Adverbs are
another important kind of modifier. Here’s a definition that we’ll refer to
time and again:
Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
When adverbs
modify verbs, they indicate when, where,
why, or how the action was
performed.
Let’s begin with
the simple sentence He ran. Ran is a
verb and the complete predicate in this sentence, and we can expand the
predicate by adding any possible adverb:
He ran quickly.
Instead of quickly, we could use slowly, clumsily, gracefully, erratically, fast, then, later, and many
others.
All the adverbs we
can add to He ran answer this
question: “When, where, why, or how did he run?” Common adverbs that modify
verbs include soon, later, now, then,
before, after, here, there, forward,
backward, badly, well, far, also, not,
too, and many more.
Remember the point
we saw in Chapter 3: When a word appears between an auxiliary verb and the main
verb, it’s an adverb that modifies the main verb:
He had finally stopped the noise.
Remember, too,
that all the adverbs we add to a sentence to modify the verb are part of the
complete predicate.
When adverbs
modify adjectives, they appear before the adjective and modify the quality
expressed by the adjective:
The bright red car sped away.
We use (and
overuse) several adverbs to modify adverbs, particularly very. We could write quite,
extremely, somewhat, or rather.
Here, the adverb helps to describe the color of the red car.
When adverbs
modify other adverbs, adverbs modify the quality expressed by the other adverb:
Mr. Morton ran quite quickly.
Instead of quite, we could write somewhat, very, a bit, rather, more, or less. Here, adverbs answer the question, “How quickly did Mr. Morton run?”
Notice that, when
adverbs modify adjectives or other adverbs, they nearly always appear just
before the word they modify.
Clearly adverbs
are a diverse class of words; they have a great many uses and forms.
COMPARISONS OF ADVERBS
Some adverbs, like many
adjectives, have three forms, which together make the comparison of the adverb:
|
Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
|
close |
closer |
closest |
|
fast |
faster |
fastest |
|
early |
earlier |
earliest |
|
warmly |
more warmly |
most warmly |
|
generously |
more generously |
most generously |
|
suspiciously |
more suspiciously |
most suspiciously |
Here again, we use
the positive when we’re describing the action or quality of one thing, we use
the comparative when we’re comparing two (and only two), and we use the
superlative when we’re comparing three or more.
A relatively small
number of adverbs form comparisons with the -er
and -est suffixes:
Susan runs fast.
Susan runs faster than Alice.
In fact, she runs fastest of all.
The examples above
show that some adverbs (like fast)
resemble adjectives with little or no difference in spelling or pronunciation,
but with a clear difference in their use. This is obvious if we compare the
three sentences above about Susan with the similar sentences we saw in Chapter
4:
Susan is a fast runner.
Susan is a faster runner than Alice.
In fact, she’s the fastest runner of
all.
With fast (and some words like it), we can
distinguish the adverb fast from the
adjective fast only by the context.
When we use a word like fast to
modify a verb, grammarians say that we use it adverbially.
Most of the
adverbs that end with -ly use the more and most comparisons. Dictionaries can always help you find the right
forms.
THOSE MOST
IRREGULAR COMPARISONS
There are also
irregular adverbs that don’t follow the usual patterns. They are some of the
most commonly used adverbs, so you know most of them already:
|
Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
|
badly |
worse |
worst |
|
well |
better |
best |
|
little |
less |
least |
|
much (or many) |
more |
most |
|
far |
farther |
farthest |
|
|
further |
furthest |
Far requires some attention. In prescriptive
grammar, far, farther, and farthest are supposed to be used to
describe physical distance:
He ran farther than I did.
Far, further, and furthest are to be used in every other kind of situation:
He went further in school than I did.
It’s no surprise
that some writers find this distinction unnecessary, especially because most
Americans aren’t even aware of it. These writers argue that the adverb is
always clear no matter which form is used, so we need to settle on one set of
comparisons and use it in most or all situations.
But there is no
clear consensus on how to simplify the far
comparison. (That word is far too
troublesome.) In your professional
writing, an editor or supervisor may expect you to do it the prescriptive way.
NOUNS USED
ADVERBIALLY
Used correctly,
other words can modify verbs—particularly nouns that specify where, how, or when the action occurred:
We walked home.
We walked single file.
Nouns regarding time are commonly used adverbially:
They celebrated her birthday yesterday.
Tomorrow we go on vacation.
Monday we return from vacation.
They worked in the yard Saturday.
Nouns can also
function adverbially to modify adjectives. In these sentences, the modified
adjective is in bold:
My son is now four feet tall.
My daughter is two inches taller.
They worked all day long.
Finally, adverbial
nouns can modify other adverbs. In these sentences, the modified adverbs are in
bold:
I wish we had left a day later.
We can go ten miles farther.
CURIOUS ADVERBS: WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND HOW
When, where, why, and how are four of the most important adverbs in our language. They are the interrogative adverbs, the ones we use to ask questions. We usually
place them at or near the beginning of a question:
Where are you going?
When will you be back?
There are of
course other useful question words, like who
or what, but those are interrogative
pronouns, which we’ll learn about
in Chapter 19.
In this chapter,
we’ve learned that nouns can be used adver-bially, and the interrogative
adverbs return the favor. Sometimes they are used as nouns:
I know I’m supposed to be
someplace today, but I can’t remember where or when.
POINTS FOR
WRITERS
1. Place
adverbs correctly.
Adverbs that
modify verbs are often moveable; they can be placed in several places in the
sentence without changing the meaning:
Quickly Phil called the police.
Phil quickly called the police.
Phil called the police quickly.
Quietly the children hurried home.
The children quietly hurried home.
The children hurried home quietly.
Then he ran.
He then ran.
He ran then.
The three
underlined adverbs obviously work in several places in the sentence. Moving
them doesn’t alter the meaning, although it may alter the rhythm or emphasis in
the sentence. But moving some words, like only
or however, can change the meaning:
Only Mr. Morton broke the vase.
[Mr. Morton broke it all by himself.]
Mr. Morton only
broke the vase. [He didn’t do anything else to it.]
Mr. Morton broke only the vase.
[He didn’t break anything else—yet.]
As we move only, the new contexts change its
meaning in the sentences above. (In the first sentence, only is an adjective.)
2. Distinguish
good and well.
Writing for publication or for
other professional reasons, you must observe the distinction between good and well:
He is a good writer.
He writes well. [Never write He writes good.]
Good is an adjective. Well is sometimes an adverb and some-times an adjective, depending
on context. It can be an adjective meaning healthy,
in sentences like this:
Finally my son is well.
It’s hard to use well well. Probably everyone has
confused good and well in casual conversation at one time
or another, and there it seldom matters. But readers and editors will assume
that you’re a careless writer if you confuse the two in your professional work.
EXERCISES
These exercises
refer to matters you’ve read about in the last two chapters. Don’t hesitate to
turn back to Chapter 4 if you need to review.
1. In
the following sentences, mark the underlined words to classify them as adjectives (ADJ)
or adverbs (ADV). Count the articles a, an, and the as adjectives. The adverbs here modify verbs only. Here are
examples to help:
ADJ ADJ
This is a pleasant day.
ADJ
ADJ ADV
The small child runs quickly.
ADJ ADJ ADV
The other child runs faster.
The smaller child learned the simplest tasks.
The child learns eagerly.
John almost had an answer to the
difficult question.
Father always encourages realistic
thinking.
The furious family did not wait to see the busy manager.
A thick, wet snow fell softly.
Silently, a strange man in a black cape stood in the
shadows.
2. Write the comparative and
superlative forms of these adverbs; use
a dictionary when you need to.
Fast
Quickly
Slowly
Angrily
Carefully
Well
Badly
Early
Far (referring to geographical distance)
Often
3. In these sentences, classify
the underlined adverbs: Do they modify
verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs?
Your mistake was a very small one.
He does well when he tries hard.
He does quite well when he tries.
The secretary’s notes are evidently missing.
Now we finally
have the notes.
We took notes rather rapidly, but we could not keep up.
We still need good notes.
4. Correct
the errors in the underlined adjectives and adverbs, which may include suffixes or, in some cases, the placement of the
word. Some are correct.
Esther and Ryan play good, but Esther
plays best.
By sunset we will have hiked ten miles or further.
The library has the most complete book
on baseball.
Bob was the student only
left behind. [Here the writer is trying to say that no one else was left
behind.]
Final we reached the motel.
Be real careful on this highway.
We saw that Bart looked sadly.
Bart was looking sad at his wrecked car.
Bart was feeling sadly on his way home.
In the lab, we measured the results as precise as we could.
