ADVERBS

Welcome to this lecture headed “ADVERBS”. We will be discussing all about adverbs. Enjoy your lecture.

Adverbs is the part of speech that can tell you where, when, how, why and to what extent something happen.

There are many different classes of adverb.

They are frequently obtained from adjectives or nouns by adding the suffix -ly.

For instance: The verb quick becomes quickly, the verb sudden becomes suddenly, the verb intelligent becomes intelligently.

To create an adverb from adjectives ending in -y alter the y to i before the addition of the -ly.

For instance: the adjective angry becomes angrily, busy changes to busily, hasty is turned to hastily and so on.

To create an adverb from adjectives ending in –e, discard the -e before adding the -ly.

For instance: feeble is changed to feebly, true is changed to truly.

A few adjectives ending in -ly requires no alteration.

For instance: heavenly.

Nevertheless, there are exceptions.

For instance: sly becomes slyly, shy becomes shyly.

A few adverbs do not end in -ly.

For instance: fast, hard, straight.

Adjective	Pretty	Serious	Fast	Quiet
Example	Uche was a pretty girl.	Obi was a serious boy.	It was a fast car.	They were quiet children
Adverb	Prettily	Seriously	Fast	Quietly
Example	The bird sang prettily	The postman spoke seriously	Schumacher drives fast.	The man spoke quietly.

Adverbs can modify adjectives

An adjective can be modified by an adverb, which precedes the adjective.

For instance:-

That’s really nice.

Adverbs can modify adverbs

A few adverbs can modify others. As with adjectives, the adverb go before the word it is modifying.

For instance:-

He did it really well.

Adverbs can also modify nouns. Adverbs can modify nouns to show time or place.

For instance:-

The lecture tomorrow.

The room upstairs.

Adverbs can modify noun phrases

A few adverbs of degree like quite, rather, so, such … can modify noun phrases.

For instance:-

We had quite a good time.

They’re such good friends.

Adverbs can modify determiners, numerals and pronouns

Adverbs like almost, nearly, hardly, about, etc., can be used:

For instance:-

Nearly everyone, who was invited, came to the birthday party, yesterday.

Adverbs can modify sentences

A few adverbs modify a whole sentence, not merely a part of one.

For instance:-

Luckily the morning train stopped in time. In this sentence luckily modifies the entire sentence, it signifies that it was good luck that the train stopped in time.

Different types of adverb

1. Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs of degree inform us of the strength or intensity of something that occurs. A lot of adverbs are gradable. This means that we can build up on them. Principally, they answer the type of question that asks How much …? or How little…?

Examples of adverbs of degree

Common examples of adverbs of degree are; adequately, almost, entirely, extremely, greatly, highly, hugely, immensely, moderately, partially, perfectly, practically, profoundly, strongly, totally, tremendously, very, virtually etc.

For instance:-

The cab driver drove badly. This means that the driver drove really badly. – In this sentence really demonstrates to us just how badly he drove.

They enjoyed the film. = They enjoyed the film immensely.  In this sentence immensely explains how much they enjoyed the film.

These intensifiers are not gradable however, you cannot say: The man drove really very badly.

Adverbs of Duration

Adverbs of duration tell us how long something happened.

They include; briefly, forever, long, shortly, permanently, temporarily etc.

For example:

“They were occupied.” means “They were briefly occupied.” – In this sentence briefly demonstrates the duration.

“The phone was out of order.” means “The phone was momentarily out of order.” – In this sentence momentarily illustrates the duration.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of frequency specify to us how frequently something is done.

Adverbs of frequency are; always, constantly, continually, frequently, infrequently, intermittently, normally, occasionally, often, periodically, rarely, regularly, seldom, sometimes and so on.For example:

I always do my homework on time. – In this sentence ‘always’ illustrates to us the frequency (how often) I do my homework on time.

She goes out occasionally. – In this sentence occasionally illustrates to us the frequency (how often) she goes out.

Adverbs of frequency appear between the subject and the verb in a sentence:-

For instance:

I always update the calendar at the beginning of the month.

Chika often takes notes during the Skype sessions.

Adverbs of frequency appear after a form of the verb to be – am, are, is (was, were) in a sentence:-

For instance:

I am never late.

The travel was occasionally frustrating.

They were always noisy.

Adverbs of frequency come between an auxiliary verb and the main verb:-

For instance:

Rose doesn’t usually smoke.

If there are two auxiliary verbs, the adverb of frequency is placed in between them:-

For instance:

I have never been to Asia.

The adverbs of frequency often, usually, sometimes and occasionally can go at the beginning of a sentence:-

For instance:

Usually I don’t give personal advice. This sentence means that I don’t usually give personal advice.

Occasionally we go for a drive on a Sunday. This sentence means that we occasionally go for a drive on a Sunday.

Adverbs of frequency go before the verbs used to or have to:-

For instance:

I always used to celebrate beacon night.

I usually have to get up early to walk Joseph.

