English Grammar Drills - Mark Lester 2009
How adverbs are formed
12 Adverbs
Part 2 Verb Phrases
The term adverb is used both narrowly to refer to single-word adverbs and broadly to refer to any grammatical unit (word, phrase, or clause) that functions as an adverb. In this book, unless specified otherwise, we will use the term adverb broadly to include all types of adverbs. If we need to be more specific, we will use the terms single-word adverb, adverb phrase, or adverb clause.
Adverbs are conventionally defined as grammatical elements (words, phrases, or clauses) that “modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.” Since 99 percent of the time, adverbs are used to modify verbs, from this point we will focus exclusively on adverbs that modify verbs.
This chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part, we will discuss how adverbs are formed. In the second part, we will discuss how adverbs are used.
How adverbs are formed
In this section we will examine how adverbs are formed at the word level, at the phrase level, and at the clause level.
Word-level adverbs
Adverbs fall into two distinct groups: (1) a small number of mostly single-syllable words that are used with very high frequency, and (2) the great majority of adverbs that are derived from adjectives, for example deep/deeply; true/truly, sad/sadly.
Here are the twenty-five most commonly used adverbs (note that not one of the very high frequency adverbs is derived from an adjective by adding -ly):
1. only
2. then
3. now
4. also
5. even
6. just
7. here
8. back
9. still
10. never
11. well
12. again
13. so
14. there
15. away
16. always
17. once
18. however
19. often
20. over
21. perhaps
22. thus
23. yet
24. too
25. almost
One of the fundamental identifying features of modifying adverbs is that they are by definition optional elements. Unlike the other major parts of speech—nouns, adjectives, and verbs— adverbs can always be deleted without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence. For example, consider the following sentence:
We had dinner then.
The adverb then can be deleted without making the rest of the sentence ungrammatical:
Exercise 12.1
Underline the single-word adverbs in the following sentences. Confirm your identification by deleting the adverb.
1. I usually don’t have that much trouble printing documents.
2. We went to Mexico City once.
3. I simply couldn’t understand what they were saying.
4. The audience suddenly became quiet.
5. We often see them on the weekends.
6. They knocked on the door again.
7. We have made our decision, too.
8. She really plays the piano well.
9. Perhaps we will see you at the conference.
10. I always take the bus to work.
11. Are we done already?
12. We probably can’t get to the meeting by ten.
13. Let’s arrange a meeting soon.
14. We always see them over the holidays.
15. My parents often discuss moving to a smaller place.
Ninety-five percent of adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding an -ly suffix. Here are some examples:
Adjectives Adverbs
abrupt abruptly
eager eagerly
first firstly
honest honestly
jealous jealously
last lastly
quick quickly
sad sadly
slow slowly
soft softly
suspicious suspiciously
Even adjectives formed from the present and past participle of verbs can be changed to adverbs by adding -ly. Here are some examples:
Present participle
Adjectives Adverbs
amusing amusingly
frightening frighteningly
interesting interestingly
laughing laughingly
pleasing pleasingly
revealing revealingly
Past participle
Adjectives Adverbs
assured assuredly
bemused bemusedly
learned learnedly
marked markedly
reported reportedly
Exercise 12.2
Change the adjective in the underlined phrase into a single-word adverb. Then rephrase the sentence using the adverb in place of the underlined phrase.
