- The general characteristics of adverbs
- Its termination
- Examples
- They can modify adjectives
- Example
- They can modify adverbs
- Examples
- They indicate the frequency
- Examples
- Indicate the place
- Examples
- They indicate the time
- Examples
- They indicate how something happened
- Examples
- They fulfill functions in prayer
- They are used to modify verbs
- Example
- References
One of the general characteristics of adverbs is that they are used to describe when, where, how and in what situation an action takes place. They are used to modify a verb, an adjective, another adverb or any other type of word or sentence.
Adjectives and adverbs have important characteristics in common. One of these is that they can be modified by using the words "very" or "extremely."
However, they have one important distinguishing feature: adverbs almost never modify nouns.
Although it is not common, sometimes adverbs can modify the noun.
This can be observed in adverbs of time that illustrate some activity (for example: the then president), or in adverbs that express quantity and deepen the noun (for example: little man).
The general characteristics of adverbs
Its termination
Adverbs of manner can be modified with the suffix "mind." Generally these adverbs can be formed from a noun to which the word mind is added.
Examples
- Expensively (expensive + mind).
- Mortally (mortal + mind).
- Friendly (friendly + mind).
- Friendly (friendly + mind).
- Probably (probably + mind).
- Animated (animated + mind).
- Quickly (quick + mind).
- Slowly (slow + mind).
- Gradually (gradually + mind).
Although not all adverbs have this ending, all mode adverbs do have this suffix, so it is quite easy to identify them.
They can modify adjectives
Adverbs can be used to modify an adjective and intensify the meaning it conveys. In most cases, the adverb is placed before the adjective.
Example
"Alejandro plays tennis well." Subject is known to be able to play tennis.
"Alejandro plays tennis extremely well." Subject is known to play tennis so well that he may win matches often.
They can modify adverbs
Just as they can modify adjectives, many adverbs can also be modified by other adverbs.
Almost always the adverbs that modify other adverbs are of degree or quantity, because they specify the degree in which an adverb can be applied.
Some of these adverbs include the words completely, more, less, highly, too much, approximately, little, totally, among others.
Examples
- Very softly.
- Fairly regular.
- More recently.
- So madly.
- Less quickly.
They indicate the frequency
Adverbs can change or qualify the meaning of a sentence by expressing how often or how often something in particular happens. These are called adverbs of frequency.
An adverb of frequency is an adverb of time. Adverbs of frequency always describe how often something happens, both in definitive terms and in indeterminate terms.
An adverb that describes a definite frequency can be "daily" or "annually." An adverb that does not specify an exact time reference can be "sometimes", "often" or "rarely".
On many occasions the adverbs of frequency are used to indicate some routine or activities that are repeated.
Examples
- We take vacations annually.
- I usually do my shopping on Sunday morning.
- You are often late for work.
Indicate the place
Adverbs can change or qualify the meaning of a sentence by indicating where something happens.
These adverbs are defined as adverbs of place. Sometimes they are also called spatial adverbs.
An adverb of place will always speak of the location in which the action of the verb is taking place. It can refer to distances (near, far), be directional (up, south) or indicate the position of one object in relation to another (around, between).
Examples
- Put the glass there.
- Get the book from there.
- My car is close.
They indicate the time
Adverbs can change or qualify the meaning of a sentence by determining when things happen. These adverbs are defined as adverbs of time.
An adverb of time is a word that describes when, for how long, or how often a certain action occurred.
Because of this, many adverbs of time are also adverbs of frequency. These adverbs are often placed at the end of the sentence.
Examples
- The newspaper is published daily.
- They go out to dinner weekly.
- Are you coming to work tomorrow?
They indicate how something happened
Mode adverbs are used to indicate how an action occurred. For example, you can walk or run at different speeds.
Words used to describe walking or running at different speeds (quickly or slowly, for example) are good examples of mode adverbs.
Examples
- He quickly agreed to raise the roof. (She did it quickly).
- He calmly asked me to leave. (She asked me calmly).
- The nurse gently woke the patient. (Gently woke him up).
They fulfill functions in prayer
Adverbs serve a variety of functions, so it is difficult to treat them as a unified category.
Adverbs generally fulfill their functions by answering questions such as:
- When? She always arrives early.
- How? Juan drives with care
- Where? They go everywhere together.
- In what way? She eats slowly.
These adverbial functions can be accomplished by adverbial clauses and phrases, as well as adverbs on their own.
They are used to modify verbs
Adverbs can always be used to modify verbs. They can often be used to make a sentence more interesting or to give more information to the reader.
Example
"The dog ran." From this sentence someone can imagine a dog running, but not much else is known about the scene.
On the other hand, in the phrase "the dog ran excitedly", there is more information and it is possible to imagine a dog wagging its tail quickly, panting and jumping.
References
- What is an adverb? Recovered from gingersoftware.com
- The adverb: characteristics and classification (2014). Recovered from beoditosdelidioma.wordpress.com
- Adverbs of frequency. Recovered from gingersoftware.com
- Adverbs. Recovered from ucl.ac.uk
- Adverbs of place. Recovered from gingersoftware.com
- Adverbs characteristics (2017). Recovered from teachermudy.blogspot.com
- Adverbs of time. Recovered from gingersoftware.com
- Adverb: its definition and characteristics (2016). Recovered from edit-it.org
- Adverbs of manner. Recovered from gingersoftware.com
- Formation of adverbs from adjectives. Recovered from espanol.lingolia.com