Language: grammar and vocabulary
Adverbs and their kinds
Spot an adverb, name its kind — manner, place, time, frequency or degree — and tell it apart from the adjective it was built from.
An adjective describes a noun; an adverb describes almost everything else. It can sharpen a verb (she sang beautifully), an adjective (very tired) or even another adverb (quite late). Once you know which question an adverb answers, naming its kind is easy.
Five kinds, five questions
Manner answers How? — quickly, silently. Place answers Where? — outside, upstairs. Time answers When? — yesterday, soon. Frequency answers How often? — always, rarely. Degree answers How much? — very, quite, extremely.
Most adverbs of manner are an adjective plus -ly
quick becomes quickly, brave becomes bravely. A final -y turns into -i: noisy becomes noisily. A final -le drops the e: humble becomes humbly, possible becomes possibly.
Watch out — not every -ly word is an adverb
Lonely, friendly, lively and silly all end in -ly and are all adjectives. The test is not the ending; it is whether the word is describing a noun or describing an action.
After smell, taste, look, sound and feel, use the adjective
The bread tastes sour, not sourly. These verbs are not describing an action at all — they are pointing back at the thing itself, so the word that follows describes the bread.
Worked example
Name the kind of adverb: "She visits her grandmother weekly."
Ask the five questions in turn. How? Where? When? How often? How much?
Only one of them fits, and that fit is the name of the kind.
Try it together
Let us find three adverbs in one sentence.
The sentence is: "Yesterday the old dog slept peacefully outside." Each answer is one word taken straight from the sentence.
1.Which word tells you WHEN the dog slept?
Have a go
In "She writes extremely neatly", which word is the adverb of degree?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.