ADVERBS

Adverbs are words that modify

·         a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)

·         an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)

·         another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

As we will see, adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened. Adverbs frequently end in -ly; however, many words and phrases not ending in -ly serve an adverbial function and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word is an adverb. The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:

·         That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.

If a group of words containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb (modifying the verb of a sentence), it is called an Adverb Clause:

·         When this class is over, we're going to the movies.

When a group of words not containing a subject and verb acts as an adverb, it is called an adverbial phrase. Prepositional phrases frequently have adverbial functions (telling place and time, modifying the verb):

·         He went to the movies.

·         She works on holidays.

·         They lived in Canada during the war.

And Infinitive phrases can act as adverbs (usually telling why):

·         She hurried to the mainland to see her brother.

·         The senator ran to catch the bus.

But there are other kinds of adverbial phrases:

·         He calls his mother as often as possible.

Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb. Thus we would say that "the students showed a really wonderful attitude" and that "the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude" and that "my professor is really tall, but not "He ran real fast."

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.

·         Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.

·         The student who reads fastest will finish first.

We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:

·         With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.

·         The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.

·         She worked less confidently after her accident.

·         That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.

The as — as construction can be used to create adverbs that express sameness or equality: "He can't run as fast as his sister."

A handful of adverbs have two forms, one that ends in -ly and one that doesn't. In certain cases, the two forms have different meanings:

·         He arrived late.

·         Lately, he couldn't seem to be on time for anything.

In most cases, however, the form without the -ly ending should be reserved for casual situations:

·         She certainly drives slow in that old Buick of hers.

·         He did wrong by her.

·         He spoke sharp, quick, and to the point.

Adverbs often function as intensifiers, conveying a greater or lesser emphasis to something. Intensifiers are said to have three different functions: they can emphasize, amplify, or downtone. Here are some examples:

·         Emphasizers:

o    I really don't believe him.

o    He literally wrecked his mother's car.

o    She simply ignored me.

o    They're going to be late, for sure.

·         Amplifiers:

o    The teacher completely rejected her proposal.

o    I absolutely refuse to attend any more faculty meetings.

o    They heartily endorsed the new restaurant.

o    I so wanted to go with them.

o    We know this city well.

·         Downtoners:

o    I kind of like this college.

o    Joe sort of felt betrayed by his sister.

o    His mother mildly disapproved his actions.

o    We can improve on this to some extent.

o    The boss almost quit after that.

o    The school was all but ruined by the storm.

Adverbs (as well as adjectives) in their various degrees can be accompanied by premodifiers:

·         She runs very fast.

·         We're going to run out of material all the faster