Adverbs I
The easiest way to remember the role of adverbs is to remember that they add to a verb, this is not always true but it’s a good place to start. Adverbs form a very large part of English and can be very flexible, for this reason they can be difficult to manage and it is better to study them in groups. The first groups we will study are the adverbs of manner (how) place (where) and time (when) as these groups form compliments in subject - verb - compliment structures.
Adverbs of manner - These adverbs tell us how we do something, many adverbs in this group can be formed by adding ‘-ly’ to the end of an adjective (a defining word) there are some spelling changes:
quick - quickly happy - happily enthusiastic - enthusiastically
sharp - sharply slow - slowly dangerous - dangerously
However, not all adverbs follow this pattern; here are some of the more common ones:
good - well fast - fast hard - hard
Adverbs of place - The adverbs in this group tell us where we do something and usually have their own form:
down here there
below downstairs home
Adverbs of time - These are adverbs that tell us when we do something and usually have there own form:
now then later
after before next
Task 1
Put these adverbs into the right boxes
Manner |
Place |
Time |
|
|
|
cruelly crazily recently outside now fast rapidly beyond
slowly above tomorrow stupidly soon badly later |
Adverb Order - Usually these adverbs follow the order that they have been presented in - manner - place - time. If there are all three types of adverb in a sentence then we follow this order but if there are only two, they stay in the same order; so manner comes before place and time, place comes before time. They come at the end of a sentence.
Task 2
Put these adverbs in the right order after the sentences. Some are correct.
1. I walked… home quickly
2. He interviews guests… tonight here
3. I will explain this… later thoroughly
4. They played football… well outside yesterday
5. I solved a problem… recently cleverly in work
6. They will finish their work next week fast there
If we want to emphasise (make important) the time, we can put it at the start of a sentence
Task 3
Re-write the sentences above to emphasise the time.