An adverb is a word that changes or qualifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, other adverb, clause,

sentence or any other word or phrase, except that it does not include the adjectives and determiners that
directly modify nouns. Adverbs are traditionally regarded as one of the parts of speech, although the wide
variety of the functions performed by words classed as adverbs means that it is hard to treat them as a
single uniform category.

Adverbs typically answer questions such as how?, in what way?, when?, where?, and to what extent?. This
function is called the adverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by
adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses

Examples

 I found the film incredibly dull.

 The meeting went well and the directors were extremely happy with the outcome.
 Crabs are known for walking sideways.
 Only members are allowed to enter.
 I often have eggs for breakfast.
 However, I shall not eat fried eggs again.

Uses of adverbs

Adverbs are words like slowly, yesterday, now, soon, and suddenly. An adverb usually modifies a verb or a
verb phrase. It provides information about the manner, place, time, frequency, certainty, or other
circumstances of the activity denoted by the verb or verb phrase.

Examples:

1. She walked slowly. (Here the adverb slowly shows the manner in which she walked.)

2. The kids are playing together. (Here the adverb together provides information about how the kids are
playing.)

Adverbs can also modify adjectives and other adverbs.

1. You are quite right. (Here the adverb quite modifies the adjective right.)

2. She spoke quite loudly. (Here the adverb quite modifies another adverb – loudly.)

In English, adverbs of manner (answering the question how?) are often formed by adding -ly to adjectives.
Other languages often have similar methods for deriving adverbs from adjectives (French, for example,
uses the suffix -ment), or else use the same form for both adjectives and adverbs. Some examples are
listed under Adverbs in specific languages below.

Where the meaning permits, adverbs may undergo comparison, taking comparative and superlative
forms. In English this is usually done by adding more and most before the adverb (more slowly, most
slowly), although there are a few adverbs that take inflected forms, such as well, for which better and best
are used.

For more information about the use of adverbs in English, see English grammar: Adverbs. For use in other
languages, see Adverbs in specific languages below, and the articles on individual languages and their
grammars.

Kinds of Adverbs
Here you can see the basic kinds of adverbs.

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Manner tell us the manner or way in which something happens. They answer the question
"how?". Adverbs of Manner mainly modify verbs.

 He speaks slowly. (How does he speak?)

 They helped us cheerfully. (How did they help us?)
 James Bond drives his cars fast. (How does James Bond drive his cars?)

We normally use Adverbs of Manner with dynamic (action) verbs, not with stative or state verbs.

 He ran fast. She came quickly. They worked happily.

 She looked beautifully. It seems strangely. They are happily.

Adverbs of Place

Adverbs of Place tell us the place where something happens. They answer the question "where?". Adverbs
of Place mainly modify verbs.

 Please sit here. (Where should I sit?)

 They looked everywhere. (Where did they look?)
 Two cars were parked outside. (Where were two cars parked?)

Adverbs of Time

Adverbs of Time tell us something about the time that something happens. Adverbs of Time mainly
modify verbs.

They can answer the question "when?":

 He came yesterday. (When did he come?)

 I want it now. (When do I want it?)

Or they can answer the question "how often?":

 They deliver the newspaper daily. (How often do they deliver the newspaper?)
 We sometimes watch a movie. (How often do we watch a movie?)

Adverbs of Degree

Adverbs of Degree tell us the degree or extent to which something happens. They answer the question
"how much?" or "to what degree?". Adverbs of Degree can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

 She entirely agrees with him. (How much does she agree with him?)
 Mary is very beautiful. (To what degree is Mary beautiful? How beautiful is Mary?)
 He drove quite dangerously. (To what degree did he drive dangerously? How dangerously did he
drive?)

