What Is An Adverb

What Is an Adverb?
An adverb is a word that modifies (describes) a verb (“he sings loudly”), an adjective (“very tall”), another adverb (“ended too quickly”), or
even a whole sentence (“Fortunately, I had brought an umbrella.”).
Adverbs often end in -ly, but some (such as fast) look exactly the same as their adjective counterparts.
Examples:
 Tom Longboat did not run badly.
 Tom is very tall.
 The race finished too quickly.
 Fortunately, Lucy recorded Tom’s win.
Adverb examples:
Adverbs are easy to recognize because they usually end in –ly, but not always. Some of the most common adverb examples include: really,
very well, badly today, yesterday, everyday, etc. sometimes, often, rarely, etc. early, late, soon, etc. here, there, everywhere, etc.
Adverbs and verbs: Adverbs often modify verbs. This means that they describe the way an action is happening. For example:
 Huan sings loudly in the shower.
 My cat waits impatiently for his food.
 I will seriously consider your suggestion.
The adverb in each of the sentences above answers the question In what manner? How does Huan sing? Loudly. How does my cat wait?
Impatiently. How will I consider your suggestion? Seriously. Adverbs can answer other types of questions about how an action was
performed. They can also tell you when (“we arrived early”), where (“turn here”), or with what frequency (“I go there often”).
However, there is one type of verb that doesn’t mix well with adverbs. Linking verbs, such as feel, smell, sound, seem, and appear, typically
precede adjectives, not adverbs. A very common example of the type of mixup that happens with linking verbs is the following:
 Paz feels badly about what happened.

Because feel is a verb, it seems to call for an adverb rather than an adjective. But feel isn’t just any verb; it’s a linking verb, which means that it
links the subject of a sentence to the modifier that follows it. Since a subject is, by definition, a noun (or a pronoun), it is modified by an
adjective. An adverb would describe how you perform the action of feeling—an adjective describes what you feel. “Paz feels badly” means
that Paz is bad at feeling things. If Paz is trying to read Braille through thick leather gloves, then it might make sense for you to say “Paz feels
badly.” But if you’re trying to say that Paz is experiencing negative emotions, “Paz feels bad” is the phrase you want.
Adverbs and adjectives:
Adverbs can also modify adjectives. An adverb modifying an adjective generally adds a degree of intensity or some other kind of qualification
to the adjective.
 The lake is quite beautiful.

 This book is more interesting than the last one.
 “Is my singing too loud?” asked Huan.
 My cat is incredibly happy to be having his dinner.
 We will be slightly late to the meeting.
 This shirt is a very unflattering shade of puce.
Adverbs and other adverbs:
You can use an adverb to describe another adverb. In the following sentence, the adverb almost is modifying the adverb always (and they’re
both modifying the adjective right):
 The weather report is almost always right.

In fact, if you wanted to, you could use several adverbs to modify another adverb.
 Huan sings rather enormously too loudly.

However, that often produces weak and clunky sentences like the one above, so be careful not to overdo it.
Adverbs and sentences:
Some adverbs can modify entire sentences—unsurprisingly, these are called sentence adverbs. Common ones
include generally, fortunately, interestingly, and accordingly. Sentence adverbs don’t describe one particular thing in the sentence—instead,
they describe a general feeling about all of the information in the sentence.
 Fortunately, we got there in time.

 Interestingly, no one at the auction seemed interested in bidding on the antique spoon collection.
At one time, the use of the word hopefully as a sentence adverb (e.g., “Hopefully, I’ll get this job”) was condemned. People continued to use
it, though, and many style guides and dictionaries now accept it. That said, there are still plenty of readers out there who hate it, so it’s a good
idea to avoid using it in formal writing.

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What Is an Adverb?

 Paz feels badly about what happened.

Adverbs and adjectives:

 The lake is quite beautiful.

 The weather report is almost always right.

 Huan sings rather enormously too loudly.

Adverbs and sentences:

 Fortunately, we got there in time.

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