adverb

An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, clause, adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs tell us how, when, or where.

Adverbs can modify verbs to give us more information about an action. In the sentence She walked quickly, the adverb quickly tells us how she walked. In the sentence The car turned left, the adverb left tells us where the car went.

Adverbs can also modify adjectives, usually to indicate degree or intensity, as in I was very happy. The adverb very tells us more about the happy feeling.

Adverbs can also modify other adverbs, as in She drove very carefully. Here, the adverb very tells us more about the adverb carefully.

Typically, you want to place an adverb next to the word it is modifying. In a verb phrase, the adverb is usually placed immediately before the action verb, as in We were pleasantly watching the birds.

Sometimes, an adverb describes an entire clause. Rather than modify a single word, the adverb is instead describing the general mood or feeling of the clause, as in Amazingly, the zookeeper wrangled the lion without getting injured.

Many adverbs end in –ly and many adjectives can be turned into adverbs by adding –ly to them. For example, slow becomes slowly and happy becomes happily.

Learn even more about adverbs in our extensive article.

The first records of the term adverb come from around 1520. It comes from the Latin adverbium, which means “added word.” Adverbs can follow verbs and are added on to a sentence to provide more information.

You need to be careful when using sentences that contain linking verbs, like be, seem, or look. Often, what comes after a linking verb modifies the subject of the sentence, which is a noun or pronoun. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, while adverbs modify verbs. For example, we would say The flowers smelled nice not The flowers smelled nicely. This is because we want a word to describe the noun flowers, not the verb smelled. The flowers aren’t actually smelling anything.

Sometimes, where the adverb is in the sentence can change the meaning of the sentence. The adverb only is a common example of this. For example, the sentence I only baked the cake means that all you did was bake the cake and you didn’t eat it or do anything else to it. I baked only the cake means that the cake was the only thing you baked and you didn’t bake the pies or cookies.

Here are some examples of the different ways we use adverbs:

We use adverbs to spice up our sentences.

Millennials love adverbs. Seriously.

— Joanne Nosuchinsky (@JoNosuchinsky) June 16, 2016

Acknowledge quietly and move on quickly. It's all in the adverbs.

— John T. Biggs (@biggspirit) September 14, 2020

• verb
• adjective
• clause
• modifier
• description
• grammar

Which of the following words is an adverb?

A. he
B. was
C. very
D. sad