What Is An Adverb?

An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. An adverb "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The man ran quickly). But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even otheradverbs (It works very well).

We can usually recognise an adverb by its:

1. Function (Job)
2. Form
3. Position

1. Function of adverb

The main function or job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the word that it modifies is initalics.

• Modify a verb:
  - John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)
  - Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)
  - She never smokes. (When does she smoke?)
  
• Modify an adjective:
  - He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)
  
• Modify another adverb:
  - She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)

2. Form of adverb

Many adverbs end in -ly. We form such adverbs by adding -ly to the adjective. Here are some examples:

• quickly, softly, strongly, honestly, interestingly

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. "Friendly", for example, is an adjective.

Some adverbs have no particular form, for example:

• well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

3. Position of adverb

Adverbs have three main positions in the sentence:

• Front (before the subject):
  - Now we will study adverbs.
  
• Middle (between the subject and the main verb):
  - We often study adverbs.
  
• End (after the verb or object):
  
  - We study adverbs carefully.

By,
Teacher Hamimi