Skill Builders: Grammar - Adverbs

Lower-Intermediate

GRAMMAR
What are adverbs?
Adverbs give additional information to verbs, much like adjectives give additional information
to nouns. Adverbs tell you how, where, when, and how often something is done.

Let's focus on the following, though: adverbs of manner, comment adverbs, and frequency
adverbs.

(manner): The politician spoke carefully about the new tax.

(comment): Foolishly, I agreed to meet my ex-girlfriend.
(frequency): He often goes to the supermarket on Sundays.

What is the sentence structure?

Depending on the type of adverb, the position will change.

With adverbs of manner, the adverb usually comes before the verb or after the object of the
sentence. But the adverb may never come between the verb and the object. So:

adverb | verb | object : The politician carefully spoke about the new tax.
verb | object | adverb : The politician spoke carefully about the new tax.

Comment adverbs are usually placed before the verb, but may also appear before the subject of
the sentence. If the comment adverb comes before the subject, separate the adverb and the
subject with a comma. For example:

adverb | verb | object : I foolishly agreed to meet my ex-girlfriend.

adverb | subject | verb | object : Foolishly, I agreed to meet my ex-girlfriend.

Adverbs of frequency use the following structures:

adverb | verb : He often goes to the supermarket on Sundays.

auxiliary verb | adverb : He will often go to the supermarket on his days off.
be verb | adverb : He is often at the supermarket on Sundays.

How are adverbs used?

Adverbs add detail to a sentence and make it more interesting. Many adverbs end with -ly
(quickly, slowly, carefully, happily). But don't rely on this rule, because some adverbs don't
end with -ly (fast, late, hard). There are also some words which aren't adverbs, but end with
-ly (elderly, kindly, lonely). Remember: Adverbs describe how, where, when, and how often
something is done.

Here are a few adverbs for the types studied here:

adverbs of manner: badly, briefly, carefully, carelessly, fast, furiously, gracefully, intentionally,
hard, loudly, noisily, politely, safely, softly, successfully, and well.

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 Skill Builders: Grammar - Adverbs
Lower-Intermediate
comment adverbs: foolishly, fortunately, hopefully, luckily, and unfortunately.

adverbs of frequency: always, frequently, never, occasionally, often, and sometimes.

Is there additional information on adverbs?

You may occasionally break the rule and place adverbs in other parts of the sentence. This
is done to highlight information, perhaps in answer to a question. For example:
A: How often do you miss work?
B: Sometimes, I take a day off from work.
More emphasis is placed on sometimes, which suggests that I'm at work most of the time.
Because this is a more advanced rule, focus on correctly using adverbs as described here.

ACTIVITIES
Here are a few activities to practice using adverbs correctly.

activity: Identify each adverb as either an adverb of manner, a comment adverb,

or an adverb of frequency.

carefully manner sometimes calmly

hopefully luckily fast

late never rarely

poorly dangerously often

gently slowly fortunately

politely well seriously

quickly repeatedly foolishly

kindly easily unexpectedly

always unfortunately occasionally

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 Skill Builders: Grammar - Adverbs
Lower-Intermediate

activity: Choose some of the adverbs from above, & make sentences about
yourself. Present your sentences to a partner, who will check for grammar
mistakes. Your partner should ask for additional information at least twice,
prompting a more detailed explanation. Change roles and repeat.

activity: Now tell a story with a partner with the adverbs provided. You
and your partner should take turns creating sentences that form a story. Each
sentence doesn't need an adverb, but there should be one for every three
sentences. Read the stories to another group of students or to the class.

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