Adverbs
Adverbs
An
adverb
is
a
word
that’s used to give
information
about a
verb,
adjective, or
other
adverb.
They
also come between
an auxiliary
verb
(such as
be or
have)
and a
main
verb:
When used
with a
verb, adverbs
can
give
information
about:
- how something happens or is done:
She stretched
lazily.
He
walked
slowly.
The
town is
easily
accessible by
road.
- where something happens:
I live
here.
She’s
travelling
abroad.
The children tiptoed
upstairs.
- when something happens:
They
visited us
yesterday.
I
have to leave
soon.
He
still lives in London.
Adverbs
can
make the
meaning
of a
verb,
adjective, or other
adverb stronger or
weaker:
- with a verb:
I
almost
fell
asleep.
He
really
means it.
- with an adjective:
These
schemes are
very clever.
This
is
a
slightly better
result.
- with another adverb:
They
nearly
always get home
late.
The
answer to both
questions
is
really
rather simple.
Adverbs
normally come between
the subject and its
verb:
She
carefully
avoided my eye.
The
concert was suddenly
cancelled.
Some
adverbs refer to
a whole
statement
and not just a
part of it.
They are
called 'sentence
adverbs'
and they
act
as a
sort of comment, showing the
attitude or opinion of the
speaker or writer to a
particular
situation.
Sentence
adverbs often
stand
at the beginning of the sentence.
Here are some
examples
Clearly,
there have been
unacceptable
delays.
(=
It is
clear
that there have been
unacceptable
delays)
Sadly,
the forests are now under
threat.
(=
It is
sad
that the forests
are now under
threat)
Curiously, he never
visited
America.
(=
It's curious that he never
visted
America)
The sentence
adverbs are
used to convey the writer or speaker's opinion
that it is
clear/sad/curious
that something happened
or is the
case. If you compare the
way
clearly,
sadly,
and curiously
are used in the next three
sentences, you can
easily see the difference
between the meaning of the
sentence adverbs
and the
'ordinary'
adverbs:
He spoke
clearly
and with conviction.
(=
He spoke in a
clear
way
and with conviction)
She smiled
sadly.
[adverb]
(= She smiled
in a
sad
way)
He
looked at her
curiously.
(=
He looked at her
in a
curious/inquisitive
way)
Hopefully
and
thankfully
as sentence
adverbs
Sentence
adverbs are
well established in
English, but there
are two –
hopefully
and
thankfully
– which have
caused a
lot of controversy. Here
are two sentences in which hopefully
and
thankfully
are being
used as
sentence
adverbs:
Hopefully, the work will be
finished within the next two or three
weeks.
Thankfully,
we didn’t have to wait
long.
Many
people are convinced
that it’s wrong to use
hopefully or
thankfully
in this
way.
What’s the problem? It lies in the
fact that you
can't rewrite
this type of sentence
using the wording 'it
is hopeful that' or
'it is
thankful
that'. If you
wanted to rewrite the two
previous sentences, you couldn’t
say:
X
It is hopeful
that the work will be
finished within the next two or three
weeks.
X
It is
thankful
that we didn’t have to
wait long.
You’d need to
choose a
different wording,
for example:
It is to be
hoped that the work will be
finished within the next two or three
weeks.
As luck would
have it, we didn’t have to
wait long.
This
leads people to the
conclusion that hopefully
and
thankfully
should not be used
as sentence
adverbs. In fact,
there are no very strong
grammatical
grounds for criticizing the use of
hopefully
and
thankfully
as sentence
adverbs: there
aren't
any rules that
ban
this
sort of development of
meaning.
And there
are other
adverbs which behave
in the same way but which
haven’t
attracted the
same level of condemnation,
e.g.
frankly
or briefly:
Frankly, I
was pleased to
leave.
(i.e. to
be frank, I
was pleased to
leave)
Briefly,
the plot is
as
follows.
(i.e. to
be brief, the plot is
as
follows)
Nevertheless, you should
be
aware
that some people strongly object to the use of
hopefully
and
thankfully
as sentence
adverbs. In view of
this, it’s a
good idea
to be
cautious
about using them in formal
writing such as
job
applications just in
case your reader
happens to be one of those
people.
Adverbs
are used to modify a verb, an
adjective, or another adverb:
From
our examples above, you can see
that many adverbs end in
-ly. More precisely, they are formed
by adding -lyto an
adjective:
Because of their
distinctive endings, these adverbs
are known as -LY
ADVERBS. However, by no means all
adverbs end in -ly. Note also
that some adjectives also end in
-ly, including costly, deadly, friendly,
kindly, likely, lively, manly, and
timely.
Like adjectives, many adverbs are GRADABLE, that is, we can modify them using very or extremely:
The
modifying words very and extremely
are themselves adverbs. They
are called DEGREE ADVERBS because
they specify the degree to which an adjective or
another adverb applies. Degree
adverbs include almost,
barely, entirely, highly,
quite, slightly,
totally, and
utterly. Degree adverbs are
not gradable (*extremely
very).
Like adjectives, too, some adverbs can take COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE forms, with -er and -est:
In the
formation of comparatives
and superlatives, some adverbs are
irregular:
Adverbs and
adjectives have important
characteristics in common --
in particular their
gradability, and the fact
that they have
comparative and superlative
forms. However, an important
distinguishing
feature is that
adverbs do not modify nouns,
either attributively or predicatively:
The following words,
together with their comparative and
superlative forms, can be both
adverbs and adjectives:
The
comparative better
and the superlative
best, as well as some words
denoting time intervals
(daily, weekly,
monthly), can also be
adverbs or adjectives, depending on how they
are used.
We have incorporated some of these words into the following exercise. See if you can distinguish between the adverbs and the adjectives.
In each of the following pairs, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb or an adjective:
- [1]
Mary sings beautifully
[2] David is extremely clever
[3] This car goes incrediblyfast
Formal
Characteristics of
Adverbs
From
our examples above, you can see
that many adverbs end in
-ly. More precisely, they are formed
by adding -lyto an
adjective: Adjective | slow | quick | soft | sudden | gradual |
Adverb | slowly | quickly | softly | suddenly | gradually |
Like adjectives, many adverbs are GRADABLE, that is, we can modify them using very or extremely:
softly | very softly |
suddenly | very suddenly |
slowly | extremely slowly |
Like adjectives, too, some adverbs can take COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE forms, with -er and -est:
- John works
hard-- Mary works
harder -- I work
hardest
|
|
|
recently | more recently | most recently |
effectively | more effectively | most effectively |
frequently | more frequently | most frequently |
|
|
|
well | better | best |
badly | worse | worst |
little | less | least |
much | more | most |
Adverbs
and Adjectives
Adverbs and
adjectives have important
characteristics in common --
in particular their
gradability, and the fact
that they have
comparative and superlative
forms. However, an important
distinguishing
feature is that
adverbs do not modify nouns,
either attributively or predicatively:
|
|
David is a happy child | *David is a happily child |
David is happy | *David is happily |
The following sentences illustrate the two uses of early:early, far, fast, hard, late
|
|
I'll catch the early train | I awoke earlythis morning |
We have incorporated some of these words into the following exercise. See if you can distinguish between the adverbs and the adjectives.
In each of the following pairs, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb or an adjective:
1a. My train arrived late, as usual 1b. I'm watching the late film | Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
2a. My brother loves
fastcars
2b. He drives too fast |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
3a. This
exercise is
harderthan I thought
3b. I hope you'll try harder in future |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
4a. The Times
is published daily
4b. The Times is a dailynewspaper |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
5a. You've just ruined my best
shirt 5b. Computers work best if you kick them |
Adverb Adjective Adverb Adjective |
Although endings,
gradability and
comparison allow us to
identify many adverbs, there still
remains a very large number of them which
cannot be identified in this
way. In fact, taken
as a whole, the adverb
class is the most diverse of
all the word classes, and its members
exhibit a very wide range of forms and
functions. Many semantic
classifications of adverbs
have been made, but here we will
concentrate on just three of the most
distinctive classes, known
collectively as circumstantial
adverbs.
Many
adverbs convey information about the
manner, time, or place of an event
or action. MANNER adverbs tell us
how an action
is or should be performed:
In each of the following sentences, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb of manner, time, or place.
In contrast with additives, EXCLUSIVE adverbs focus attention on what follows them, to the exclusion of all other possibilities:
PARTICULARIZERS also focus attention on what follows them, but they do not exclude other possibilities:
Other particularizers includelargely, mainly, primarily, and predominantly.
An adverb has been highlighted in each of the following sentences. Indicate whether it is additive, exclusive, or a particularizer.
We conclude
by looking at a set of adverbs which
qualify a whole sentence, and not
just a part of it. Consider the following:
ที่มา : http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adverbs/adverbs.htm
Circumstantial
Adverbs
Many
adverbs convey information about the
manner, time, or place of an event
or action. MANNER adverbs tell us
how an action
is or should be performed: - She
sang loudly in the bath
The sky quickly grew dark
They whispered softly
I had to run fast to catch the bus
- I'll be checking
out tomorrow
Give it back, now!
John rarelyrings any more
I watch television sometimes
- Put the box
there, on the table
I've left my gloves somewhere
In each of the following sentences, indicate whether the highlighted word is an adverb of manner, time, or place.
1. The thief crept silently across the rooftops | Manner Time Place |
2. I'm not feeling well today | Manner Time Place |
3. The teacher smiled enigmatically | Manner Time Place |
4. We'll meet here after the match | Manner Time Place |
5. My aunt nevercomes to visit | Manner Time Place |
Additives, Exclusives, and Particularizers
Additives "add" two or more items together, emphasizing that they are all to be considered equal:- [1]
Lynn's prewar success had been as a
light historical
novelist; he employed similar
fanciful ideas in his
war novels [...] Joseph Hocking's war
novels are also
dominated by romance
and adventure [W2A-009-40ff]
[2] German firms have an existing advantage as a greater number of their managers have technical or engineering degrees. Japanese managers, too, have technical qualifications of a high order. [W2A-011-51ff]
In contrast with additives, EXCLUSIVE adverbs focus attention on what follows them, to the exclusion of all other possibilities:
- [3] It's
justa question of how we
organise it [S1B-075-68]
[4] The federal convention [...] comes together solely for the purpose of electing the president [S2B-021-99]
PARTICULARIZERS also focus attention on what follows them, but they do not exclude other possibilities:
- [5]
The pastoralists
are
particularlyfound
in Africa [S2A-047-3]
[6] Now this book is mostlyabout what they call modulation [S1A-045-167]
Other particularizers includelargely, mainly, primarily, and predominantly.
An adverb has been highlighted in each of the following sentences. Indicate whether it is additive, exclusive, or a particularizer.
1. I was especiallypleased to read about your award | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
2. We're only trying to help, you know | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
3. The rise in sea level is largelydue to global warming | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
4. Roberts was both a coward and a thief | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
5. Realism is precisely what I'm looking for | Additive Exclusive Particularizer |
Wh- Adverbs
A special subclass of adverbs includes a set of words beginning with wh-. The most common are when, where, and why, though the set also includes whence, whereby, wherein, and whereupon. To this set we add the word how, and we refer to the whole set as WH- ADVERBS. Some members of the set can introduce an interrogative sentence:- When are you going to New
York?
Wheredid you leave the car?
Why did he resign?
Howdid you become interested in theatre?
- This
is the town
whereShakespeare was
born
I've no idea how it works
Sentence
Adverbs
We conclude
by looking at a set of adverbs which
qualify a whole sentence, and not
just a part of it. Consider the following:
- Honestly, it doesn't matter
- Clearly, he
has no excuse for such behaviour
Frankly, I don't care about your problems
Unfortunately, no refunds can be given
- England played well in the first
half. However, in the second half
their weaknesses were revealed.
ที่มา : http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adverbs/adverbs.htm
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