1. He drove home in a safe manner.
2. She completed the Haydn piano sonata in a perfect manner.
3. The audience applauded in a warm manner.
4. They did the job in a barely adequate manner.
5. We acted in a reasonable manner.
6. We went out of the children’s room in a very quiet manner.
7. They have always done their work in a highly capable manner.
8. I have always tried to behave in a proper manner.
9. The rain was falling in a soft manner.
10. The meal was prepared in an excellent manner.
11. He talked to the group in a quite engaging manner.
12. She took care of her children in a devoted manner.
13. He framed the terms of the discussion in a clear manner.
14. He replaced the money in a telling manner.
15. She turned away from the accident in a disgusted manner.
The spelling of -ly adverbs is largely what we would expect when we add a suffix beginning with a consonant. Adjectives ending in a final silent e retain the e. For example:
Adjectives Adverbs
accurate accurately
complete completely
desperate desperately
entire entirely
Adjectives that end in a consonant + y change the y to i before the -ly suffix. For example:
Adjectives Adverbs
fussy fussily
hardy hardily
merry merrily
mighty mightily
There are only a few exceptional spellings for -ly adverbs:
Adjectives Adverbs
due duly
gay gaily
true truly
Truly is one of the most commonly misspelled words in English.
Exercise 12.3
In the right column, write the -ly adverb form of the adjective in the left column.
Adjective Adverb
loose loosely
1. sleepy ...
2. rare
3. needy
4. hardy
5. immediate
6. greedy
7. true
8. sketchy
9. scary
10. gay
Like adjectives, adverbs form their comparative and superlative forms in two fundamentally different ways: (1) by adding an -er and -est ending, and (2) by using the helping words more and most. For example:
-er/-est
George finished fast.
George finished faster than Frank.
George finished the fastest of all the runners in his age group.
more/most
George finished quickly.
George finished more quickly than Frank.
George finished the most quickly of all the runners in his age group.
However, as we will see below, the basis for deciding which adverbs use the -er/-est patterns and which use the more/most pattern is completely different from the basis for deciding between -er/-est and more/most in adjectives.
Only simple, uncompounded adverbs can use the -er/-est endings. For example:
high
The ball went higher and higher.
John’s kite went the highest of anyone’s.
loud
The bells rang louder as we came nearer.
The old church bell rang the loudest of all.
sharp
I answered sharper than I had intended.
His criticisms stung the sharpest of all.
tight
She smiled tighter and tighter.
She smiled the tightest at Bill’s stupid comments.
Adverbs that are formed from adjectives by the -ly suffix (the vast majority of all adverbs) must use more and most. For example:
amusingly
He spoke more amusingly than ever.
He spoke the most amusingly of all the presenters.
brightly
The light shone more brightly as it grew darker.
The stars shone the brightest that dark night.
charmingly
They laughed more charmingly than ever.
They laughed the most charmingly about their own mistakes.
completely
The plan was discussed more completely after dinner.
The plan was discussed the most completely by the review staff.
eagerly
I spoke more eagerly.
I spoke the most eagerly on the topics I knew most about.
suspiciously
They behaved more suspiciously than ever.
The butler behaved the most suspiciously of all the suspects.
A few adverbs have historically irregular forms:
Base form Comparative Superlative
badly worse worst
far (distance) farther farthest
far (other meanings) further furthest
little less least
much more most
well better best
Farther and farthest refer to physical distance. For example:
His golf ball went farther than mine did.
His shot went the farthest from the tee.
Further and furthest are used in all other meanings. For example:
His comments on the incident went further than the other’s.
His comments went the furthest of anybody’s in explaining what happened.
Exercise 12.4
Supply the comparative and superlative forms of the following adverbs.
Base form Comparative form Superlative form
suddenly more suddenly most suddenly
1. soon ... ...
2. late
3. frequently
4. raw
5. firmly
6. brilliantly
7. long
8. honestly
9. critically
10. low
11. bitterly
12. well
13. heavily
14. tight
15. badly
Adverb phrases
Two types of phrases play the role of adverbs: adverb prepositional phrases and adverbial infinitive phrases. Here is an example of each type of phrase:
Adverbial prepositional phrase: Sally met her friends after work.
Adverbial infinitive phrase: Sally met her friends to plan the reception.
Adverb prepositional phrases consist of prepositions followed by noun phrase objects. The noun phrase objects are nouns (with or without modifiers), pronouns, gerunds (Chapter 6), or noun clauses (Chapter 7). Here are examples of adverb prepositional phrases with various types of objects. The entire prepositional phrase is underlined, and the object noun phrase is in italics:
Noun phrase: We had dinner at that new restaurant on 88th Street.
