Adverbs

[pic]






ADVERBS

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They tell how (manner), when (time), where (place), how much (degree), and why (cause). Why is a common one-word adverb that tells why. Adverbs that tell us how, when, where, and why always modify the verb. Adverbs that tell us how much modify adjectives or other adverbs. These adverbs are alsocalled qualifiers because they strengthen or weaken the words they modify.


MORPHOLOGY

Simple adverbs

Simple adverbs are not derived from another word (well, too, rather, quite, soon, here). Sometimes a simple adverb form can also be used as another part of speech. Fast can be used as an adjective as well as an adverb; down can be used as a preposition as well as an adverb. Moreover, somesimple adverbs originated as compounds, but the independent meaning of the parts has been lost (already from all+ready; indeed from in+deed).


Compound adverbs

Compound adverbs are formed by combining 2 or more elements into a single word (anyway from any+way; nowhere from no+where).

Adverbs derived by suffixation

Many adverbs are formed by suffixing –ly to an adjective (clearly formedfrom the adjective clear).
Apart from the suffix –ly, other suffixes are used to form adverbs. Two relatively common ones are –wise (added to nouns such as piecewise) and –ward/s (added to nouns like homewards or seawards and to prepositions as onward, afterward).

• Adverbs that end in –ly are also formed by adding –ly to a present participle
Willing – willingly /glowing-glowingly / surprising – surprisingly


• Adverbs that end in –ly are also formed by adding –ly to a past participle
Assured – assuredly / affected – affectedly


• When the adjectives ends in –able or –ible, the adverb is formed by replacing final –e with –y:
Horrible – horribly / terrible – terribly


• When the adjectives ends in –y,the adverb is formed by replacing final –y with –ily:
Happy – happily / Lucky – luckily
• When the adjectives ends in –ic, the adverb is formed by replacing final –ic with –ically:
Economic – economically / Ironic – ironically




Fixed Phrases

Some Fixed Phrases are used as adverbs. These phrases never vary in form, and their component words have lost theirindependent meaning (of course, kind of, at last).


Adverbs or Adjetives?

Adjectives ending in –ly.

There are some words ending in –ly which are adjectives and not adverbs (costly, cowardly, deadly, friendly, friendlily, likely, lively, lonely, lovelily, lovely, silly, ugly, unlikely).


She gave me a friendly smile.
Her singing was lovely.


Some words can be bothadjectives and adverbs such as daily, weakly, monthly, yearly, early and leisurely.


It’s a daily newspaper = It comes out daily.
An early train = I got up early.




Adjectives and adverbs with the same form; adverbs with two forms.

There are some cases where adjectives and adverbs which have the same form (a fast car goes fast; if you do a hard work, you work hard). Inother cases, the adverb may have two forms (late and lately), one like the adjective and the other with –ly. There is usually a difference between the meaning and the use.

Bloody: some swearwords can be used both as adjectives and adverbs.


You bloody fool. You didn’t look where you were going.
I bloody did.


Clean: means completely before forget and in some expressions ofmovement.


Sorry I didn’t turn up – I clean forgot.
The explosion blew the cooker clean through the wall.


Dead: used in certain expressions to mean ‘exactly, completely or very’ (dead ahead, dead certain, dead drunk, dead right, dead slow, dead straight, dead sure, dead tired). Note that deadly is an adjective, meaning ‘fatal’, ‘causing death’. The adverb for this meaning is...