Adverbs


Definition:

The adverb is possibly the most versatile and flexible word class in English and can be positioned almost anywhere in a sentence except directly preceding a noun.

  • The adverb modifies a verb (walked quickly), or an adjective (deliciously soft), or a pronoun (almost everyone) or another adverb (He moved ridiculously slowly).


  • A large group of adverbs are formed by adding the ending -ly, usually to an adjective (happily, hungrily, angrily, furiously, romantically, ardently...).


  • A further group of commonly-used adverbs is listed below.

    soon, later, often, never, once, twice, yesterday, today, tomorrow, nearly, almost, just, only, quite


  • Modern English has also introduced several new suffixes which create adverbs. Sometimes these words are hyphenated to indicate they are new coinages, but many others have now been assimilated into our language as single words. These new suffixes include:

    -like; -wise; -style; -ways


    Examples of adverbs formed using these suffixes are listed below. workmanlike; businesslike; school-wise; American-style; sideways



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