Category: 05. Adverb

Ernest Hemingway is often held up as an example of a great writer who detested adverbs and advised other writers to avoid them. In reality, it’s impossible and unnecessary to avoid adverbs altogether. Sometimes we need them, and all writers (even Hemingway) use them occasionally. The trick is to avoid superfluous adverbs. When your verb or adjective…

In general, adverbs should be placed as close as possible to the words they are intended to modify. Putting the adverb in the wrong spot can produce an awkward sentence at best and completely change the meaning at worst. Consider the difference in meaning between the following two sentences: I almost dropped all the papers I was…

Like adjectives, many adverbs can show degrees of comparison, although it’s slightly less common to use them this way. With certain flat adverbs (adverbs that look exactly the same as their adjective counterparts), the comparative and superlative forms look the same as the adjective comparative and superlative forms. It’s usually better to use stronger, more precise adverbs (or stronger, more precise…

Some adverbs can modify entire sentences—unsurprisingly, these are called sentence adverbs. Common ones include generally, fortunately, interestingly, and accordingly. Sentence adverbs don’t describe one particular thing in the sentence—instead, they describe a general feeling about all of the information in the sentence. Fortunately, we got there in time. Interestingly, no one at the auction seemed interested in bidding on the…

You can use an adverb to describe another adverb. In the following sentence, the adverb almost is modifying the adverb always (and they’re both modifying the adjective right): The weather report is almost always right. In fact, if you wanted to, you could use several adverbs to modify another adverb. Huan sings rather enormously too loudly. However, that often produces weak and clunky sentences…

Adverbs can also modify adjectives. An adverb modifying an adjective generally adds a degree of intensity or some other kind of qualification to the adjective. The lake is quite beautiful. This book is more interesting than the last one. “Is my singing too loud?” asked Huan. My cat is incredibly happy to be having his dinner. We will be slightly late to the meeting. This…

Adverbs often modify verbs. This means that they describe the way an action is happening. Huan sings loudly in the shower. My cat waits impatiently for his food. I will seriously consider your suggestion. The adverb in each of the sentences above answers the question In what manner? How does Huan sing? Loudly. How does my cat wait? Impatiently. How will I consider…

Adverbs are easy to recognize because they usually end in –ly, but not always. Some of the most common adverb examples include: