Est. reading time: 3 minutes
Moving further with our series on parts of speech. I’ll introduce you to the next part of speech in English: adverbs. What is an adverb? An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, an entire sentence or even other adverbs. It provides more information about the verb or the action of a sentence. It is especially known for its ability to show manner (which implies “how”), degree (which implies “to what extent”), place (which implies “where”), and time (which implies “when”).
One of the common ways that adverbs are formed includes adding -ly to the end of an adjective. In this context, words like “quiet” becomes “quietly,” “quick” becomes “quickly,” etc.
Types Of Adverbs.
Adverbs are divided into six main types, which include:
- Adverb of time
- Adverb of manner
- Adverb of place
- Adverb of degree
- Adverb of frequency
- Conjunctive adverbs
Adverbs of Time
These are adverbs that tell us when something happens. Examples include yesterday, today, tomorrow, soon, later, forever, late, early, recently, now, etc. Examples of adverbs of time used in a sentence include:
- The dog died recently.
- The old man promised to tell us his story tomorrow.
- Soon after the incident, the police filed into Jumia’s flat.
- They ran as fast as they could but it was too late.
Adverbs of Manner
These are words that tell us how something happened. Examples of these words: are loudly, quietly, angrily, slowly, sadly e.t.c Examples of these words in sentences include:
- The children happily rushed out to greet the ice cream man.
- Shile prayed fearfully under her breath as the ambulance rushed down the road.
- Slowly, Kole pulled out the paternity test.
- His father had left angrily after an argument with his mother.
Adverbs of Place
These are adverbs that tell us where something happens. Examples include above, below, beyond, here, there, inside, outside, over, under, etc. Examples of these words used in a sentence include:
- They found the secret laboratory below the factory.
- Baba went outside with the children.
- Beyond the hills and the river, a giant lay in wait for the time to arise once again and defeat the humans.
- The cat was found there.
Adverbs of Degree
These are words that describe the intensity or quality of an action. Examples of these words include: fiercely, extremely, barely, completely, partly, remarkably, etc. Examples of these words used in a sentence include:
- He fought fiercely in the last battle.
- The south wing of the mansion got burnt completely.
- Barely a quarter of the food prepared by the chef was left over.
- The dog behaved remarkably well at the wedding.
Adverbs of Frequency
These are words that describe how often something occurs. These involve words like constantly, frequently, occasionally, sometimes, rarely, weekly, monthly, yearly etc. Examples of adverbs of frequency used in a sentence include:
- Sometimes, I like to go for long walks around the block.
- The family visits the village yearly.
- They usually spend their Fridays in the library.
- I was surprised to see her at the party because she rarely goes to any.
Conjunctive Adverbs
These are used to connect two clauses or sentences. For instance, in the sentence, “The teacher doubted that Wale did the assignment on his own; nevertheless, she graded his assignment”, nevertheless is the conjunctive adverb that connects the two sentences. Other examples of conjunctive adverbs used in a sentence include:
- The subject of poverty did not affect Moyosola. However, she did not undermine the vitality of the subject.
- Apart from being a teacher, Tade also owns a shop.
- In addition to paying the boy’s hospital bill, the rich man decided to sponsor his education.
- The men searched all night but eventually gave up and went home.
Conclusion
Our journey in this article on adverbs might end here but not in the world. Adverbs, as well as all other parts of speech, play a vital role in our day-to-day lives and they certainly make communication easier. So make sure to actively use adverbs accurately, and check back for other articles on our website that will build your English language.
