COMPARATIVE
FORMS OF ADVERBS
In
general, comparative and superlative forms of adverbs are the same as for
adjectives:
·
add -er or -est
to short adverbs:
Adverb |
Comparative |
Superlative |
hard |
harder |
the hardest |
Example:
·
Jim works harder than
his brother.
·
Everyone in the race ran fast,
but John ran the fastest of all.
with
adverbs ending in -ly, use more for the comparative
and most for the superlative:
Adverb |
Comparative |
Superlative |
quietly |
more
quietly |
most quietly |
Example:
·
The teacher spoke more slowly
to help us to understand.
·
Could you sing more quietly
please?
Some
adverbs have irregular comparative forms:
Adverb |
Comparative |
Superlative |
badly |
worse |
worst |
Example:
·
The little boy ran further
than his friends.
·
You're driving worse
today than yesterday !
BE
CAREFUL! Sometimes 'most' can mean 'very':
·
We were most grateful
for your help
·
I am most impressed by
this application.
KINDS
OF ADVERBS
There
are several classes or 'kinds' of adverbs that we use for specific functions:
1. Adverbs
of manner
2. Adverbs of place
3. Adverbs of time
4. Adverbs of certainty
5. Adverbs of degree
6. Interrogative adverbs
7. Relative adverbs
8. Viewpoint and commenting adverbs
ADVERBS
OF MANNER
Adverbs
of manner tell us how something happens. They are usually placed after
the main verb or after the object.
Examples:
·
He swims well, (after
the main verb)
·
He ran... rapidly, slowly,
quickly..
·
She spoke... softly,
loudly, aggressively..
·
James coughed loudly to
attract her attention.
·
He plays the flute beautifully.
(after the object)
·
He ate the chocolate cake greedily.
BE
CAREFUL! The adverb should not be put between
the verb and the object:
·
He ate greedily the chocolate
cake [incorrect]
·
He ate the chocolate cake greedily
[correct]
If
there is a preposition before the object, e.g. at, towards,
we can place the adverb either before the preposition or after the object.
Example:
·
The child ran happily towards
his mother.
·
The child ran towards
his mother happily.
Sometimes
an adverb of manner is placed before a verb + object to add emphasis:
·
He gently woke the
sleeping woman.
Some
writers put an adverb of manner at the beginning of the sentence to catch our attention
and make us curious:
·
Slowly she picked up the knife.
(We
want to know what happened slowly, who did
it slowly, why they did it slowly)
However,
adverbs should always come AFTER intransitive verbs (=verbs which have
no object).
Example:
·
The town grew quickly
·
He waited patiently
Also,
these common adverbs are almost always placed AFTER the verb:
·
well
·
badly
·
hard
·
fast
The
position of the adverb is important when there is more than one verb in a
sentence. If the adverb is placed after a clause, then it
modifies the whole action described by the clause.
Notice
the difference in meaning between the following pairs of sentences:
·
She quickly agreed to
re-type the letter (= her agreement was quick)
·
She agreed to re-type the letter quickly
(= the re-typing was quick)
·
He quietly asked me to
leave the house (= his request was quiet)
·
He asked me to leave the house quietly
(= the leaving was quiet)
ADVERBS
OF PLACE
Adverbs
of place tell us where something happens.
They are usually placed after the main verb or after the object:
Example:
after
the main verb:
·
I looked everywhere
·
John looked away,
up, down, around...
·
I'm going home,
out, back
·
Come in
after
the object:
·
They built a house nearby
·
She took the child outside
'Here'
and 'there'
With
verbs of movement, here means towards or with the speaker:
·
Come here (= towards me)
·
It's in here (= come
with me to see it)
There
means away from, or not with the speaker:
·
Put it there (= away
from me)
·
It's in there (= go by
yourself to see it)
Here and there are combined with prepositions to make many
common adverbial phrases:
down
here, down there;
over here, over there;
under here, under there;
up here, up there
Here and there are placed at the beginning of the sentence in
exclamations or when emphasis is needed.
They
are followed by the verb if the subject is a noun:
·
Here comes the bus. (followed by the verb)
Or by
a pronoun if this is the subject (it, she, he etc.):
·
Here it is! (followed by the pronoun)
·
There she goes! (followed by the pronoun)
NOTE: most common adverbs of place also function as prepositions.
Examples:
about,
across, along, around, behind, by, down, in, off, on, over, round, through,
under, up.
Go to
Prepositions or Phrasal Verbs
Other
adverbs of place: ending in '-wards', expressing movement in a
particular direction:
backwards |
northwards |
Example:
·
Cats don't usually walk backwards.
·
The ship sailed westwards.
BE
CAREFUL! 'Towards' is a preposition, not
an adverb, so it is always followed by a noun or a pronoun:
·
He walked towards the
car.
