Adverbs are a tricky and strange group of words! And it’s impossible to understand English grammar if you don’t understand adverbs. To become an adverb genius, keep reading!
We have three types of adverbials: 1) single-word adverbs, 2) adverbial phrases, and 3) adverbial clauses. We will focus on single-word adverbs on this page, but I occasionally include adverbial prepositional phrase examples.
If you want to learn more about adverbials, be sure to check out these two pages:
1. 74 Color-Coded Prepositional Phrase Example Sentences with Analysis
2. Giant List of 3,300 –ly Adverbs plus Example Sentences
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The Key: Underlined and Bolded Words
Most example sentences have both a word that is underlined and a word that is bolded. Here’s what this means:
» underline = the modified word
» bold = the modifying word (usually an adverb)
The Basics of Adverbs: What Do Adverbs Do?
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs answer these questions: How? When? Where? In what manner? To what extent or degree? How much? How often? Please note: Single-word adverbs don’t answer the question Why?.
1. Jim exercises regularly. (When? How often? Regularly.)
2. Sue arrived early? (When? Early.)
3. Jim speaks clearly. (How? In what manner? Clearly.)
4. Our dog sleeps outside. (Where? Outside.)
5. Sue is remarkably happy. (To what extent or degree? How much? Remarkably.)
6. Jill runs faster than Jack. (Comparison. How? In what manner? To what degree? Faster.)
7. Chocolate tastes better than vanilla. (Comparison. How? To what degree? Better.)
The Seven Semantic Roles of Adverbials
In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English (1985), Quirk et al. outlined “Seven Semantic Roles of Adverbials.” To be clear, some of these categories relate more to adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses than to single-word adverbs.
- Space: position, direction, distance
- Time: position, duration, frequency, relationship
- Process: manner, means, instrument, agentive
- Respect
- Contingency: cause, reason, purpose, result, condition, concession
- Modality: emphasis, approximation, restriction
- Degree: amplification, diminution, measure
Let’s look at some single-word adverbs used in example sentences! I’ve also included a few adverbial prepositional phrase example sentences to add perspective. Also, I’ve omitted a few semantic categories that don’t relate to single-word adverbs.
Space: Position/Location
1. What time will you arrive here? (Space: Position/Location: Where? Will arrive at what position or location?)
2. We moved there last year. (Space: Position/Location: Where? Moved to what position or location?)
3. Prepositional Phrase: Please put the book on the table. (Space: Position/Location: Where? Put at what position or location?)
Space: Direction
1. The snowball rolled downhill. (Space: Direction: Where? Rolled in what direction?)
2. The settlers traveled west. (Space: Direction: Where? Traveled in what direction?)
3. The tiger crouched lower. (Space: Direction: Where? Crouched in what direction?)
4. Prepositional Phrase: All the kids ran towards the pool. (Space: Direction: Where? Ran in what direction?)
Space: Distance
1. Sue can throw the ball far. (Space: Distance: Where? Can throw what distance?)
2. The plane flew too close to the buildings. (Space: Distance: Where? Flew what distance from the buildings?)
3. Prepositional Phrase: Drive straight for three miles and then turn left. (Space: Distance: Where? Drive what distance?)
Time: Position
1. You should do your homework now. (Time: Position: When? Should do at what position in time?)
2. Jim bought a new car yesterday. (Time: Position: When? Bought at what position in time?)
3. Prepositional Phrase: School starts in the fall. (Time: Position: When? Starts at what position in time?)
Time: Duration: How long? Until when? Since when?
1. Prepositional Phrase: We will be traveling for two weeks. (Time: Duration: How long? Will be traveling for what duration?)
