Every child has a favorite hobby! Whether it’s singing, playing with toys, running, or reading. But, what do all of these activities have in common? Well, for once, action verbs are used to talk about them!
Words are tricky, they can change and adapt according to the speaker’s needs. In English, words are classified into different categories. These categories can be varied, and usually, divide words by their uses in this language. Some of these categories are: verbs, adjectives, nouns or pronouns
All of these have their own place in an English sentence. However, there’s one type of words that are also essential for the English language: the adverb.
What is an adverb?
Adverbs are words used to change, describe, or add more information about a verb in a sentence. An adverb can also modify an adjective or even other adverbs, with the purpose of making the meaning of the sentence clearer.
There is a common characteristic that makes it easy to identify an adverb in a sentence, usually, they look like adjectives that end in -ly. Words like “quickly”, “happily” or “shortly” are adverbs. However, this rule doesn’t apply to all of these words, so sometimes identifying them in a sentence is not as easy.
Another way of doing this is by looking at their placement in the sentence, which can help when in doubt. Most times, adverbs are located immediately before or after the word they’re modifying. If there are still doubts about which one is the adverb, then it’s advisable to look for the words that are adding information or describing other words in the sentence.
Depending on the type of adverb that’s being used, they can tell a person how an action occurs, or where does it happen. It can also describe when the action happens, or even the frequency of this action.
? Types of Adverbs
Adverbs of manner
These are the words used to make descriptions of the manner or the way that something is done. This is excellent to bring more details in the description of an event.
Some of the most common adverbs of manners are:
Abruptly / Angrily / Badly / Carefully
Easily / Fast / Friendly / Gently
Happily / Hard / Heavily / Kindly
Loudly / Neatly / Nicely / Politely
Quickly / Quietly / Sadly / Secretly
Slowly / Softly / Suddenly / Well
Examples of adverbs of manner:
I gently brush my teeth every morning… like Lisa!
It was Cowy’s birthday, so her dad secretly bought her a present.
In the library, everybody has to speak quietly.
They like their new cat, it has a friendly attitude.
Lisa and her friends are living happily.
Billy couldn’t play. He was behaving angrily.
Baby Boy was reading carefully her new history book.
Adverbs of place
When a person needs to describe the place where an action or something related to the action occurred, they use an adverb of place. It usually expresses where something happens. These adverbs can refer to directions, distances, or relative position of an object.
Some of the most used adverbs of place are:
Above / Around / Backward/ Behind
Below / Between/ Down/ East
Everywhere/ Forward/ Here/ North
Far Away / There/ Nearby/ Outside
Miles Apart / South / Up / West
Examples of adverbs of place:
Elliot studies here in this school.
The museum has a music store nearby.
She headed west where the library is.
Billy lives behind the mall.
Cowy is running around the track.
This is your book, I’ll put it here.
Baby Bot headed north to visit his mom.
Adverbs of time
As their name stated, the adverbs of time describe when things happen, for how long they happened, or even for how frequently an action happened. These adverbs are usually placed at the end of the sentence, but their position in the sentence can be switched if the person needs to emphasize something in particular.
The most common adverbs of time are:
Hourly / Daily / Nightly / Weekly
Monthly / Annually / Yearly / Before
Already / Now / Today / Tonight
Tomorrow / First / Next / Soon
Since / Yesterday / Yet / Finally
Previously / Late / Earlier / Later
Just / Recently / Eventually / Still
Examples of adverbs of time:
Elliot now runs in the morning.
Billy and Baby Bot will soon be traveling to the moon!.
I recently bought a few notebooks for my classes.
Then, it was time to cut the cake.
I will go to the beach tomorrow.
Lisa is still waiting for Cowy to arrive.
Let’s call Billy tonight.
Adverbs of degree
These adverbs are perfect to describe the intensity or degree of something, it could be an adjective, an action, or even another adverb. There are many, and they are very different, but some of the most used adverbs of degree are:
These are some of the most used adverbs of degree:
Absolutely / Almost / Barely / Very
Deeply / Enough / Extremely / Full
Hardly / Least / Less / Practically
Most / Much / Positively / Little
Quite / Rather / Simply / Completely
So / Somewhat / Terribly / Too / Utterly
Examples with adverbs of degree:
Billy is quite helpful around the house!.
Lisa has practically not been able to study.
She is so intelligent!.
I am somewhat preoccupied with my maths exam.
Elliot is very friendly.
Lisa has most of her friends in this neighborhood.
Baby Bot is practically out of college.
Adverbs of frequency
The main use of the adverbs of frequency is to describe how often an action occurs, or how many times has happened, to change the meaning of the sentence. Usually, these adverbs can also be seen as adverbs of degree, however, the use is not the same.
These are the most used adverbs of frequency:
Infrequently / Daily / Eventually / Frequently
Generally / Always / Occasionally / Often
Hardly Ever / Normally / Usually / Never
Examples with adverbs of frequency:
Cowy is never angry, she’s very sweet!
Billy always goes to the market on Tuesday.
I will eventually visit you, Baby Bot!.
What are your daily tasks?
Lisa and Elliot are often swimming in the lake.
She usually travels by bus, but today she took the train.
Baby Bot occasionally watches TV series.
Adverbs and adjectives
These types of words share something in common: they are used to make descriptions and give a deeper meaning to a sentence. However, this word’s uses are not interchangeable. Adjectives are words used to modify or describe nouns and pronouns, for example, “I have a purple raincoat”, in this sentence “purple” is used as an adjective which describes the color of the raincoat, which is a noun.
Now, in the sentence “I normally wear my purple raincoat on weekends”, “purple” remains working as an adjective, while the word “normally” functions as an adverb that describes how often this person wears the purple raincoat, giving more meaning to the sentence.
Playlearn with Lingokids!
Have your child learning while playing with the Lingocharacters in the Lingokids app! They will learn big stuff the fun way. Like for example daily routines:
