English Grammar - Adverbs

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What are adverbs and how do we use them?

Words in languages have different functions. In English, the most common functions are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions. Each of these types of words plays a specific role in an English sentence.

Adverbs modify verbs: The man worked slowly.
Adverbs modify adjectives: She is very tall.
Adverbs modify other adverbs: He walks extremely painfully after the accident.

(An adverb never modifies a noun.)

Adverbs often answer the question, "how?", and its related questions, "how often? and how long?"

Many adverbs  are formed by adding "-ly", such as slow - slowly, painful - painfully, serious - seriously, but be careful, because there are also adjectives which end in -ly.

Which words are the adverbs in the following sentences?

1. The train into the city runs hourly.
2. He has had a very difficult time adjusting to the new time schedule.
3. I often like to sing and play music, but I know I'm not talented.
4. She looks clumsy, but she moves surprisingly fast on the tennis court.
5. The actors are really quite pretty when they remove their stage makeup.

Click here for the correct answers.

1. The train into the city runs hourly.
2. He has had a very difficult time adjusting to the new time schedule.
3. I often like to sing and play music, but I know I'm not talented.
4. She looks clumsy, but she moves surprisingly fast on the tennis court.
5. The actors are really quite pretty when they remove their stage makeup.