Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They answer questions such as how, where, when, how often, and why. Many end in -ly, but not all of them, and when there is more than one in a sentence they usually follow the order manner, place, frequency, time, purpose.
This article is part of a series about the word classes of English. It focuses on a word class that many people find confusing: the adverb. Find out what adverbs are, what they look like, how they are formed, and in which order to use them.
Adverbs in the English language
What are adverbs?
Despite their name, adverbs are not similar to verbs. Instead, they share many functions with adjectives. In a sentence, they modify other words, just as adjectives modify nouns. Instead of nouns, however, adverbs modify the following word classes (the modified word is in italics):
- verbs: She walked quickly.
- adjectives: He owned a very expensive car.
- other adverbs: They worked out quite effortlessly.
So adverbs add even more detail to your writing, by modifying words that already describe. Adverbs and adverbial phrases can be grouped by the information they add to a sentence, that is, by the question they answer:
| Type | Question | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Manner | How? | slowly, quietly, beautifully |
| Place | Where? | there, at home |
| Time | When? | now, early |
| Frequency | How often? | often, every day |
| Purpose | Why? | to get the best price, to spare herself the pain |
What do adverbs look like?
You can often recognize an adverb by the suffix -ly. In most cases, the adverb is an adjective with that suffix added:
- bad, badly
- loud, loudly
However, not every adverb is formed this way. Adverbs such as quite, very, fast, and well do not end in -ly. And not every word that ends in -ly is an adverb: ugly, friendly, lovely, and fatherly are adjectives.
Comparative and superlative
Like adjectives, many adverbs have a comparative and a superlative form:
- adjective: old, older, oldest
- adverb: fast, faster, fastest
A few are irregular, such as well, better, best and badly, worse, worst. Most adverbs, and above all those that end in -ly, use more and most, or less and least, to express degree:
She has the most beautifully arranged collection of antique dolls.
An adverb can also express equality when you put it between as and as:
He really walks as slowly as a tortoise.
The order of adverbs
When a sentence has more than one adverb, they usually come in a particular order. It is similar to the order of adjectives, but much more flexible, so you do not have to follow it as strictly:
- Manner
- Place
- Frequency
- Time
- Purpose
Here is an example in this order:
Rebecca jogs slowly (manner) through the park (place) every day (frequency) before sunrise (time) to stay fit (purpose).
Some adverbs do a different job: they link two sentences or clauses, like however and therefore. Those are covered in how to use conjunctive adverbs.