Time: Frequency
1. My family routinely eats vegetables. (Time: Frequency: How often? Eats how frequently?)
2. I go to the movies sometimes. (Time: Frequency: How often? Go how frequently?)
3. Jim exercises daily. (Time: Frequency: How often? Exercise how frequently?)
Time: Relationship
1. I have already eaten dinner. (Time: Relationship: When? Have eaten in what relationship to the current moment?
2. Sue arrived tardy to class. (Time: Relationship: When? Arrived in what relationship to the correct arrival time?)
Process: Manner
1. Jim spoke calmly. (Process: Manner: How? Spoke in what manner?)
2. My team played well. (Process: Manner: How? Played in what manner?)
3. Sue skillfully fixed the machine. (Process: Manner: How? Fixed in what manner?)
4. Prepositional Phrase: Jim danced with great enthusiasm. (Process: Manner: How? Danced in what manner?)
Process: Means
1. We approach things holistically. (Process: Means: How? Approach things by what means?)
2. I was verbally attacked. (Process: Means: How? Was attacked by what means?)
3. Prepositional Phrase: Jim verified the facts by doing research. (Process: Means: How? Verified by what means?)
Process: Instrument
1. Prepositional Phrase: Jim fixed the car with a hammer.
Process: Agent
1. Prepositional Phrase: The fence was painted by the children.
Modality: Emphasis: Adverb Intensifiers
Adverb intensifiers are related to “degree adverbs.” However, when we use these words as intensifiers, they only intensify the emotion. Here are a few words that we sometimes use as intensifiers: absolutely, amazingly, completely, deeply, especially, extraordinarily, extremely, highly, incredibly, outrageously, rather, really, remarkably, so, somewhat, terribly, too, totally, utterly, and very.
1. Sue was so very happy about her award. (Using either so or very is degree; using both communicates a strong emphasis.)
2. We definitely will be attending the ceremony. (Emphasis)
3. I will be right there. (Emphasis)
Modality: Approximation
1. Jim hardly ate anything. (Approximation: How much?)
2. I was barely awake when the phone rang. (Approximation: How much?)
Modality: Restriction or Negative Form
1. I am solely responsible for the mistake.
2. I am partially responsible for the mistake.
3. I am not responsible for the mistake.
Degree: Amplification, Diminution
1. I am extremely excited. (Degree: Amplification: Excited how much? To what degree?)
2. This chocolate is too sweet. (Degree: Amplification: Sweet how much? To what degree?)
3. Jim is very happy. (Degree: Amplification: Happy how much? To what degree?)
4. The movie was mildly entertaining. (Degree: Diminution: Entertaining how much? To what degree?)
5. The decision was hardly fair. (Degree: Diminution: Fair how much? To what degree?)
Degree: Measure: Comparison
1. Lamborghinis are the most expensive cars on the road. (Degree: Measure: Comparison: Expensive how much in comparison? To what degree?)
2. Soup is the least filling food ever created. (Degree: Measure: Comparison: Filling how much in comparison? To what degree?)
3. Cats are less needy than dogs. (Degree: Measure: Comparison: Needy how much in comparison? To what degree?)
4. This pizza is the most delicious pizza I have ever tasted. (Degree: Measure: Comparison: Delicious how much in comparison? To what degree?)
5. My mom drives slower than my dad. (Degree: Measure: Comparison: Drives how in comparison? To what degree?)
6. My dad plays the guitar better than my mom. (Degree: Measure: Comparison: Plays how in comparison? To what degree?)
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Four More Categories of Adverbs
We can approach adverbs from many different angles. Here are four more important categories of adverbs that are quite different from the Seven Semantic categories:
1. Interrogative Adverbs
Interrogative adverbs are used to begin a question: why, when, how, and where.
1. Why did you buy the car?
2. When did you buy the car?
3. How did you buy the car?
4. Where did you buy the car?
2. Conjunctive Adverbs
Conjunctive adverbs are connectors—i.e., conjuncts. They connect clauses or ideas and often function as transitions. Here are a few of the more common ones: however, furthermore, also, moreover, therefore, instead, similarly, nevertheless, meanwhile, accordingly, consequently, etc.
1. The class starts on Monday; however, I can’t make it until Tuesday.
2. The senator will not support the bill. Furthermore, the senator is encouraging others not to.
3. The price of the house is too high. The condition, moreover, is not great.
As the examples show, we have three ways to use and punctuate conjunctive adverbs. Please pay close attention to the comma and semicolon placements, as they illustrate rules.
3. Relative Adverbs
The three relative adverbs (when, where, why) are placed right after nouns and introduce relative clauses:
1. There was a time when I believed that too.
2. That is the house where the president grew up.
3. Give us one good reason why we should buy your product.
4. Sentence Adverbs
Sentence Adverbs are disjuncts. In other words, they are disconnected from the main point of the sentence. In a sense, Sentence Adverbs comment on the idea. These adverbs don’t modify any single word in the sentence; instead, they modify the entire sentence:
1. Interestingly, crickets are an excellent source of protein.
2. Surprisingly, the baby ate every last bite.
3. Admittedly, buying the Ferrari was a bad idea.
Although Sentence Adverbs are very common and useful, they are somewhat informal, as they amount to the author commenting on what the author is writing about.
Adverb Examples and Analysis: 1) Adverbs that Modify Verbs, 2) Adverbs that Modify Adjectives, and 3) Adverbs that Modify Adverbs
Once again, adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs answer these questions: How? When? Where? In what manner? To what extent or degree? How much? How often? Please note: Single-word adverbs don’t answer the question Why?.
