ADVERB

An adverb is a part of

speech. It is any word

that modifies verbs or any

part of speech other than

anoun (modifiers of

nouns are primarily

adjectives and

determiners). Adverbs

can modify verbs,

adjectives (including

numbers), clauses,

sentences, and other

adverbs.

Adverbs typically answer

questions such as how?,

in what way?, when?,

where?, and to what

extent?. This function is

called theadverbial

function, and is realized

not just by single words

(i.e., adverbs) but by

adverbial phrases and

adverbial clauses.

Adverbs in English

Adverbs are words like

slowly, tomorrow, now,

soon and suddenly. An

adverb usually modifies a

verb or a verb phrase. It

provides information

about the manner, place

or circumstances of the

activity denoted by the

verb or verb phrase.

She walked slowly.

(Here the adverb

slowly shows the

manner in which she

walked.)

The kids are playing

upstairs. (Here the

adverb upstairs

provides information

about the place of the

activity.)

Adverbs can also modify

adjectives and other

adverbs.

You are quite right.

(Here the adverb quite

modifies the adjective

right.)

She spoke quite

loudly. (Here the

adverb quite modifies

another adverb –

loudly.)

There are very many

kinds of adverbs.

Examples are: adverbs of

manner, adverbs of

frequency, adverbs of

time, adverbs of place,

adverbs of certainty etc.

In English, adverbs of

manner (answering the

question how?) are often

formed by adding -ly to

adjectives. For example,

great yields greatly, and

beautiful yields beautifully.

(Note that some words

that end in -ly, such as

friendly and lovely, are

not adverbs, but

adjectives, in which case

the root word is usually a

noun. There are also

underived adjectives that

end in -ly, such as holy

and silly.)

The suffix -ly is related to

the Germanic word "lich".

(There is also an obsolete

English word lych orlich

with the same meaning.)

Both words are also

related to the word like.

The connection between -

ly and like is easy to

understand. The

connection to lich is

probably that both are

descended from an earlier

word that meant

something like "shape" or

"form".[1] The use of like

in the place of -ly as an

adverb ending is seen in

Appalachian English, from

the hardening of the ch in

"lich" into a k, originating

in northern British speech.

In this way, -ly in English

is cognate with the

common German

adjective ending -lich, the

Dutch ending -lijk, the

Dano-Norwegian -lig and

Norwegian -leg. This

same process is followed

in Romance languages

with the ending -mente, -

ment, or -mense meaning

"of/like the mind".

In some cases, the suffix -

wise may be used to

derive adverbs from

nouns. Historically, -wise

competed with a related

form -ways and won out

against it. In a few words,

like sideways, -ways

survives; words like

clockwise show the

transition. Again, it is not a

foolproof indicator of a

word being an adverb.

Some adverbs are formed

from nouns or adjectives

by prepending the prefix

a- (such as abreast,

astray). There are a

number of other suffixes

in English that derive

adverbs from other word

classes, and there are also

many adverbs that are

not morphologically

indicated at all.

Comparative adverbs

include more, most, least,

and less (in phrases such

as more beautiful, most

easily etc.).

The usual form pertaining

to adjectives or adverbs is

called thepositive.

Formally, adverbs in

English are inflected in

terms ofcomparison, just

like adjectives. The

comparative and

superlative forms of some

(especially single-syllable)

adverbs that do not end in

-ly are generated by

adding -er and -est (She

ran faster; He jumps

highest). Others,

especially those ending -

ly, areperiphrastically

compared by the use of

more or most (She ran

more quickly) -- while

some accept both forms,

e.g. oftener and more

often are both correct.

Adverbs also take

comparisons with as ...

as, less, and least. Not all

adverbs are comparable;

for example in the

sentence He wore red

yesterday it does not

make sense to speak of

"more yesterday" or

"most yesterday".

Adverbs as a "catch-

all" category

Adverbs are considered a

part of speech in

traditional English

grammar and are still

included as a part of

speech in grammar

taught in schools and

used in dictionaries.

However, modern

grammarians recognize

that words traditionally

grouped together as

adverbs serve a number

of different functions.

Some would go so far as

to call adverbs a "catch-

all" category that includes

all words that do not

belong to one of the other

parts of speech.

A more logical approach

to dividing words into

classes relies on

recognizing which words

can be used in a certain

context. For example, a

noun is a word that can

be inserted in the

following template to

form a grammatical

sentence:

The _____ is red. (For

example, "The hat is

red".)

