Welcome. In this penultimate adverb lesson, you'll be taken through the types of adverb and their markers. While this is the third lesson on adverb, there are 1st and 2nd which deal with structure of adverb/adverbial conventions and forms/comparisons, including drawing distinctions between adverbs and like adjectives. You may see the first here and for the second, click here.
Types of Adverb
There are various types of verb; they include:
- Manner adverb: it informs on how an action is done or carried out. This kind of adverb answers the question how?
- Place adverb: this answers question where? It's an adverb that hints at where an action takes place.
- Frequency adverb: this is an adverb that tells about the sequence in the recurrence of an action. It answers the question how often?
- Time adverb: the question when? is answered in this type of adverb. It informs on when an action occurs/occurred or when it is to be/was done.
- Reason adverb: this answers the question why? It explains why an action is done.
- Adverb of purpose: this states the main purpose of an action, its aim(s). It answers the question what for?
- Degree adverb: this answers questions like: how sumptuous/meagre, how great/small, how deep/shallow? etc. It shows the prominence given to an action.
- Adverb of concession: this conjuncts two contradicting expressions in a rather deliberate manner.
- The last type of adverb is known as condition adverb. We shall deal properly with this in Conditionals and Unreal pasts, and in Clauses.
Since manner answers the question how?, it therefore tells how an action is/was done. Ex.: He ran swiftly. She dances well.
If you look at the two sentences, you'll see that while swiftly tells how He ran, well tells how She dances. See the following examples:
He ran quickly down the flights. That soldier shot faster. Try to determine the manner adverbs in them.
The place adverb tells where an action took/will take place, answering the question where? Ex.: The king sat on his throne. Where did the king sit? He came here. The underlined word constitutes the adverb of place.
Frequency adverb shows how often an action takes place. Ex.: I sail everyday.
I seldom go home. I go home once in a blue moon. In the first example, everyday shows the frequency of the verb sail. Seldom in the second sentence means almost never, that is, not regularly. Seldom means the same as once in a blue moon in the third sentence.
The time adverb hints at when an action takes place, either time specific: 9:30 or time general: yesterday. They both provide information on time. Ex.: Mitchell was here around 9:30am. He also came yesterday. When was Mitchell here? When did he also come? Definitely, the underlined words answer the question when?
The adverb of reason uses the word because as its marker. It tells the reason of an action. Ex.: Mary slapped me because I abused her. The underlined word introduces the reason behind Mary's action.
Adverb of purpose, unlike adverb of reason, uses for as a marker to state purpose. What function the action takes place for. Ex.: I did it for your sake. In a sentence like this, the adverb is better described as purpose than reason since it doesn't really hit reason. Consider: I did it because of you. If you juxtapose the two sentences, you'll notice the clear difference: while the previous shows purpose, the latter shows reason.
The degree adverb shows grade/prominence. It is also known as intensifier due to its emphatic nature. Let's consider some adverbial pairs below:
A. She danced well.
B. She danced very well.
C. He is fat.
D. He is too fat.
E. I love my mother.
F. I love my mother so much.
In examples B, D and F, you must have noticed some emphasis. They sound greater than others. This is the function of degree adverb; it gives prominence and shows the grade of an action. While example C states that he's fat, merely fat, example D states that he is TOO fat.
The concession adverb, as stated earlier, conjuncts two contradicting ideas. But how? It does this through the help of either of its few markers: although...yet, although or though. Ex.: Although it's none of my business yet I'll tell you that you should cut your coat according to your cloth. Though you're a soldier, you mustn't allow over confidence.
Following the intensive study of adverb above, you must also know that not every type of adverb can be identified using a particular marker, in fact, some are usually realised in phrasal forms. For example, you may not be taking simply the word though from a concessional and call it adverb of concession; it has to be in the company of some other words. Check out the examples provided on adverb of concession from above.
Again, time adverb may also be realised in a group, such as: when I arrived, I found you being already in bed. In this, the specific (14/06/94) or (8:50am) isn't there but there's the general, and mind you, it provides answer to the question of "when". You can learn more about adverbial phrase/clause by seeing our lessons on group/phrase and clauses here.
Apart from knowing about what adverb is and how it works, including its varieties, there are still some internal arrangement on adverb known as Order of Adverb. To have a well rounded knowledge of this ubiquitous part of speech, you need to work on how to arrange adverbial words in any sentence you have more than one adverb. Therefore, you may follow here to get our lecture on Order of Adverb, the most tricky!
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