Pronoun: There is a drug store by us.
Gerund: We only finished on time by everyone’s working overtime.
Noun clause: They have an apartment near where we live.
Exercise 12.5
Underline the adverb prepositional phrases in the following sentences and label the type of object that follows the preposition: noun phrase, pronoun, gerund, or noun clause.
1. They opened a window in the back room.
2. The kids ruined the rug by spilling food.
3. The moon was shining on us.
4. We improved the operation by simplifying the entire process.
5. He upset his neighbors by how loudly he played the TV.
6. They got married over the holidays.
7. We finally sold it after we placed an ad in the local paper.
8. We visited some friends near Cleveland.
9. I was a little confused by what he said.
10. We enjoyed the food in Italy.
Adverb infinitive phrases consist of the infinitive form of the verb together with that verb’s complements and/or modifiers (if any). Here are some examples of infinitive phrases used as adverbs. The entire infinitive phrase is underlined, and the infinitive verb itself is in italics:
We went to the post office to get some stamps.
You need a prescription to get your medicine at the drugstore.
You must practice hard to win.
He raised the issue just to cause an argument.
We turned off the water to fix a leak in a pipe.
Adverbs used as an infinitive always have the basic meaning of explaining why somebody does (or needs to do) something. In fact, we can paraphrase all infinitives used as adverbs with in order. Here is the in order paraphrase applied to all the example sentences given above:
We went to the post office in order to get some stamps.
You need a prescription in order to get your medicine at the drug store.
You must practice hard in order to win.
He raised the issue just in order to cause an argument.
We turned off the water in order to fix a leak in a pipe.
Exercise 12.6
Underline the adverb infinitive phrases in the following sentences. Confirm your answer by adding in order to the infinitive phrase.
1. We ended the interview to save the candidate any further embarrassment.
2. The doctors operated to reduce the risk of infection.
3. We reduced the price to attract a larger market.
4. We made a quick trip back home to pick up some things for the picnic.
5. I wore some heavy pants to protect my legs from the thorns.
6. We acted quickly to minimize the possible damage.
7. We hired a lawyer to file the estate papers.
8. The family made a down payment to ensure that they would have a place to stay.
9. We audited the books to ensure compliance with federal regulations.
10. I smiled to show that there were no hard feelings.
Adverb clauses
Clauses are grammatical constructions that contain both a subject and a verb that enter into a subject-verb relationship with that subject. Adverb clauses are dependent clauses that are attached to the main or independent clause as adverb modifiers. While adverb clauses can modify adjectives and other adverbs, the vast majority of adverb clauses modify verbs. This is the only kind of adverb clause we will be concerned with. Compared to adjective and noun clauses, adverb clauses have a simple and uniform structure: an introductory subordinating conjunction + a statement—a complete sentence in a statement form. Together, the subordinating conjunction and the complete statement make up an adverb subordinate clause. In the following examples, the subordinating conjunctions are in bold and the complete statements are underlined:
Exercise 12.7
Underline the entire adverb clause; label the subordinating conjunction (Sub Conj) and statement.
1. He will do it if he can.
2. We need to leave before it gets too dark.
3. They will finish by six unless there is an unexpected problem.
4. The theater always gets quiet when the curtain goes up.
5. We got together for coffee after we had finished the presentation.
6. We warned them about it as soon as we could.
7. Order a pizza when the waiter comes, will you?
8. I’ll give you a call after I get back to the office on Monday.
9. We saw signs of the problems everywhere we looked.
10. They will meet with us whenever we want them to.
11. Bob might change his mind if we made a good argument.
12. He won’t do it unless there is a good reason.
13. It cost quite a bit extra because we had to rush the job.
14. We had a good time everywhere we went.
15. They have lived there since they first moved to the city in the late eighties.