When this approach is

taken, it is seen that

adverbs fall into a number

of different categories. For

example, some adverbs

can be used to modify an

entire sentence, whereas

others cannot. Even when

a sentential adverb has

other functions, the

meaning is often not the

same. For example, in the

sentences She gave birth

naturally and Naturally,

she gave birth, the word

naturally has different

meanings. Naturally as a

sentential adverb means

something like "of course"

and as a verb-modifying

adverb means "in a

natural manner". This

"naturally" distinction

demonstrates that the

class of sentential adverbs

is aclosed class (there is

resistance to adding new

words to the class),

whereas the class of

adverbs that modify

verbs isn't.

Words like very and

particularly afford another

useful example. We can

say Perry is very fast, but

not Perry very won the

race. These words can

modify adjectives but not

verbs. On the other hand,

there are words like here

and there that cannot

modify adjectives. We

can say The sock looks

good there but not It is a

there beautiful sock. The

fact that many adverbs

can be used in more than

one of these functions can

confuse this issue, and it

may seem like splitting

hairs to say that a single

adverb is really two or

more words that serve

different functions.

However, this distinction

can be useful, especially

considering adverbs like

naturally that have

different meanings in their

different functions.

Huddleston distinguishes

between a word and a

lexicogrammatical-word.

[2]

The category of adverbs

into which a particular

adverb falls is to some

extent a matter of

convention; and such

conventions are open to

challenge as English

evolves. A particular

category-breaking use

may spread after its

appearance in a book,

song, or television show

and become so

widespread that it is

eventually acknowledged

as acceptable English. For

example, "well"

traditionally falls in a

category of adverb that

excludes its use as a

modifier of an adjective,

except where the adjective

is a past-participle

adjective like "baked".

However, imitating

characters in television

shows, a growing

number of English

speakers (playfully or

even without reflection)

use "well" to modify non-

past-participle adjectives,

as in "That is well bad!" It

is possible that this usage

will one day become

generally accepted.

Similarly, other category-

breaking uses of adverbs

may, over time, move

some English adverbs

from a restricted adverbial

class to a less-restricted

one.

Not is an interesting case.

Grammarians have a

difficult time categorizing

it, and it probably belongs

in its own class[3][4]

Other languages

Other languages may

form adverbs in different

ways, if they are used at

all: adverb of manners

and adverb of place.

In non-standard

Brazilian Portuguese,

the adverb menos

(less) sometimes

inflects for gender

before a feminine

noun. Menos água

thus becomes menas

água (less water). This

kind of inflection is

considered

ungrammatical and is

not recommended.[1]

In Dutch adverbs have

the basic form of their

corresponding

adjectives and are not

inflected (except for

comparison in which

case they are inflected

like adjectives, too).

In German the term

Adverb is differently

defined than in the

English language.

German adverbs form

a group of not

inflectable words

(except for

comparison in which

in rare cases some are

inflected like

adjectives, too). An

English adverb, which

is derived from an

adjective, is arranged

in the German

language under the

adjectives with

adverbial use in the

sentence. The others

are also called adverbs

in the German

language.

In Scandinavian

languages

, adverbs are typically

derived from

adjectives by adding

the suffix '-t', which

makes it identical to

the adjective's neuter

form. Scandinavian

adjectives, like English

ones, are inflected in

terms of comparison

by adding '-ere'/'-

are' (comparative) or '-

est'/'-ast' (superlative).

In inflected forms of

adjectives the '-t' is

absent.Periphrastic

comparison is also

possible.

In Romance languages

many adverbs are

formed from

adjectives (often the

feminine form) by

adding '-

mente' (Portuguese,

Spanish, Galician,

Italian) or '-

ment' (French, Catalan)

(from Latin mens,

mentis: mind,

intelligence). Other

adverbs are single

forms which are

invariable.

In the Romanian

language, the vast

majority of adverbs

are simply the

masculine singular

form of the

corresponding

adjective – one notable

exception being bine

("well") / bun ("good").

However, there are

some Romanian

adverbs that are built

from certain

masculine singular

nouns using the suffix

"-eşte", such as the

following ones: băieţ-

eşte (boyishly), tiner-

eşte (youthfully),

bărbăt-eşte (manly),

frăţ-eşte (brotherly),

etcaetara.

Interlingua also forms

adverbs by adding '-

mente' to the

adjective. If an

adjective ends in c, the

adverbial ending is '-

amente'. A few short,

invariable adverbs,

such as ben, "well",

and mal, "badly", are

available and widely

used.

In Esperanto, adverbs

are not formed from

adjectives but are

made by adding '-e'

directly to the word

root. Thus, from bon

are derived bone,

"well", and 'bona',

'good'. See also:

special Esperanto

adverbs

.