Let’s examine some example sentences using everything we have learned so far!
1. Examples: Adverbs that Modify Verbs
1. The lion roared ferociously. (Process: Manner: Roared how? In what manner?)
2. You should floss your teeth daily. (Time: Frequency: Should floss when? How often?)
3. The students arrived early. (Time: Relationship: Arrived when? In what relationship to the expected time?)
4. Sue effectively argued her case. (Process: Manner: Argued how? In what manner?)
2. Examples: Adverbs that Modify Adjectives
1. Wow! Jim sure is abdominally fit. (Respect: How? Fit in what way?)
2. Yes, I am outrageously intelligent. (Degree: Amplification: How much? Intelligent to what degree/extent?)
3. The food was somewhat edible. (Degree: Diminution: How much? Edible to what degree/extent?)
4. Sue’s highly fashionable jumpsuit is old-school cool. (Degree: Amplification: How much? Fashionable to what degree/extent?)
3. Examples: Adverbs that Modify Adverbs
1. Sue runs surprisingly fast. (Degree: Amplification: How much? Fast to what degree/extent?)
2. The puppy strolled dangerously close to the cliff. (Degree: Amplification: How much? Close to what degree/extent?)
3. The dentist drilled seemingly forever. (Disjunct: Comments on the time.)
4. My dad eats so slowly. (Degree: Amplification: How much? Slowly to what degree/extent?)
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Adverbials: Adjuncts, Conjuncts, and Disjuncts
Adverbs and adverbials have long been considered a disorganized, imperfect, and complex category in English grammar. It’s sometimes called the “trashcan category” because many strange constructs have been thrown into this category.
Modern grammar theory has addressed many of these adverb issues. Here’s a model that I find brings excellent clarity to adverbials. In A Comprehensive Grammar of the English (1985), Quirk et al. outlined three main categories of adverbials. This may be a bit too much information for some people, but these concepts bring order to an old broken system.
1. Adjuncts: These are add-ons that provide additional information. We can remove these adjuncts (extra pieces of information) from a sentence, and the sentence will still make sense. Most of the first seven categories above (space, time, process, respect, contingency, modality, degree) are used as adjuncts.
2. Conjuncts: These are connectors. The Conjunctive Adverbs mentioned above certainly fall into this category.
3. Disjuncts: In a sense, disjuncts are disconnected from the sentence. They tend to comment on the ideas being put forth. The Sentence Adverbs mentioned above certainly fall into this category.
Adverbs: Movable and Even Removable
Adjectives modify one part of speech—nouns. In contrast, adverbs modify three parts of speech—verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Just by doing the math, we can see that we can find adverbs in more places in a sentence.
The sentences below illustrate how we can often move adverbs without changing the sentence’s meaning. We can’t do that easily with most parts of speech. When we remove the adverb, we can see that the adverb was optional.
1. Sue constantly sings.
2. Sue sings constantly.
3. Constantly, Sue sings.
4. Sue sings.
Not All –ly Words Are Adverbs; And Not All Adverbs End In –ly
Lots of words end in –ly! And yes, many of these –ly words can be used as adverbs. In fact, here is a Giant List of 3,300 –ly Adverbs Plus Example Sentences.
However, not all –ly words are adverbs, and not all adverbs end in –ly. Let’s take a closer look at this!
Adverbs That Don’t End in –ly
We have plenty (but not thousands) of adverbs that don’t end in –ly. The comparative and superlative adverbs that end with –er and –est don’t end with –ly. Additionally, interrogative adverbs and most conjunctive adverbs don’t end in –ly.
Adverbs are a strange category of words, and they are challenging to identify just by looking at them. It often takes careful analysis to determine what role an adverb is playing in a sentence. Not only do adverbs modify verbs (the action), but they also modify adjectives (description), and they modify each other!
Many of the most common adverbs are little words that we hardly notice. Here are a few of them:
aboard, about, accordingly, afterward, almost, along, already, anyway, anywhere, away, back, backward, best, better, bright, brighter, brightest, close, closer, closest, down, east, easy, even, far, fast, forward, furthermore, halfway, hard, here, how, inside, instead, just, late, later, latest, long, longer, loud, low, meanwhile, more, most, much, near, nearer, nearest, never, nevertheless, next, north, not, now, often, only, outside, over, quick, rather, seldom, sideways, slow, so, some, somehow, sometimes, soon, sooner, soonest, south, still, then, therefore, today, tomorrow, too, underneath, up, very, well, west, where, yesterday
Keep this in mind: As I glance at that list, I see words that function as adjectives, prepositions, nouns, or verbs. Put simply, it’s only an adverb if it’s used as an adverb in a sentence.