·
She ran towards me.
expressing
both movement and location:
ahead,
abroad, overseas, uphill, downhill, sideways, indoors, outdoors
Example:
·
The child went indoors.
·
He lived and worked abroad.
ADVERBS
OF TIME
Adverbs
of time tell us when an action happened, but also for how
long, and how often.
Examples:
·
When: today, yesterday, later, now, last year
·
For how long: all day, not long, for a while, since last year
·
How often: sometimes, frequently, never, often, yearly
"When" adverbs are usually placed at the end of the sentence:
·
Goldilocks went to the Bears' house yesterday.
·
I'm going to tidy my room tomorrow.
This
is a "neutral" position, but some "when"
adverbs can be put in other positions to give a different emphasis
Compare:
·
Later Goldilocks ate some porridge. (the time is more important)
·
Goldilocks later ate
some porridge. (this is more formal, like a policeman's report)
·
Goldilocks ate some porridge later.
(this is neutral, no particular emphasis)
"For
how long" adverbs are usually placed at the end of the
sentence:
·
She stayed in the Bears' house all
day.
·
My mother lived in France for a
year.
Notice:
'for' is always followed by an expression of duration:
·
for three days,
·
for a week,
·
for several years,
·
for two centuries.
'since' is always followed by an expression of a point in time:
·
since Monday,
·
since 1997,
·
since the last war.
"How
often" adverbs expressing the frequency
of an action are usually placed before the main verb but after auxiliary verbs
(such as be, have, may, must):
·
I often eat vegetarian
food. (before the main verb)
·
He never drinks milk.
(before the main verb)
·
You must always fasten
your seat belt. (after the auxiliary must)
·
She is never
sea-sick.(after the auxiliary is)
·
I have never forgotten
my first kiss. (after the auxiliary have and before the main verb forgotten)
Some
other "how often" adverbs express the exact
number of times an action happens and are usually placed at the end of
the sentence:
·
This magazine is published monthly.
·
He visits his mother once a week.
When
a frequency adverb is placed at the end of a sentence it is much
stronger.
Compare:
·
She regularly visits
France.
·
She visits France regularly.
Adverbs
that can be used in these two positions:
·
frequently,
·
generally,
·
normally,
·
occasionally,
·
often,
·
regularly,
·
sometimes,
·
usually
'Yet'
and 'still'
Yet is used in questions and in negative sentences,
and is placed at the end of the sentence or after not.
·
Have you finished your work yet?
(= a simple request for information) No, not yet. (= simple
negative answer)
·
They haven't met him yet.
(= simple negative statement)
·
Haven't you finished yet?
(= expressing slight surprise)
Still expresses continuity; it is used in positive
sentences and questions, and is placed before the main verb and after
auxiliary verbs (such as be, have, might, will)
·
I am still hungry.
·
She is still waiting for
you
·
Are you still here?
·
Do you still work for
the BBC?
ORDER
OF ADVERBS OF TIME
If
you need to use more than one adverb of time at the end of a sentence, use them
in this order:
1: 'how
long'
2: 'how often'
3: 'when' (think of 'low')
Example:
·
1 + 2 : I work (1) for five
hours (2) every day
·
2 + 3 : The magazine was published (2)
weekly (3) last year.
·
1 + 3 : I was abroad (1) for two
months (3) last year.
·
1 + 2 + 3 : She worked in a hospital
(1) for two days (2) every week (3) last year.
ADVERBS
OF CERTAINTY
These
adverbs express how certain or sure we feel about an action or event.
Common
adverbs of certainty:
certainly, definitely, probably, undoubtedly, surely
Adverbs
of certainty go before the main verb but after the verb 'to be':
·
He definitely left
the house this morning.
·
He is probably in the
park.
With
other auxiliary verb, these adverbs go between the auxiliary and the main verb:
·
He has certainly
forgotten the meeting.
·
He will probably
remember tomorrow.
Sometimes
these adverbs can be placed at the beginning of the sentence:
·
Undoubtedly, Winston Churchill was a great politician.
BE
CAREFUL! with surely. When it is placed at the beginning of the
sentence, it means the speaker thinks something is true, but is looking for
confirmation:
Example:
·
Surely you've got a bicycle?
RELATIVE
ADVERBS
The
following adverbs can be used to join sentences or clauses. They replace the
more formal structure of preposition + which in a relative clause:
where, when, why
Examples:
·
That's the restaurant where
we met for the first time.
(where = at/in which)
·
I remember the day when
we first met.
(when = on which)
·
There was a very hot summer the year when
he was born.
(when = in which)
·
Tell me (the reason) why
you were late home.
(why = for which, but could replace the whole phrase 'the reason for
which')
·