What Is an Adverb?

Adverbs are the more complicated cousin of adjectives. Whereas adjectives serve a fairly straightforward purpose—they limit or describe a noun—adverbs have a more diverse range of functions. Their primary purpose is to modify verbs, but they can also modify adjectives, other adverbs, and even entire sentences!

Adverb Defined

Adverbs modify or limit verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, and entire sentences. They give extra information, often answering a question the reader might have.

I crept quietly down the hall.

In this example, the adverb “quietly” is modifying the verb “crept.” How did I creep down the hall? “Quietly” answers this question.

Many adverbs (such as the one in the above example) are formed by adding -ly to adjectives:

• adjective: bad — adverb: badly
• adjective: sure — adverb: surely
• adjective: happy — adverb: happily
• adjective: bold — adverb: boldly

However, this isn’t a foolproof trick: Many common adverbs don’t have an -ly ending, such as now, here, and again.

One other purpose that adverbs fulfill is to connect sentences or the independent clauses of a compound sentence.

The students were nervous about taking the test. However, if they wanted to get into the advanced program, they needed to do it.

The adverb “however” connects the two sentences, defining the relationship between the two thoughts.

I was the only one in the group who spoke Spanish; therefore, I became the de facto group leader on our trip to Mexico.

“Therefore” is an adverb that connects the two independent clauses.

What Adverbs Modify

Adverbs modify verbs:

• The man boldly proclaimed his innocence.
  • “Boldly” modifies the verb “proclaimed.”
• I walked slowly through the store.
  • “Slowly” modifies the verb “walked.”
• Lucy slipped again on her way into work.
  • “Again” modifies the verb “slipped.”

They also modify adjectives:

• That is a very old building.
  • “Very” modifies the adjective “old.”
• The news made her extremely happy.
  • “Extremely” modifies the adjective “happy.”
• The view was absolutely breathtaking.
  • “Absolutely” modifies the adjective “breathtaking.”

They can modify other adverbs:

• Cheetahs run incredibly quickly.
  • “Incredibly” modifies the adverb “quickly.”
• The soprano sings very beautifully.
  • “Very” modifies the adverb “beautifully.”
• The couple argues quite often for newlyweds.
  • “Quite” modifies the adverb “often.”

Finally, adverbs can modify an entire sentence:

• Fortunately, we were not late to our next meeting.
• Alarmingly, there wasn’t a security guard in sight.
• Clearly, he had misunderstood the directions.

When adverbs modify an entire sentence, they often express how the author or speaker feels about the information in the sentence. In the first example, it’s clear from the adverb “fortunately” that the author wanted to be on time to their meeting.

Types of Adverbs

There are several different categories of adverbs. Here are the most common:

• Adverbs of Time: These give information about the time of an event (e.g., yesterday, soon, later, tomorrow).
• Adverbs of Place: These give information about a location or direction (e.g., here, there, nearby, far).
• Adverbs of Quality: These are the most common kind of adverbs, giving information about how some kind of action was done (e.g., quickly, happily, loudly, boldly).
• Adverbs of Degree: These give information about to what extent something happened (completely, somewhat, more)
• Adverbs of Affirmation or Denial: These are usually modifying an entire sentence, either offering an affirmation or denial in response to a question (e.g. “Yes, I’ll be fine”—”Yes” is the adverb; “No, I don’t need a chaperone”—”No” is the adverb).
• Relative Adverbs: These adverbs introduce a subordinate (dependent) clause (e.g., where, when, why)
• Interrogative Adverbs: When these words are used to begin questions, they are considered adverbs (when, where, why, how).

A WARNING About Adverbs

Adverbs can easily cause problems in sentences if they aren’t put in the right spot. They need to be located very close to the word(s) they’re meant to modify or else the reader might accidentally use it to modify a different noun.

Greta almost went to every café in town looking for Jim.

vs.

Greta went to almost every café in town looking for Jim.

In the first example, the adverb “almost” is modifying the verb “went.” Greta might not have gone to any cafés at all—she only almost did. Maybe she considered scouring the cafés in a search for Jim but decided against it before setting out.

In the second example, the adverb “almost” is modifying the adjective “every.” Greta clearly went to many cafés, just not quite all of them.

What questions do you have about adverbs? Let me know in the comments!

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Sources:

• “America’s Most Trusted Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed August 7, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/.
• Ebbitt, D. R., and W. R. Ebbitt. Index to English. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.