An adverb is a commonly-used part of speech in the English language. An adverb is used to modify, or further describe, any part of speech aside from a noun --
What is the difference between adjectives and adverbs? Adjectives are used to modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs act to provide more information about what they modify.
Identification of adverbs and adjectives can be confusing in the beginning. There are some ways to identify adverbs, and to tell the two parts of speech apart. Adverbs often end in -ly, such as nearly, quickly, and happily. There are, of course, exceptions to this guideline. There are also some words that end in -ly and are not adverbs, such as the words lovely, lonely, motherly, and friendly which are adjectives. Additionally, not all adverbs have the ending ly. For example, very and too are adverbs and do not end in ly. Adverbs can also end in ways or wise, such as sideways or counterclockwise.
The best way to determine an adjective or adverb is by identifying what it is modifying. If you can identify the noun and verb in a sentence, you can then check to see which modifier goes with each. When it is a verb, the modifier is an adverb, and when it is a noun, the modifier is an adjective. Since adverbs also modify other parts of speech, the first check should be to ensure that the word in question is not modifying a noun. The following sentences provide some examples:
Adverbs often serve to answer certain questions or provide additional clarifying information on when, where, how, and to what extent in a sentence (www.wisegeek.com). This can be done in degrees known as positive, comparative, and superlative. The positive degree would be the lowest, comparative degree would be a larger/lesser amount or quality, and superlative would be the highest/lowest. An example would be positive - gracefully, comparative - more/less gracefully, and superlative - most/least gracefully.
There are also conjunctive adverbs, which are used to join two clauses or phrases together (www.wisegeek.com). When this happens, the adverb is placed between the clauses. For example:
The girl made the cake; however, she did not frost it. The word however acts and a conjunctive adverb to join the two clauses. Note that the first clause is followed by a semi-colon. The adverb follows the semi-colon and connects the second clause to the first.
Adverbs can also modify a group of words, describing the group of words rather than a single word. For example:
- Unfortunately, the rain will come. The adverb unfortunately modifies the group of words rain will come.
Adverbs are useful in adding description and emphasis to a subject. It is important to be able to recognize this part of a sentence and use it effectively. Adverbs should, however, be used sparingly, if at all, in technical or professional articles as these forms of writing are more effective with succinct sentences that do not provide unnecessary descriptors.
