An adverb can modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. The ones we will study answer one of these questions about the verb in the sentence:
When?
When did they leave? They left last week.
How?
How did they travel from here to Tallahassee? They traveled by car.
How does he drive? He drives slowly sometimes. Sometimes he drives fast.
Formation of Adverbs
- Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the adjective.
- loud = loudly
- careless = carlessly
- safe = safely
- Adjectives that end in consonant + y change the “y” to “i” and add -ly for the adverb form.
- lazy = lazily
- crazy = crazily
- angry = angrily
- Adjectives that end in -ic add -ally for the adverb form.
- pessimistic = pessimistically
- optimistic = optimistically
- enthusiastic = enthusiastically
Irregular Adverbs
- These irregular adverbs have the same form as adjectives and adverbs.
| adjective | adverb | adjective | adverb |
| fast | fast | early | early |
| hard | hard | late | late |
- The adjective form for “good” is “well”, but sometimes “well” can be used as an adjective that means “healthy.”
Example: John had the flu last week, but today he is well (healthy).
- The word “not” and words that tell time and place are also adverbs.
- today
- soon
- there
- not
- here
- tomorrow
- early
