Parts of Speech is a very integral part of traditional English grammar. Parts of speech can be divided into nine parts, where words can be recognised as a particular category of parts of speech as per their function in a sentence, eg: nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs etc.
An adverb is considered a significant part of speech. To truly understand the definition, types, and examples of adverbs, we need to dive deeper into it. Thus, below is a brief introduction and a detailed explanation of adverbs, their types, and examples.
What are Parts of Speech?
In English grammar, parts of speech are considered an arrangement of words or lexical terms that have the same functions, i.e. they act similarly towards improving the grammatical structure of the language.
Generally speaking, the roots of parts of speech in other languages can be found in ancient India with Sanskrit and Tamil grammar, where parts of speech were first defined and categorised into sub-categories based on their functions.
In English, the following are grouped under the umbrella term “parts of speech”:
Nouns
Verb
Determiner
These parts of speech are grouped because they can be used to define the subject and the predicate of any grammatically sound sentence.
What are Adverbs?
By definition, adverbs are words that can describe verbs. In order to understand what adverbs are, we need first to have a basic understanding of verbs. Verbs are a part of speech, just like adverbs.
You can define a verb as an arrangement of the word(s) or syntax conveying any noun’s action, occurrence, or state. In detail, verbs are the action words in a sentence that describe what the subject is doing. Some examples of verbs are- read, become, walk, exist, run, bake, etc. Now, we can understand the meaning of adverbs in relation to verbs in English grammar.
In simple words, an adverb is a word that describes verbs. Adverbs are also used to add or modify the meaning of an adjective, a verb, a preposition, a sentence, a clause. We can add more information to the doing words, using different kinds of adverbs. Hence, adverbs are a part of speech and express the manner, time, place, frequency, degree, and much more about a verb. They also act as a verb phrase which includes a verb and its dependents.
For example, 'A man is moving.'.
The sentence doesn't give us any information other than that there is a man who is moving, but if we add an adverb here and write:
'A man is moving briskly.'; it shows that there is a man who is moving fast because maybe he is getting late for work or he has to go early.
Similarly, the sentence, 'You may sit.’, means that you can have a seat wherever you want. It doesn't give us any information about the place for you to sit. Whereas, the sentence, 'You may sit there.', means that there is a particular place to sit where you can find a seat. In this way, adverbs modify a sentence and make it more informative. So, we can say that adverbs describe a sentence or clause.
More examples of adverbs used in sentences are:
“Rita is lying quietly in the snow.”, where ‘quietly’ is the adverb that describes the quality of the verb ‘lying in the snow’, making ‘quietly’ the adverb describing the manner of lying in the snow.
“I walked to the school early.”, where ‘early’ is the adverb that describes the quality of the verb ‘walked to the school’, making ‘early’ the adverb describing the time of walking to school.
“Do you go to the market often?”, where ‘often’ is the adverb that describes the quality of the verb ‘go to the market’, making ‘often’ the adverb describing the frequency of going to the market.
Different Types of Adverbs with Examples
Now, there are three kinds of adverbs, and they are as follows.
Simple adverbs
Interrogative adverbs
Relative adverbs
Let's look at the types of adverbs in detail.
Simple Adverbs
It is an adverb is a word that gives a verb, an adjective, a phrase, or another verb more information regarding place, time, method, cause, or degree.
Examples of simple adverbs:
I am visiting my grandmother this weekend.
I forgot to bake the cake due to my busy schedule, however, I will make it up to you with this dish.
The flowers on her balcony are extremely beautiful.
My little sister almost got lost at the carnival.
Riya seldom likes to visit the museum.
1. Adverb of Time
Whenever you want to add information of 'when' to a verb, the adverb of time will be your answer. So, we can say that an adverb of time shows the time or moment of doing a task. For example,
'I will go there tomorrow.'
So, if you ask me when I go? I will answer it by saying 'tomorrow'.
So, here, tomorrow is the adverb of time that provides information regarding the time of the happening of an event.
2. Adverbs of Place
Whenever you want to add information of 'where' to a verb, the adverb of place will be your answer. So, we can say that an adverb of the place shows the place where the task is being done or has to be done. For example,
'You may sit there.'
So, if you ask where you may sit? The answer will be 'there'. So, here, 'there' is the adverb of time that shows the place of the happening of an event.
3. Adverbs of Frequency
Whenever you want to add information regarding 'how often' to a verb, the adverb of frequency will be your answer. So, we can say that an adverb of the frequency shows the frequency with which the task has to be done. For example,
'I go for a walk daily.'
So, if you ask how often do I go for a walk? The answer will be 'daily'. So, here, 'daily' is the adverb of frequency that shows how often an event takes place.
4. Adverbs of Manner
Whenever you want to add information regarding 'how' or 'in what way', the adverb of manner will be used, so, we can say that an adverb of manner shows the form with which the task has to be done. For example,
'I speak beautifully.'
So, if you ask how do I speak? I will answer it by saying 'beautifully'. So, here, 'beautifully' is the adverb manner that shows how or in what way an event takes place.
5. Adverbs of Degree
Whenever you want to answer something starting from 'how much' or 'to what degree or extent', the adverb of degree will be your answer. So, we can say that an adverb of degree shows the degree or extent to which the task has been done. For instance:
'He is extremely talented.'
So, if you question me, how often how much talent is he? I will answer it by saying 'extremely'. So, here, 'extremely' is the adverb of degree that shows with what degree an event takes place.
6. Adverb of Reason
Whenever you want to answer something, starting from 'why', the adverb of reason will be your answer. So, we can say that an adverb of reason shows the reason behind doing a particular task. For instance: Therefore, So, Hence, Because and Since.
'I go there because I love that place.'
So, if you question me, why do I go there? I will answer it by saying 'because I love the place'. So, here, 'because' is the adverb of the reason that shows why an event happens.
There was a snowstorm, so we stayed in.
Interrogative Adverbs
Whenever you ask a question and the question word is used as an adverb, you are using interrogation adverbs. They possess a unique feature, and that is, they are placed at the beginning of a sentence.
For instance:
'Why do you talk to him?'
Here, ‘why’ is a question word used as an adverb. So, ‘why’ is an interrogation adverb.
Examples of interrogative adverbs:
Why are you painting the canvas?
How is your brother feeling?
Where did Mala keep all the books from the teacher?
Is Joey coming with us?
What are your friends wearing to the party?
Relative Adverbs
Whenever an adverb is used to relate or connect or join any two sentences, we use relative adverbs. These adverbs are just three- where, when, and why. For instance:
'I met him when no one was around.'
Here, ‘when’ is the adverb that connects the two sentences that have I met him and No one was around. So, here, ‘when’ is the relative adverb.
Examples of relative adverbs:
I was already walking home when it started to rain.
The reason why works on the weekends is because she is saving money for her daughter’s graduation gift.
The building where I first lived is now being renovated to a restaurant.
So, eight types of adverbs are mentioned here, which can be used anywhere to make the text more informative.
Conclusion
As we have learnt above, adverbs are a part of speech that defines the quality of a verb. In other words, if you want to ask a question about the verb in a sentence, the answer defining the verb is your adverb. This makes it much easier to identify the adverb in any sentence.
Moreover, we learnt that there are three main adverbs types: simple, interrogative, and relative. Simple adverbs are generally used in simple declarative sentences and define the quality of their verb.
Simple adverbs can be further categorised in various sub-categories based on the function of the quality they define of any given verb. Interrogative adverbs are used as questions related to a given verb, and relative adverbs combine the action defined by two verbs.
