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Success Strategies
First Edition, Volume I: August 2006
Part II- English Language Grammar Primer & Exercises
Lesson 3
ADVERBS
Objective : Upon completion of this lesson, you will:
- Be able to describe and explain the purpose of adverbs. able to describe and explain the qualities of nouns, pronouns, and noun equivalents.
- Identify adverbs in a given sentence
ADVERBS
Adverbs are modifiers like adjectives, except they modify other parts of the sentence: namely verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. Because the location of an adverb does not determine what it modifies, the best method of identifying an adverb is by recognizing if it answers these questions: how, where, when, and why.
Most adverbs modify verbs and describe manner or degree (how?), location or direction (where?), and time or frequency (when?). There are also three main sub-categories that deserve mention. Negative particles completely change the meaning of the sentence. Interrogatives ask for adverbial information rather than supply it. Intensifiers modify adjectives and adverbs.
A common misconception is that all adverbs end in –ly; however, keep in mind many adverbs that answer the questions where and when do not end in –ly. Other words besides adverbs also sometimes end in –ly. For example: elderly and friendly (adjectives); anomaly and monopoly (nouns); and comply and multiply (verbs).