Adverbs

Adverbs are words that tell us how, when, where, how often, or how much. An adverb can modify a verb (e.g., runs quickly ), an adjective (e.g., extremely small), or another adverb (e.g., very closely ).

Examples of Adverbs

• She swims quickly . (Here, the adverb "quickly" modifies the verb "swims.")
• She is an extremely quick swimmer. (The adverb "extremely" modifies the adjective "quick.")
• She swims extremely quickly . (The adverb "extremely" modifies the adverb "quickly.")

Table of Contents

• Learning about Adverbs
• Find the Adverb Test
• Function of the Adverb Test
• Interactive Examples of Adverbs
• More about Adverbs
• Adverbs Modify Verbs
• Adverbs Modify Adjectives
• Adverbs Modify Adverbs
• Types of Adverb
• Adverbial Phrases and Clauses
• Video Lesson
• Why Adverbs Are Important
• Test Time!

Learning about Adverbs

• He walked quickly . (In this example, "walked" is the verb, and the adverb "quickly" describes how the verb was done.)
• She talks loudly . (Here, "talks" is the verb, and the adverb "loudly" describes how the verb is done.)

Find the Adverb Test

Not all adverbs tell us how a verb is done. Adverbs can also tell us when, where, how often, and how much a verb is done. Here are some more examples of adverbs modifying verbs:

• How: He ran quickly .
• When: He ran yesterday .
• Where: He ran here .
• How often: He ran daily .
• How much: He ran fastest .

Function of the Adverb Test

It's your go! Select the function of the adverb in the following sentences. In other words, what is the adverb telling us?

• How: He ran at 10 miles per hour . (The highlighted text is an adverbial phrase.)
• When: He ran when the police arrived . (The highlighted text is an adverbial clause.)
• Where: He ran to the shops . (adverbial phrase)
• Why: He ran to fetch some water . (This is an adverbial phrase. There are no single-word adverbs that tell us why.)
• How often: He ran every day . (adverbial phrase)
• How much: He ran quicker than me . (adverbial phrase)

As we will cover later, adverbs can also modify adjectives and even other adverbs.

Interactive Examples of Adverbs

Here are some interactive examples to help explain the difference between single-word adverbs, adverbial phrases, and adverbial clauses. (In these examples, the subjects are blue, and the verbs are green. Note that only the adverbial clauses have a subject and a verb.)

More about Adverbs

When beginners first learn about adverbs, they are often told that adverbs end "-ly" and modify verbs. That is, of course, true, but adverbs do far more than that description suggests. Here are three key points about adverbs:

(Point 1) Adverbs modify verbs, but they can also modify adjectives and other adverbs.

• She sang an insanely sad song extremely well . (In this example, "insanely" modifies the adjective "sad," "extremely" modifies the adverb "well," and "well" modifies the verb "sang.")

(Point 2) Although many adverbs end "-ly," lots do not.

• fast, never, well, very, most, least, more, less, now, far, there

(Point 3) In real-life sentences, lots of adverbs are phrases or clauses (i.e., not single words).

Adverbs Modify Verbs

An adverb that modifies a verb usually tells you how, when, where, why, how often, or how much the action is performed. (NB: The ones that end "ly" are usually the ones that tell us how the action is performed, e.g., "quickly," "slowly," "carefully," "quietly.")

• Anita placed the vase carefully on the shelf. ("Carefully" modifies "to place" to express how the vase was placed.)
• Tara walks gracefully . ("Gracefully" modifies "to walk" to express how Tara walks.)
• He runs fast . ("Fast" modifies "to run" to express how he runs.)
• You can set your watch by him. He always leaves at 5 o'clock. ("Always" modifies "to leave" to express when he leaves)
• The dinner guests arrived early . ("Early" modifies "to arrive" to express when they arrived.)
• She sometimes helps us. ("Sometimes" modifies "to help" to express when she helps us.)
• Will you come quietly , or do I have to use earplugs? (Comedian Spike Milligan) ("Quietly" modifies "to come" to express how he wants you to come.)
• I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly . (Playwright Oscar Wilde) ("Thoroughly" modifies "to know" to express how he should like to know himself.)