Adjectives That End in –ly: Yes, I Said Adjectives!
Since it’s easy to mistake –ly adjectives for –ly adverbs, I’ve included a little section on –ly adjectives. Although most words that end in –ly function as adverbs, not all do. Some verbs end in –ly (apply, bully, comply, reply, supply, etc.), and some nouns end in –ly (folly, bully, supply, etc.).
Additionally, on my Giant List of 4,800 Adjectives, I have about 100 –ly words that function as adjectives:
bubbly, burly, chilly, costly, cowardly, crumbly, crumply, cuddly, curly, daily, deadly, disorderly, early, elderly, fatherly, friendly, frilly, gangly, ghastly, ghostly, giggly, gnarly, heavenly, homely, irretrievably, jolly, kindly, likely, lively, lonely, lovely, lowly, matronly, measly, melancholy, miserly, motherly, neighborly, northerly, oily, only, portly, prickly, princely, queenly, rascally, saintly, scaly, scholarly, scraggly, seemly, shapely, sickly, silly, sisterly, sly, smelly, snuggly, soldierly, sonly, southeasterly, sparkly, sportsmanly, squiggly, squirrelly, stately, steely, straggly, surly, timely, twinkly, ugly, uncomely, unearthly, unfriendly, ungentlemanly, unlikely, unruly, unseemly, unshapely, unsightly, untimely, unworldly, weekly, wiggly, wily, wizardly, wobbly, worldly, wriggly, wrinkly, yearly
Most of these –ly adjectives CANNOT function as adverbs, but these ones do: daily, weekly, yearly, likely, only, kindly, snugly, and southeasterly. Let’s look at some example sentences!
- I did my daily reading. (daily = adjective)
- I read daily. (daily = adverb)
- The kindly old gentleman requested a refill. (kindly = adjective)
- The young lady kindly requested a refill. (kindly = adverb)
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Adverbs of Comparison: Comparative and Superlative Forms
Both adjectives and adverbs have comparative and superlative forms, so be sure to read Adjectives and Adverbs: Comparative and Superlative Forms. For now, let’s explore just the adverb aspect.
More, most, less, and least are adverbs when they modify adjectives and other adverbs. These four words are usually placed immediately in front of the adjective or adverb that they modify. It looks something like this:
1. That is the least convincing argument I have ever heard. (least = adverb; convincing = adjective)
2. Sam plays the piano more skillfully than Russ. (more = adverb; skillfully = adverb)
We also have about 20 groups of single-word adverbs of comparison. For example, we can swap “more skillfully” from the sentence above for a single-word adverb and get this result.
3. Sam plays the piano faster than Russ. (faster = adverb; plays = verb)
Adverbs of comparison have three forms: 1) base form/positive form, 2) comparative form, and 3) superlative form. With most –ly adverbs, we place MORE or LESS in front to create the comparative and MOST or LEAST to create the superlative. Here are two examples:
1. Sue skis more aggressively than Bill.
2. Bill skis the most effortlessly.
We have about 20 groups of adverbs of comparison that don’t require MORE/LESS or MOST/LEAST. These adverbs have the suffixes –er and –est added to the end of the word, or they are irregular forms. Here is a small list of these words:
1) badly, worse, worst, 2) fast, faster, fastest, 3) much, more, most, 4) far, farther, farthest, 5) little, less, least, 6) some, more, most, and 7) well, better, best.
1. Sue runs faster than Bill.
2. Bill ran farthest.
Once again, be sure to read Adjectives and Adverbs: Comparative and Superlative Forms to master comparative and superlative forms of both adverbs and adjectives.
Morphology: How to Make –ly Adverbs
I have a confession! Most of my Giant List of 3,300 –ly Adverbs plus Example Sentences came from my Giant List of 4,800 Adjectives. All I had to do was add an –ly on to the end of the adjectives and then edit out the ones that didn’t work or weren’t very good.
Morphology is the study of how we make words using prefixes, suffixes, roots, and bases. Let’s take a quick look at how some of our –ly adverbs were created!
1. Noun: abdomen » Adjective: abdominal » Adverb: abdominally
2. Verb: admonish » Adjective: admonishing » Adverb: admonishingly
3. Adjective: impossible » Adverb: impossibly
4. Noun: patriot » Adjective: patriotic » Adverb: patriotically
5. Verb: respect / Noun: respect » Adjective: respectful » Adverb: respectfully
In short, most –ly adverbs are adjectives with an –ly added on to the end.