Modern Standard

Arabic

forms adverbs by

adding the indefinite

accusative ending '-an'

to the root. For

example, kathiir-,

"many", becomes

kathiiran "much".

However, Arabic often

avoids adverbs by

using acognate

accusative plus an

adjective.

Austronesian

languages

appear to form

comparative adverbs

by repeating the root

(as inWikiWiki),

similarly to the plural

noun.

Japanese forms

adverbs from verbal

adjectives by adding /

ku/ (く) to the stem

(e.g. haya- "rapid"

hayai "quick/early",

hayakatta "was quick",

hayaku "quickly") and

fromnominal

adjectives by placing /

ni/ (に) after the

adjective instead of the

copula /na/ (な) or /no/

(の) (e.g. rippa

"splendid", rippa ni

"splendidly"). These

derivations are quite

productive but there

are a few adjectives

from which adverbs

may not be derived.

In Gaelic, an adverbial

form is made by

preceding the

adjective with the

preposition go (Irish)

or gu (Scottish Gaelic),

meaning 'until'.

In Modern Greek, an

adverb is most

commonly made by

adding the endings <-
α> and/or <-ως> to

the root of an

adjective. Often, the

adverbs formed from

a common root using

each of these endings

have slightly different

meanings. So,

<τέλειος> (,

meaning "perfect" and

"complete") yields

<τέλεια> (,

"perfectly") and

<τελείως> (,

"completely"). Not all

adjectives can be

transformed into

adverbs by using both

endings. <Γρήγορος>

(, "rapid")

becomes <γρήγορα>

(, "rapidly"),

but not normally

*<γρηγόρως>

(*). When

the <-ως> ending is

used to transform an

adjective whose tonal

accent is on the third

syllable from the end,

such as <επίσημος>

(, "official")

, the corresponding

adjective is accented

on the second syllable

from the end;

compare <επίσημα>

() and

<επισήμως>

(), which

both mean "officially".

There are also other

endings with particular

and restricted use as

<-ί>, <-εί>, <-
ιστί>, etc. For

example,

<ατιμωρητί>

(, "with

impunity") and

<ασυζητητί>

(,

"indisputably");

<αυτολεξεί>

( "word for

word") and

<αυτοστιγμεί>

(, "in no

time"); <αγγλιστί>

[ "in English

(language)"] and

<παπαγαλιστί>

(, "by

rote"); etc.

In Latvian, an adverb

is formed from an

adjective, by changing

the masculine or

feminine adjective

endings -s and -a to -i.

"Labs", meaning

"good", becomes

"labi" for "well".

Latvian adverbs have

a particular use in

expressions meaning

"to speak" or "to

understand" a

language. Rather than

use the noun meaning

"Latvian/English/

Russian", the adverb

formed form these

words is used. "Es

runāju latviski/

angliski/krieviski"

means "I speak

Latvian/English/

Russian", or very

literally "I speak

Latvianly/Englishly/

Russianly". When a

noun is required, the

expression used

means literally

"language of the

Latvians/English/

Russians", "latviešu/

angļu/krievu valoda".

In Ukrainian/ Russian,

an adverb is formed

by removing the

adjectival suffices "-

ий" "-а" or "-е" from

an adjective, and

replacing them with

the adverbial "-о". For

example, "швидкий",

"гарна", and

"смачне" (fast, nice,

tasty) become

"швидко", "гарно",

and "смачно" (quickly,

nicely, tastefully). As

well, note that adverbs

are mostly placed

before the verbs they

modify: "Добрий син

гарно співає." (A

good son sings nicely/

well). Although, there

is no specific word

order in east slavic

languages.

In Korean, adverbs are

formed by replacing 다

of the dictionary form

of a verb with 게. So, 쉽

다 (easy) becomes 쉽게

(easily).

In Turkish, the same

word usually serves

as adjective and

adverb: iyi bir kız ("a

good girl"), iyi

anlamak ("to

understand well).

In Chinese, adverbs

end in the word "地",

the English equivalent

of "-ly". "地" on its own

literally means

"ground".

The Azerbaijan linguistic

school

does not consider an

adverb to be an

independentpart of

speech, as it is an

adverbialized form of

other parts of speech. I.e.,

recognition of its equity

with other parts of speech

violates the second and

fourth laws of logic

division. Adverbs are

derived from otherparts

of speech. Their functions

are performed by other

parts of speech when

they play the role of

"means of expression" for

anadverbial. That is, other

parts of speech, playing

the role of adverbial,

automatically transform

(convert) into an

adverb

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