The 10 Types of Adverbs
1. Adverbs of Time
There are two official types of adverbs of time:
a. “How long” Adverbs
How long adverbs describe for how long something happens.
Examples:
for a year, for a month, for a day, for an hour, for a second, for a minute, etc.
Example sentences:
"I have been sitting here for two hours."
"She has been living here for seven years already."
The underlined phrases are the “how long” adverbs, modifying the verbs "have been sitting" and "has been living".
b. “When” Adverbs
These adverbs tell when, or at what specific time something happens, such as:
today, yesterday, tomorrow, in the afternoon, in the night, at one o’clock, at seven pm, next year, next month, next week, etc.
Example sentences:
"Classes will start next week."
"I saw him at the mall yesterday."
The underlined phrase and word are “when” adverbs, answering the questions: When will classes start? and When did I see him at the mall?
2. Adverbs of Frequency
Adverbs of Frequency tell how often something happens or is done. They are partly a subset of adverbs of time but are officially separate.
Examples:
rarely, occasionally, once, twice, often, every day/daily, monthly, yearly, hourly, etc.
Example sentences:
"I eat an apple daily."
"We go to Grandpa’s house yearly."
The underlined words are frequency adverbs modifying the verbs "eat" and "go", describing how often these actions happen.
3. Adverbs of Place
These describe the direction, distance, movement, or position related to a verb’s action.
Examples:
behind, uphill, forward, backward, downward, upward, up, down, sideward, south, west, east, northeast, southwest, anywhere, everywhere, etc.
Example sentences:
"I like to go anywhere as long as there is plenty of food."
"Sandy hates walking uphill."
"She is behind you."
These adverbs answer the question “Where?” describing where the action is done or intended.
4. Adverbs of Manner
They answer the question “How is something done?” and can modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire clauses.
Examples:
"Lindy dances gracefully."
The word “gracefully” tells how Lindy dances.
"Don slowly sips his tea."
The word “slowly” tells how Don sips his tea.
Forming Adverbs of Manner
Most are formed by adding “-ly” to adjectives.
Example:
"Aliyah is a quick learner."
The adjective “quick” describes Aliyah.
Turning the adjective “quick” into an adverb gives “quickly”.
"Aliyah learns quickly." or "Aliyah quickly learns." Both are correct.
Forming Adverbs of Manner
Adverbs of Manner are mostly formed by just adding “-ly” at the end of an adjective.
(refer to table below)
5. Adverbs of Degree
Degree refers to the amount, level, or extent to which something happens or is present.
Adverbs of degree indicate the intensity or extent of the verb, adjective, or adverb they modify. They usually appear before the word they describe.
Examples include:
really, quite, absolutely, utterly, fully, a bit, unusually, slightly, fairly, etc.
Example sentences:
"This box is absolutely tiny."
The adverb “absolutely” describes the adjective “tiny”, telling how tiny the box is.
"The exam was extremely difficult."
The adverb “extremely” describes the adjective “difficult”.
6. Focusing Adverbs
Used to draw attention or highlight a particular part of a clause.
Examples include:
too, as well, at least, also, additionally, simply, merely, etc.
Example sentences:
"I might as well attend the party."
The phrase “as well” highlights that the speaker might attend too.
"She is also smart."
The word “also” emphasizes the subject’s attribute in addition.
Types of Focusing Adverbs
Adding information:
also, as well, too, additionally
Example: “Rod is coming to the camp, and Ryko is coming too.”
Limiting information:
precisely, purely, simply, solely, alone, exactly, exclusively, just, merely, not only, only, but
Example: “Just Rod is coming to the camp.” (Rod comes, but no one else.)
Partially limiting information:
chiefly, especially, mainly, mostly, notably, particularly, in particular, predominantly, primarily, at least, for the most part, by and large
Example: “She wants everybody to come to the wedding, especially Ariadna.”
7. Negative Adverbs
Used to negate or modify the meaning of verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire clauses in a negative way.
The two most common negative adverbs are no and not.
Some scholars debate whether no and not are adverbs, but many grammarians accept them as such because they modify verbs negatively.
Example:
Original: "We should tolerate bullying."
Negative: "We should not tolerate bullying."
“Not” modifies the verb tolerate negatively, making the sentence’s meaning opposite.
Other adverbs that express negative meanings include:
hardly, barely, scarcely, no longer, barely ever, hardly ever, never
Examples:
“I can read the words.”
Negative (partial): “I can hardly read the words.”
Negative (complete): “I cannot read the words.” / “I can never read the words.” / “I can hardly ever read the words.”
8. Evaluative Adverbs
Also called Commenting Adverbs, these give an opinion or comment about the entire clause or sentence rather than just a part of it.
Examples include:
clearly, frankly, carelessly, definitely, fortunately, unfortunately, fairly, doubtfully, honestly, foolishly, doubtlessly, hopefully, generously, obviously
Example sentence:
"Unfortunately, Ali can barely read the text."
In this sentence, “unfortunately” is an evaluative adverb commenting on the whole situation, while “barely” is a negative adverb modifying how Ali can read.
9. Viewpoint Adverbs
These indicate whose point of view is expressed or specify what aspect of something is being discussed.
While similar to evaluative adverbs, viewpoint adverbs focus on the source of the opinion or observation.
Common viewpoint adverbs often involve personal pronouns:
for me, for you, for him, for her, for them, in my opinion, in their opinion, according to him, according to her, as far as I am concerned, in my view, to my knowledge, from your perspective, personally
Also, specific aspects can be expressed by adverbs such as:
medically, morally, officially, outwardly, physically, politically, scientifically, technically, theoretically, visually, biologically, environmentally, ideologically, industrially, financially, formally, inwardly, linguistically, mathematically
Example sentences:
"For me, this dress is too small for a night out."
The viewpoint adverb “for me” indicates the opinion belongs to the speaker.
"Medically, carbonated drinks are not good for the body."
The viewpoint adverb “medically” shows the opinion comes from medical experts.
10. Relative Adverbs
Relative adverbs introduce relative clauses that modify a noun or noun phrase, similar to relative pronouns. However, while relative pronouns relate to people or things (that, which, who), relative adverbs relate to places, times, or reasons (where, when, why).
Functions:
- where — refers to a place
- when — refers to a time
- why — refers to a reason
Example sentences:
"Miranda, the place where I was born, is a very beautiful place."
"I have to directly buy groceries when I get to the store."
"Do you have an idea why the Earth rotates?"
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