The Adverb

Adverb is a part of speech which describes verbs, adjectives, other adverbs or the whole sentence.

Formation

Adverbs are formed with adjectives + -ly: quick – quickly, calm – calmly

Adj. ending in consonant + -y → -ily: sleep – sleepily, weary – wearily

Adj. ending in –le drop –le & add –ly: irritable – irritably, reliable – reliably

Adj. ending in –e add –ly: false – falsely, BUT: whole – wholly, true – truly

Adj. ending in –ly (cowardly, elderly, fatherly, friendly, lively, lonely, motherly, silly, ugly etc) form their adv. with –in a(n) … way (manner): in a motherly manner, in a lively way etc.

Semantic classification

Kinds of adverbs

Position

Example

Manner (bravely, happily, fast, hard, well, beautifully, reluctantly, suspiciously, carefully, angrily, secretly, foolishly, badly, somehow)

After the verb or the object where there is one

The short obj.:V+obj.+adv.

The long obj.: V+adv.+obj.

Foolishly, kindly, stupidly,…+V

She danced beautifully. They speak E. well.

He looked suspiciously at everyone.

She carefully picked up all the bits of glass.

I foolishly forgot my passport.

Place (by, down, here, near, there, up, away, everywhere, nowhere, somewhere)

After the verb if there is no object

V+obj./V+prep.+obj.

Here/there+be/come/go+noun subj.

Away/down/in/off/out…+V of motion+noun subj.

She went away. Bill is upstairs.

She sent him away.

Here comes the train.

Away went the runners.

Out sprang the cuckoo.

Time (now, soon, still, then, today, tomorrow, yet, afterwards, eventually, lately, recently, at one, since then, till)

At the beginning/end of the clause

With compound tenses – after the auxiliary

V/ V+obj.+ yet/still

Be+still+other verbs

Just – with compound sentences

Eventually he came/ He came eventually.

We will soon be there.

He hasn’t finished his dinner yet.

He is still in bed.

I’m just coming.

Frequency (always, usually, often, periodically, repeatedly, occasionally, hardly ever, rarely, seldom, never)

After the simple tenses of to be

Before the simple tenses of all other verbs

With compound tenses – after the 1^st auxiliary, with interrogative V. – after aux.+subj.

He is always in time for meals.

They sometimes stay up all night.

He can never understand.

Have you ever ridden a camel?

Degree (fairly, hardly, quite, too, very, absolutely, almost, completely, only, rather)

Before the adj. or adv.

Enough follows its adj. or adv.

Far requires a comparative/ too+positive

You are absolutely right.

The box isn’t big enough.

It is far better to say anything.

Sentence (certainly, definitely, luckily, actually, apparently, clearly, evidently, obviously, presumably, probably, undoubtedly, perhaps, possibly, sure)

Be+actually/apparently/certainly/clearly etc.

Before simple tenses of other verbs

After the 1^st auxiliary in a compound verb

At the beginning/end of a sentence/ clause

He is certainly intelligent.

They actually work hard.

They have presumably sold their house.

Apparently he knew the town well.

Interrogative (when?, where?, why?)

At the beginning of a sentence

Where have you been?

Relative (when, where, why)

Before the obj.

I want to know where he is.

Morphological classification - degrees of comparison of some adverbs.

Single-syllable adv. & early add –er,-est: hard-harder-hardest, early-earlier-earliest

Adv. of 2 or more syllables – more,most+the positive form: quickly-more quickly-most quickly

Irregular comparisons: well-better-best, badly-worse-worst, little-less-least, much-more-most, far-further-furthest/farther-farthest.

Adjectives & Adverbs which have the same form

Best, better, big, cheap*, clean,* close*, cold, daily, dead, dear*, deep, direct, dirty, early, easy, extra, far, fast, fine*, free, further, hard, high, hourly, inside, kindly, last, late, long, loud*, low, monthly, past, quick*, quiet*, right, slow, straight, sure, thin*, thick, tight, weekly, well, wide, wrong, yearly etc.

Ann was our last guest. She came in last. Those adv. with an asterisk (*) can be found with –ly ending without a difference in meaning, but then they are more formal. Walk slow! (informal) ALSO Walk slowly! (formal)

Adverbs with 2 forms & differences in meaning

Deep=a long way down

Deeply=greatly

Direct=by the shortest route

Directly=immediately

Easy=gently, slowly

Easily=without difficulty

Free=without cost (безкоштовно)

Freely=willingly

Full=exactly, very

Fully=completely

Hard=with effort

Hardly=scarcely (майже!)

High=at/to a high level

Last=after all others

Lastly=finally

Late=not early

Lately=recently

Near=close

Nearly=almost (ледве не!)

Pretty=fairly

Prettily=in a pretty way

Short=suddenly

Shortly=soon

Sure=certainly

Surely=without a doubt

Wide=off-target

Widely=to a large extent

Wrong=incorrectly

Wrongly=unjustly (wrongly goes

before verbs/past part. – wrong/

Wrongly go after verbs)

Quite-Fairly-Rather-Pretty

• Quite (fairly, in some degree) is used in favourable comments. She is quite good at painting.

Quite meaning “completely” is used with adv., some verbs & adj. such as: along, amazing, brilliant, certain, dead, dreadful, different, exhausted, extraordinary, false, horrible, impossible, perfect, ridiculous, right, sure, true, useless etc. I’m quite sure he stole the money.

Quite is used before a/an. She is quite a good dancer.

• Rather is used: a) in unfavourable comments: He is rather mean with money.

b) in favourable comments meaning “to an unusual degree”: The lecture was rather informative.(more than we expected)

c) with comparative degree: It’s rather sunnier today then yesterday.(набагато сонячніше)

Rather is used before or after a / an: He is a rather rude person. = He is rather a rude person

• Fairly & pretty are synonymous with quite & rather. They can be used after a. He is a fairly/pretty well-behaved person.

Patterns with adverbs

Deeply hurt

Painfully embarrassed

Highly respected / qualified / paid / educated

Extremely helpful

Bitterly cold

Nearly forgot

To be short of time

*Sadly

To fly direct to …

Proverbs & Sayings

Promise little but do much.

If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.

A new groom sweeps clean.

Actions speak louder than words.

Easier said than done.

Make haste slowly.

To live long it is necessary to live slowly.

Of two evils choose the least.