically

mechanical        mechanically

mathematical     mathematically

musical               musically

critical                 critically

medical               medically

Some adverbs have the same form as their adjective. Some such words are,

Adjective           Adverb

early                    early

late                      late

daily                    daily

far                        far

close                    close

fast                       fast

free                      free

high                     high

low                      low

long                     long

The adverb for the adjective ‘good’ is ‘well’. Examples

·       Jack is a good guitarist.     –     Jack plays the guitar well.

·       She is a good dancer.     –     She dances well.

·       Akshay is a good student.     –     Akshay studies well.

·       He is a good chess player.     –     He plays chess well.