Adverbs of Manner List

Alphabetical list of common single-word manner adverbs

Adverbs of manner form the largest group of adverbs. We make most of them simply by adding -ly to their
corresponding adjective. This is an alphabetical list of 130 common single-word adverbs of manner.
Adverbs of manner that do not end in -ly are shown in bold.

accidentally
angrily
anxiously
awkwardly
badly
beautifully
blindly
boldly
bravely
brightly
busily
calmly
carefully
carelessly
cautiously
cheerfully
clearly
closely
correctly
courageously
cruelly
daringly
deliberately
doubtfully
eagerly
easily
elegantly
enormously
enthusiastically
equally
eventually
exactly
faithfully
fast
fatally
fiercely
fondly
foolishly
fortunately
frankly
frantically
generously
gently
gladly
gracefully
greedily
happily
hard
hastily
healthily
honestly
hungrily
hurriedly
inadequately
ingeniously
innocently
inquisitively
irritably
joyously
justly
kindly
lazily
loosely
loudly
madly
mortally
mysteriously
neatly
nervously
noisily
obediently
openly
painfully
patiently
perfectly
politely
poorly
powerfully
promptly
punctually
quickly
quietly
rapidly
rarely
really
recklessly
regularly
reluctantly
repeatedly
rightfully
roughly
rudely
sadly
safely
selfishly
sensibly
seriously
sharply
shyly
silently
sleepily
slowly
smoothly
so
softly
solemnly
speedily
stealthily
sternly
straight
stupidly
successfully
suddenly
suspiciously
swiftly
tenderly
tensely
thoughtfully
tightly
truthfully
unexpectedly
victoriously
violently
vivaciously
warmly
weakly
wearily
well
wildly
wisely

Adverbs of Place List

Alphabetical list of common single-word place adverbs
about
above
abroad
anywhere
away
back
backwards (also backward)
behind
below
down
downstairs
east (etc)
elsewhere
far
here
in
indoors
inside
near
nearby
off
on
out
outside
over
there
towards
under
up
upstairs
where

Common suffixes

 -wards or -ward (backwards, downwards, eastward, forwards, homewards, upwards)

 -where (anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, somewhere)

Adverbs of Time List

List of common single-word time adverbs
points of time (definite):

 now
 then
 today
 tomorrow
 tonight
 yesterday

frequency (definite):

 annually
 daily
 fortnightly
 hourly
 monthly
 nightly
 quarterly
 weekly
 yearly

The word "bimonthly" is ambiguous and best avoided. Bimonthly can mean "twice a month"
or "every two months". The same is true of "biyearly"/"biannually".

frequency (indefinite):

 always
 constantly
 ever
 frequently
 generally
 infrequently
 never
 normally
 occasionally
 often
  rarely
 regularly
 seldom
 sometimes
 regularly
 usually

relationships in time (indefinite):

 already
 before
 early
 earlier
 eventually
 finally
 first
 formerly
 just
 last
 late
 later
 lately
 next
 previously
 recently
 since
 soon
 still
 yet

Adverbs of Degree List

Alphabetical list of common single-word degree adverbs
almost
absolutely
awfully*
badly*
barely
completely
decidedly
deeply
enough
enormously
entirely
extremely
fairly
far
fully
greatly
hardly
highly
how
incredibly
indeed
intensely
just
least
less
little
lots
most
much
nearly
perfectly
positively
practically
pretty*
purely
quite
rather
really
scarcely
simply
so
somewhat
strongly
terribly*
thoroughly
too
totally
utterly
very
virtually
well

What is an Adverb?
An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. It "qualifies" or "modifies" a verb (The
man ran quickly). In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the verb that it
modifies is in italics.

 John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)

 Afterwards she smoked a cigarette. (When did she smoke?)
 Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)

But adverbs can also modify adjectives (Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It
works very well). Look at these examples:
  Modify an adjective:
- He is really handsome. (How handsome is he?)
- That was extremely kind of you.

 Modify another adverb:

- She drives incredibly slowly. (How slowly does she drive?)
- He drives extremely fast.

Note that adverbs have other functions, too. They can:

 Modify a whole sentence: Obviously, I can't know everything.

 Modify a prepositional phrase: It's immediately inside the door.