When something occurs regularly at a fixed time, we can make use of the adverbs below:-

Every day – Daily

Every week – Weekly

Every fortnight (two weeks) – Fortnightly

Every month – Monthly

Every year – Yearly/Annually

For example:

I buy a newspaper every day. = I buy the newspaper daily. 

I pay my rent every month. = I pay my rent monthly.

Adverbs of Manner

A few adverbs tell us how an action is or should be performed. Often these adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of an adjective.

Adjectives ending -l add -ly ; careful-carefully.

Adjectives ending -y change to -ily ; lucky-luckily

Adjectives ending -ble change to -bly ; responsible-responsibly

Adjective	Adverb
anxious	Anxiously
bad	Badly
beautiful	Beautifully
capable	Capably
lucky	Luckily
quick	Quickly
weak	Weakly

For instance:

The little boy ran quickly. In this sentence quickly modifies the verb ran (to run).

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of place show where something occurs.

Example of adverbs of place are; abroad, anywhere, here, outside, somewhere, there, underground, upstairs etc.

For instance:

My passport is here in my bag.

Place	Example
Upstairs	The children were playing upstairs.
In Abuja	The people demonstrated in Abuja.
Outside	The students were playing outside

Adverbs of Probability

Adverbs of probability tell us the possibility of something occurring.

If you envision playing dice, what’s the probability of rolling a six?

You know it’s possible, but it’s not certain.

The only thing you are certain of is that you’ll throw something between one and six. Nevertheless, your less likely to throw two sixes.

Adverbs of probability include; certainly, definitely, doubtless, maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably etc.

For instance:

We will win the game. This means that we will certainly win the game. In this sentence certainly illustrates to us the probability.

Adverbs of Time

A few adverbs tell us when something happened or will happen.

These are: afterwards, later, now, soon, yesterday etc.

For instance:-

Yesterday all my troubles appeared so far away. – In this sentence yesterday illustrates to us when the singers troubles appeared very far away.

Further adverbs of time include:-

Time	Example
Saturday, Sunday …	I am going to the shops on Monday.
Today	I’ve been to the shops today.
Yesterday	I went yesterday.
Next week/month/year	I am going next week.
Last week/month/year	I went last year
Finally	I finally went.
Eventually	I eventually went to the shops
Already	I’ve already been to the shops.
Soon	I’m going to the shops soon.
Just	I’m just going to the shops.
Still	I’m still at the shops.

Adverbs of Comparison 

This is used when we compare what two things or people. We look at what makes one different from the other.

Adverbs of comparison are used to illustrate what one thing does better or worse than the other.

When an adverb ends in -ly, more is put in front of the adverb.

For instance:-

“After her poor test results, James did her homework more frequently.”

The rule for creating the comparative of an adverb is if it has an equivalent form as an adjective add the suffix -er to the end.

For instance:-

“Abdul did his homework faster.”

The following irregular adverbs are exceptions to this rule:

‘well’ becomes ‘better’

‘badly’ becomes ‘worse’

‘little’ becomes ‘less’

For instance:-

“Okechukwu’s test results were better.”

“Edet’s test results were worse.”

“To lose weight you ought to eat less.”

When comparing things you are supposed to put than between the adverb and what is being compared.

For instance:-

“Jack did his homework faster than Jill.”

“Jill did her homework more frequently than Jack.”

Superlative form of Adverb

The superlative form of an adverb is used to show which thing or person does something to the greater degree within a group or of its kind. Superlatives can be heralded by ‘the’. Commonly, the superlative forms of adverbs are the same as for superlative forms of adjectives.

The rule for creating the superlative of an adverb is if it has the same form as an adjective add the suffix -est to the end.

For instance:-

fast – “Uche ran the fastest.”

When an adverb ends in -ly, most is put in front of the adverb.

For instance:-

Regularly – “Joseph did her homework most regularly.”

The following irregular adverbs are exceptions:-

‘well’ becomes ‘the best’

‘badly’ becomes ‘the worst’

For instance:

“Ikechi did the best in the test.”

“Okorie did the worst in the test.”

Adverbials

Adverbials modify or tell us something about the sentence or the verb. It may be a single adverb, a phrase, or a prepositional phrase, or a clause factor.

When an adverbial modifies a verb, it alters the meaning of that verb.

For example:-

The students looked at me. The students looked at me anxiously. (The verb “looked” abruptly has a very different meaning).

When an adverbial modifies a sentence, the meaning of the sentence is altered.

For instance:-

I passed all of my exams.

Surprisingly, I passed all of my exams.

Word groups that are as well taken to be adverbials can as well modify verbs: a prepositional phrase, a noun phrase, a finite clause or a non-finite clause.

Multi-word adverbials are every so often referred to as an adverbial phrases.

For instance:-

I ran as quickly as I could, but I missed the bus.

If a whole clause functions as an adverbial, it’s referred to as an adverbial clause.

For instance:-

I’ll be off to the bed when the film ends.

Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.

Your Lecture Master:

Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua