Forms and types of adverbs
I.
An adverb is a word that’s used to give information about a verb, adjective, or other adverb.
II.
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.
An adverb can be added to a verb to modify its meaning. Usually, an adverb tells you when, where, how, in what manner or to what extent an action is performed. Very many adverbs end in –‘…ly’ – particularly those that are used to express how an action is performed. Although many adverbs end ‘ly’ , lots not, example: fast, never, most, very, least, now, more, less, far and there.
Forms of adverbs |
Most adverbs are formed by adding ly to an adjective.
There are some exceptions - irregular adverbs. | nicely, quickly, beautifully, happily, economically |
If the adjective ends in ic we add ally. | basic - basically, dramatic - dramatically |
Some adverbs are irregular: they have the same form as the adjective.
The adjective good is irregular: its adverb form iswell. | fast, daily, late, early, hard
good - well |
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Adverbs - common mistakes |
Common mistakes | Correct version | Why? |
The camera works perfect. | The camera works perfectly. | We use an adverb
(perfectly - adverb, perfect - adjective) when we want to say how we do something. |
Did you work hardly today? | Did you work hard today? | Some adverbs have the same form as the adjective: hard - hard, fast - fast, late - late. |
She behaved rather sillily. | She behaved rather silly. | Adjectives ending in -ly have the same spelling in the adverb form (friendly - friendly, early - early, likely - likely, lonely - lonely, ugly - ugly, silly -...