10.6 - Adverbs
Adverbs are words or phrases that tell you about the circumstances of an action, such as how, where or when it happens (e.g. slowly, unfortunately, here). Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs but they cannot modify nouns.
Use the dots to scroll through the four activities.
1. He worked really hardly → Learners may want to overgeneralise the rule of –ly for adverbs. However, there are certain exceptions (e.g ‘hard’, ‘fast’, ‘wrong’, etc). Learners need to be made aware of these exceptions.
2. She made the lunch quickly → position of adverbs: We generally avoid placing adverbs of manner between a verb and its object.
3. He smiled at her in a very friendly manner → Although many adverbs end in –ly, not all words ending in –ly are adverbs. The following are adjectives: friendly, manly, leisurely, likely.
4. He’s a careful driver → Some students tend to write an adverb before a noun, when this is not possible. Adverbs can be followed by adjectives, verbs and other adverbs.
5. He drives well → When describing how somebody does something, an adverb is needed.
To know more about the different types of adverbs, you can check the grammar section of the Cambridge Dictionary here.