Adverbs Modify Adjectives

• The horridly grotesque gargoyle was undamaged by the debris. ("Horridly" modifies the adjective "grotesque.")
• Peter had an extremely ashen face. ("Extremely" modifies the adjective "ashen.")
• Badly trained dogs that fail the test will become pets. ("Badly" modifies the adjective "trained.")
  (Note: The adjective "trained" is an adjective formed from the verb "to train." It is called a participle.)
• She wore a beautifully designed dress. ("Beautifully" modifies the adjective "designed.")

Adverbs Modify Adverbs

• Peter Jackson finished his assignment remarkably quickly . (The adverb "quickly" modifies the verb "to finish." The adverb "remarkably" modifies "quickly.")
• We're showing kids a world that is very scantily populated with women and female characters. They should see female characters taking up half the planet, which we do. (Actress Geena Davis) (In this example, the adverb "scantily" modifies the adjective "populated." The adverb "very" modifies "scantily.")

What Is the Adverb Modifying?

More about Adverbs

Types of Adverb

• The lion crawled stealthily .
• Will you come quietly , or do I have to use earplugs? (Comedian Spike Milligan)

• I tell him daily .
• What you plant now , you will harvest later . (Author Og Mandino)

• I did not put it there .
• Poetry surrounds us everywhere , but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it. (Artist Vincent Van Gogh)

• He works smarter .
• Doubters make me work harder to prove them wrong. (Businessman Derek Jeter)

• To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect. (Playwright Oscar Wilde) ("Thoroughly" modifies the adjective "modern.")
• If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing very slowly . (Burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee) ("Very" modifies the adverb "slowly.")

Even More about Adverbs

Adverbial Phrases and Clauses

In all the examples above, the adverbs are single words, but multi-word adverbs are common too. Adverbs are commonly phrases (i.e., two or more words) or clauses (i.e., two or more words containing a subject and a verb). Here are some examples of multi-word adverbs. (This list also includes adverbs of condition, adverbs of concession, and adverbs of reason.)

• Money speaks, but it speaks with a male voice . (Author Andrea Dworkin) (This is called a prepositional phrase. It's also an adverbial phrase.)
• People who say they sleep like a baby does usually don't have one. (Psychologist Leo J. Burke)

• A company like Gucci can lose millions in a second . (Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri)
• After the game has finished , the king and pawn go into the same box. (Italian proverb)

• Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings. (Ed Gardner)
• Some cause happiness wherever they go ; others whenever they go . (Playwright Oscar Wilde)

• Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm . (Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
• Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are . (Writer Julius Charles Hare)

• If the facts don't fit the theory , change the facts. (Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein)
• Age doesn't matter, unless you're a cheese . (Filmmaker Luis Bunuel)

• I don't have a bank account because I don't know my mother's maiden name . (Comedian Paula Poundstone)
• Since we cannot change reality , let us change the eyes which see reality. (Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis)

Video Lesson

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos.

• A summary of all the parts of speech

Why Adverbs Are Important

(Issue 1) Use adverbs ending "-ly" sparingly.

• The road to hell is paved with adverbs. (Author Stephen King)

• Extremely annoyed, she stared menacingly at her rival. (Stephen King would hate this.)
• Infuriated, she glared at her rival. (This is sharper. There are no adverbs.)

(1) The adverb is a tautology (i.e., needless repetition of an idea).

• She smiled happily .

(2) The adverb is "spoon feeding" the reader.

• She smiled disappointedly . (By the time your readers reach this sentence, they should know from context that it's a disappointed smile. The trick is to show them, not literally tell them, that she is disappointed. It is far more engaging. Less is more.)

• "Ow, pack that in," Rachel shrieked angrily . (You can remove the adverb if the "how" is implicit from the dialogue or context.)

(3) The adverb is only there because of a badly chosen verb.

