# English in Use/Adverbs


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An **adverb** is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or
another adverb; and generally expresses time, place, degree, or manner:
as,

-   \"They are now here, studying very diligently.\"

Adverbs can modify a verb, a clause, adjective or a phrase.

## Form

Adjectives are generally turned into adverbs with the addition of a *ly*
suffix. *Ly* is a contraction of like, and is the most common
termination of adverbs. When added to nouns, it forms adjectives; but a
few of these are also used adverbially: as, *daily, weekly, monthly*.

Examples of adverbs are:

-   \"Jack is swimming *quickly*.\"
-   \"*Unfortunately*, he lost the race.\"
-   \"We told him to run *much* faster.\"

In the first sentence, the adverb modifies the verb swimming. The
adjective *quick* has had a *ly* added to it to make an adverb. In the
second sentence, it modifies the entire sentence and in the final
example, the adverb *much* modifies the adverb *faster*.

## Comparative forms of adverbs

Adverbs have no modifications, except that a few are compared, after the
manner of adjectives: as, *soon, sooner, soonest; long, longer, longest;
fast, faster, fastest*.

The following are irregularly compared: *well, better, best; badly or
ill, worse, worst; little, less, least; much, more, most; far, farther,
farthest; forth, further, furthest*.

## Kinds of adverbs

Adverbs may be reduced to four general classes; namely, adverbs of time,
of place, of degree, and of manner. Besides these, it is proper to
distinguish the particular class of conjunctive adverbs.

### Adverbs of time

Adverbs of time are those which answer to the question, when? how long?
how soon? or how often?

Of time **present**: as, *now, yet, today, nowadays, presently,
instantly, immediately, straightway, directly, forthwith*.

Of time **past**: as, *already, just now, lately, recently, yesterday,
formerly, anciently, once, heretofore, hitherto, since, till now, long
ago, erewhile, erst*.

Of time **to come**: as, *tomorrow, hereafter, henceforth, henceforward,
by-and-by, soon, erelong, shortly*.

Of time **relative**: as, *when, then, first, just, before, after,
while, whilst, meanwhile, as, till, until, seasonably, betimes, early,
late, whenever, afterward, afterwards, otherwhile, otherwhiles*.

Of time **absolute**: as, *always, ever, never, aye, eternally, forever,
perpetually, continually, incessantly, endlessly, evermore,
everlastingly*.

Of time **repeated**: as, *often, oft, again, occasionally, frequently,
sometimes, seldom, rarely, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, annually,
once, twice, thrice, or three times*.

Above thrice, we use only the phrases four times, five times, six times,
etc. Times, for repetitions, or instances, may be supposed a noun; but
such phrases often appear to be used adverbially.

### Adverbs of degree

Adverbs of degree are those which answer to the question, how much? how
little? or to the idea of more or less.

Of **excess** or abundance: as, *much, more, most, too, very, greatly,
far, besides; chiefly, principally, mainly, mostly, generally; entirely,
full, fully, completely, perfectly, wholly, totally, altogether, all,
quite, clear, stark; exceedingly, excessively, extravagantly,
intolerably; immeasurably, inconceivably, infinitely*.

Of equality or **sufficiency**: as, *enough, sufficiently, competently,
adequately, proportionally, equally, so, as, even, just, exactly,
precisely*.

Of **deficiency** or abatement: as, *little, less, least, scarcely,
hardly, scantly, scantily merely, barely, only, but, partly, partially,
nearly, almost, well-nigh, not quite*.

Of quantity in the **abstract**: as, *how, however, howsoever, everso,
something, anything, nothing, a groat, a sixpence*, and other nouns of
quantity used adverbially.

### Adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner are those which answer to the question, how? or, by
affirming, denying, or doubting, show how a subject is regarded.

Of manner from **quality**: as, *well, ill, wisely, foolishly, justly,
wickedly*, and many others formed by adding *ly* to adjectives of
quality.

Of affirmation or **assent**: as, *yes, yea, ay, verily, truly, indeed,
surely, certainly, doubtless, undoubtedly, assuredly, certes, forsooth,
amen*.

Of **negation**: as, *no, nay, not, nowise, noway, noways, nohow*.

Of doubt or **uncertainty**: as, *perhaps, haply, possibly, perchance,
peradventure, maybe*.

Of **mode** or way: as, *thus, so, how, somehow, nohow, anyhow, however,
howsoever, like, else, otherwise, across, together, apart, asunder,
namely, particularly, necessarily, hesitatingly, trippingly, extempore,
headlong, lengthwise*.

### Adverbs of place

Of place **in** which: as, *where, here, there, yonder, above, below,
about, around, somewhere, anywhere, elsewhere, otherwhere, everywhere,
nowhere, wherever, wheresoever, within, without, whereabout,
whereabouts, hereabout, hereabouts, thereabout, thereabouts*.

Of place **to** which: as, *whither, hither, thither, in, up, down,
back, forth, aside, ashore, abroad, aloft, home, homewards, inwards,
upwards, downwards, backwards, forwards*.

Of place **from** which: as, *whence, hence, thence, away, out, off,
far, remotely*.

Of the **order** of place: as, *first, secondly, thirdly, fourthly*,
etc.

Thus, secondly means in the second place; *thirdly, in the third place*;
etc.

### Conjunctive adverbs

The conjunctive adverbs are those which perform the office of
conjunctions. The following words are the most frequently used as
conjunctive adverbs: *after, again, also, as, before, besides,
consequently, else, ere, even, furthermore, hence, how, however,
moreover, nevertheless, as well, otherwise, since, so, still, till,
then, thence, therefore, too, until, when, where, wherefore, whither,
while*.

The **adverbs of cause**: *why, wherefore, therefore*; but the last two
of these are often called conjunctions.

The **pronominal compounds**: *herein, therein, wherein*, etc.

## A short syntax

Adverbs relate to verbs, participles, adjectives, or other adverbs: as,
\"How blessed,\" except the following cases: independent adverbs, as
\"No,\" the word *amen*, as \"These things say the amen,\" an adverb
before preposition, as \"All along\", and *much*, *little*, *far*, and
*all*, as \"Thus far is right.\"

## References

-   A part of the text in this article, was taken from the public domain
    English grammar \"The Grammar of English
    Grammars\" by Goold Brown,
    1851.

-   The Wikipedia article on Adverb