• Sitting dejectedly in its cage, the parrot looked utterly unhappy. (Steven King would hate this.)
• Looking miserable, the parrot lay on the floor of its cage. (This is sharper. Your readers will know that parrots don't ordinarily lie on the floor.)

• Your son is surprisingly handsome.

(Issue 2) Delete "very" and "extremely."

Professional writers hate adverbs such as "extremely," "really," and "very" (called intensifiers). For them, using an intensifier demonstrates a limited vocabulary. It's a fair point. If you choose the right words, you can avoid intensifiers.

• Ireland is great for the spirit but very bad for the body. (Actor Hugh Dancy) (The deletion kills a word but no meaning.)

• Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very." Your editor will delete it, and the writing will be just as it should be.

Good Tip

Press "CTRL H". Put "very" in the Find box. Put nothing in the Replace box. Click Replace All.

(Issue 3) When an adverb modifies an adjective, don't join them with a hyphen.

When an adverb modifies an adjective, don't join the two with a hyphen.

• I don't sleep with happily married men. (Actress Britt Ekland)
• Ironically, he described himself as "a professionally -qualified grammarian". (Don't join the adverb and the adjective with a hyphen.)

• The beginning is the most -important part of the work. (translation of Greek philosopher Plato)

(Issue 4) When an ambiguous adverb modifies an adjective, use a hyphen.

A few adverbs (e.g., "well" and "fast") look like adjectives. To make it clear your adverb is not an adjective, you can link it to the adjective it's modifying with a hyphen. The hyphen says "these two words are one entity," making it clear they're not two adjectives.

• She's a well -known dog. (The hyphen makes it clear that the dog is famous (i.e., well-known) as opposed to well (i.e., healthy) and known (i.e., familiar).)
• He sold me six fast -growing carp. (The hyphen makes it clear the carp are ones that grow quickly and not growing ones that can swim quickly.)

• Use a hyphen with "well" when it precedes an adjective.

• It's a well -known tactic. (This is not really about avoiding ambiguity. It's more about protecting readers from a reading-flow stutter caused by the feasibility of ambiguity.)
• It's a widely known tactic. (Don't use a hyphen with normal adverbs. They don't cause reading-flow stutters.)

(Issue 5) Make it clear what your adverb is modifying.

• Singing quickly improved his stammer. (It's unclear whether "quickly" modifies "singing" or "improved." This is called a squinting modifier.)
• Peter told us after Christmas that he plans to diet. (Here, after Christmas sits grammatically with "told" but logically with "plans." This is called a misplaced modifier.)
• I recorded the hedgehog feeding its hoglets cautiously . (It's unclear whether "cautiously" modifies "recorded" or "feeding.")

It's worth mentioning limiting modifiers (e.g., "hardly," "nearly," "only") because these commonly create logic flaws or ambiguity.

• I only eat candy on Halloween. No lie. (Actor Michael Trevino) (Logically, this means all he does on Halloween is eat candy; therefore, he doesn't work, sleep, or drink on that day. In everyday speech, we all get away with misplacing "only," but we should try to be more precise in our writing.)
• I eat candy only on Halloween. (This is sharper. As a rule of thumb, the best place for "only" is never to the left of a verb.)

• Lee copied nearly all 10 of your answers. (This tells us Lee copied most of the answers.)
• Lee nearly copied all 10 of your answers. (Here, Lee might have copied none to nine.)

(Issue 6) Use a comma after a fronted adverbial.

• In colonial America , lobster was often served to prisoners because it was so cheap and plentiful.
• One April day in 1930 , the BBC reported, "There is no news."
• If you're called Brad Thor , people expect you to be 6 foot 4 with muscles. (Author Brad Thor)

• Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement. (Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz via Snoopy)

Key Points

• Try to render adverbs ending "-ly" redundant with better word choice.
• Have you used "very"? Yes? Delete it.
• Don't join an adverb to an adjective unless that adverb is "well."
• Put your adverbs close to what they're modifying and far from what they're not.

This page was written by Craig Shrives.